Musings: Notes From My Daybook

Thanks to Ike for passing on a link to Ben Witherington's blog. Witherington, a well-published and respected New Testament scholar had the opportunity to see the new movie, Amazing Grace, writes a review.

Though certainly well-known in British and Methodist circles, the name of William Wilberforce may not be so common among many Americans. So I am looking forward to the film's release and conversation about the story it tells.

This past weekend Northlake hosted a conference on missions. However, the focus was not on where we need to send missionaries. Rather the attention was placed on Atlanta.

It is likely true just about whereever you live in North America, but it is certainly true for Atlanta. The world has come to us. The municipality just south of our campus--1.5 miles away--has 64 language groups represented. Recent estimates suggest 15,000 Ethiopians living within 5 miles of Tucker. Take a cab in this city and it will likely be driven by someone from Somolia. The work done on my kitchen cabinets were done by persons from Bosnia. The 600,000 Hispanics in Atlanta are thoroughly entrenched in the service and construction industries. The Korea church across the street just moved to the suburbs--because all their people--upwardly mobile--have moved up I-85. A new church is now in the building and though I haven't had a chance to visit the minister, from the look of the sign I expect that it is a specific ethnic group.

And so to speak of going to all the world takes on a different spin when you bump into the whole world at Kroger.

This becomes all the more complex when we recognize that according to some statistics, 3 million people in America will stop going to church this year. A huge mission exists in every aspect of American culture. And reaching to middle-class Americans who are growing more cynical every day with the popular (mis)conceptions of Christianity foisted into the public square by a liberal media and conservative Christians who seek to legislate the way of Jesus instead of living it. But that is for another day.

Northlake's focus yesterday was to focus in particular on the reality of thousands of refugees that are pouring into our city and country--many of them living within a couple of miles of our campus. What did we learn?

1. Dan McVey, missiologist from Abilene Christian University, shared that Christianity is growing--by leaps and bounds--in Africa, India, China, and Latin America. Within a few years there will be more Christians in Africa then in North America and Europe! Nearly twenty countries--including South Korea, Nigeria, the Philippines send out more missionaries than America does. In summary, Christianity is growing rapidly--but that rapid growth is in places outside of Europe and North America. We should celebrate God's activity whereever it is found!

2. In America, we face a radical wake-up call. The way we have been "doing church" isn't working. And if we want to be a part of God's movement in the world then we will likely have to change the way we live out our faith--in radical ways--in order engage our rapidly changing culture.

3. That change will look very different for different churches. Early indicators show several models emerging--simple churches (communities of faith based in homes), multi-ethnic churches, churches recapturing historic (pre-modern) patterns of worship and practice, cell-based churches, churches that call members to higher standards of involvement and discipleship are just a few of the signals of change.

4. To engage the refugee populations, we will need to go to them. They will not come to us. And so, what we are beginning to see as opportunities need to be pursued. For us, we are on the cusp of offering soccer leagues, tutoring in the apartment complexes where they live (beginning today!), interacting with refugees as they learn English (through a program called Friendspeak and handing out Bibles in English and in people's native languages).

5. We will need to recognize the barriers and go slow. Language is a major barrier. So is the fact that many of these refugees are at least nominally Muslim. Our expectations about politeness and decorum will need to be lowered. Many of refugees don't even know how to use a cooktop stove or a toilet. We have our work cut out for us.

I don't know what all of this will work out for Northlake. But I am convinced that in becoming aware of the challenges and the need for the gospel to be heard that Northlake will respond. Not because we discovered the answers but because we not relinguish God's call to be faithful!