Thursday, November 06, 2008
Pride In Missions
Milt Stanley links to a Theolog post:
But what makes me most sad is what this says about how we view Christianity. Whether it is a short term mission to an impoverished place or a rousing revival speech with an alter call, we act as if Christianity is a package that can be handed from one person to another - a mere exchange.
Oh, I know, "one sows and another harvests," but I am talking about something different here - Christianity is not even that simple.
My thirteen years of marriage have taught me more about being a Christian than the previous twenty-five as a single Christian (This is no bash on singleness, just my experience) The reason is straightforward - living with someone, no scratch that, BONDING TO SOMEONE, produces changes that simply cannot be experienced in the mere exchange.
In Christianity we bond to Jesus. The old covenant was an exchange, but the new, the one that came with Christ is something quite different indeed. We could not possibly hold up our end of the old deal, so God did what was necessary to make us people that could, which meant He incarnated and bonded to us - we just need to wake up to that fact.
The problem with a short term mission tip is not the lack of mission, but the short term - it is a way of holding not the impoverished, but Christ Himself, at a distance. "Okay God you can have me fully this week, but then I have to get back to business."
When will we start challenging ourselves and each other to the kind of radical change that Christianity truly represents?
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Which leads to a second complaint: the use of the term “mission” invites the worst sort of Christian pride. We, in our wealth and magnanimity, are going to help our less fortunate brethren. Yes, smart leaders of trips will knock this attitude right out of participants. They’ll argue we go not to help others but to help ourselves, to come back from that poverty, see poverty right in our midst differently, and so on. Those are good counter-arguments. But it’s hard to get out of our minds (and the minds of our supporters) that we’re going to save somebody. In two weeks? Give me a break.Strong language, but, I think fair. These trips really are about the "sender" not the "receiver." I know for fact that some of the hosting churches in the "mission areas" consider their hosting duties as their ministry and mission to the pagan consumeristic Americans. Think about it....
I know these trips change lives. They changed mine—I might not be in ministry without trips to Guatemala, inner-city Boston, Russia and Honduras. I learned about hospitality from those who had little yet gave to us freely. The world got bigger. So did the church. I’m glad those trips happened.
We just shouldn’t call them “mission” trips. They’re pious tourism and little more.
But what makes me most sad is what this says about how we view Christianity. Whether it is a short term mission to an impoverished place or a rousing revival speech with an alter call, we act as if Christianity is a package that can be handed from one person to another - a mere exchange.
Oh, I know, "one sows and another harvests," but I am talking about something different here - Christianity is not even that simple.
My thirteen years of marriage have taught me more about being a Christian than the previous twenty-five as a single Christian (This is no bash on singleness, just my experience) The reason is straightforward - living with someone, no scratch that, BONDING TO SOMEONE, produces changes that simply cannot be experienced in the mere exchange.
In Christianity we bond to Jesus. The old covenant was an exchange, but the new, the one that came with Christ is something quite different indeed. We could not possibly hold up our end of the old deal, so God did what was necessary to make us people that could, which meant He incarnated and bonded to us - we just need to wake up to that fact.
The problem with a short term mission tip is not the lack of mission, but the short term - it is a way of holding not the impoverished, but Christ Himself, at a distance. "Okay God you can have me fully this week, but then I have to get back to business."
When will we start challenging ourselves and each other to the kind of radical change that Christianity truly represents?
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