February 21, 2005
George W. Bush--Missionary?
On Friday I had lunch with the pastor of one of the churches that invests in this ministry. His church is a Spanish language church, and he is from Mexico. The purpose of our meeting was so that I could ask him some questions about how he has developed a vibrant missionary program in his congregation. We were having a good discussion, and suddenly he made a statement that blew my mind.
"How is it," he asked, "that the policies of the United States are more biblical than those of the American church?"
Having spent considerable time in Brazil, I was quite un-prepared to hear a Latin pastor say anything nice about US policy, much less refer to it a "biblical". When I pressed him for an explanation of that statement, here is what he said:
"George W. Bush believes in democracy, and because of that belief, he uses every possible resource to spread democracy around the world. American churches say they believe in the gospel, yet so few of their resources are used to spread it around the world."
I thought much about this over the last couple of days, and came up with several areas where we, the American church, could learn from the administration of our own country.
1. Taking risks: One thing I admire about our president is his willingness to take political risks for the cause of democracy. The American church has forgotten what it is like to risk anything. Missions is no exception. Gone are the days of Adoniram Judson, who risked everything to bring the gospel to Burma. Sure, there are missionaries who still give their lives on the field, but the old pioneering spirit is gone from our churches.
2. Belief in the Cause: It is evident that our president believes in democracy, at his very core. As Christians, I fear that many times we really do not believe the gospel. We give it lip service, but when it comes to sharing it with those closest to us--much less those around the world--we make excuses. This is not the time for us to be silent! The days we live in require men and women of action--not excuses.
3. Commitment to Long Term Success: The war on terrorism will not be won overnight. Nor will the world be evangelized in a day. We as Christians--particularly American Christians--must get over our fetish of quick results and hunker down for a long, drawn-out battle. We must make decisions based on eternity, not just today.
Perhaps we should take a closer look at George W. Bush's play book. We might learn something.
Posted by Andrew on February 21, 2005 11:59 AM.
Comments
Posted by: Dustin at February 25, 2005 2:50 PM
Excellent observations! I especially liked that "multi-level marketing scheme" comment. This shows how American consumerism has infiltrated the church.
Posted by: Andrew at February 28, 2005 12:30 PM
Subscribe via
Interesting.
I think #2 is a symptom. We don't believe in the Cause because we don't truly know the cause. What is the gospel? What is the good news? Is it only that your soul can be saved? That is what we have boiled it down to many times. We've taken an elaborate love letter and mutated it into a marketing slogan. We've taken the greatest story ever told and pared it down to 3 steps to peace with God.
God has called us to make DISCIPLES of all the world, yet we recruit them into a multi-level marketing scheme so they can go and recruit for us. We tell them they are a jigsaw puzzle missing the "Jesus" piece, when really the wholeness of holiness is much more of a process. That process should be much more of our emphasis than the end result.