It’s 2:30 am, or 2:30 pm depending on what part of the world
you are in. For all of my peeps back home in the States, it is in the pm. For
me, it is 2:30 am, although my body seems resolute in denying this reality.
Yesterday, after my wonderful lesson in how to be an
arrogant d**k (from a Canadian of all people!), we heard a number of presenters
speaking about the many changes in global Christianity. Many of the changes
described were ones that I (and many others) were already aware of. Christianity
is growing in leaps and bounds in the South and East. Pentecostals and
Evangelicals are leading the charge in with great growth. This is nothing new,
but still significant and important to name and claim. However, the theme for
the day seemed to be unity.
The first speaker was Dr. Dana Robert from Boston
University. She suggested that church unity could be found within the four
traditional “marks” of the church:
One
Holy
Catholic
Apostolic
She made some very interesting arguments about the basic
platforms of each mark and how all Christians could find some common ground
with each. Within all this she argued that mission is integral and perhaps the
key and center to unity. Remember this for later.
The second speaker, Dr. Sang-Bok David Kim, spoke about
changes and trends in world Christianity. Again, it was nothing new. He did
speak about two things that caught my attention. First was all he almost
bragged about all of the Muslims that were being converted and how great that
was. Second, he did brag about the evangelical effort to reach out to “nominal”
Christians. Nominal Christians are Christians in name only who really do not
have a personal relationship with Christ and aren’t fully with the spirit. In
other words, Americans and Europeans (although he didn’t say it that
specifically – it was coded language). He also spoke about the importance of
mission.
I found his presentation to have a level of surety and
bravado in suggesting that part of our “mission” is to convert people from
other religions (rather than just reaching out to those who are lost and not in
any belief system), and that someone can name who and who is not a “nominal”
Christian. I guess I would fall into that category of being a “nominal”
Christian, and I can’t wait for someone to come and bring me to Christ.
The words being used in this conference are powerful.
Yesterday someone asked me if my home church (an American Baptist congregation)
is Evangelical (I assume he meant it with the upper case). I was caught off guard
with this question. He was asking a loaded question and I did not know the
shibboleth to answer that question. I did not know how to answer in the way he
wanted to hear. Evangelical is a loaded term.
People speak of the importance of mission but are not clear
if it is strictly converting people or strictly offering services and working
for peace, etc. We speak of holiness but in what sense. Someone even said that
all Christians might be moving towards a greater sense of Catholicity, but what
does that mean?
To a degree I think such terms need to be vague in order for
everyone to find a space. Yet if they can be used as a litmus test to discern
if you are a true Christian or a nominal Christian, then these words need to be
unpacked and maybe even deconstructed. This is not an easy thing for me to
write because I have been running from Derrida and his gang of French
Deconstructionists for a long time. They hurt. They hurt a lot. They hurt a lot
and then leave you with nothing. That is deconstruction and in this instance I
think my weak understanding of it (lacking of nuance) would be very helpful.
Perhaps today (when everyone else wakes up), I will work to
deconstruct the terms with charity and gentleness. After all, how can I even
begin to have a conversation with someone if I do not know what they mean?
Anyway, I have been more reluctant to share in groups and a
little more withdrawn. I will own some of that as my own issue, but also wonder
again how safe is the space and I am sure I am not the only one who questions
the level of safety.
Now I will go into the hotel lobby at 2:45 in the morning so
I can post this on my blog (there is no internet in the rooms). I’ll let you
know how many drunk/wasted folks are milling about in the lobby trying to
decide what to do next because the bar just closed. Maybe I can label them as “nominal”
Christians and try to bring them to a “real” relationship with Christ.
Postscript - no one in the lobby. I guess this is a very holy group. Here is a picture for you:
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