Here it is, the final post. I’m stranded in Singapore for
the night with no internet so I thought I should at least make good use of my
time and give you that brilliant, amazing wrap-up I promised.
As my faithful readers know (all two of you) this has been
an interesting and challenging trip (please, no Grateful Dead references). Here
are a couple of lessons I have gleaned:
Lesson One – It is
difficult for people let others in (metaphorically speaking).
In the beginning of the week I complained that it seemed
people were not willing to share. A part of that was simple fear, shyness and
my own neediness. What I have come to realize is that the majority of the participants
were in the same boat as I was; they did not know anyone either. A common
reaction to a new place is to err on the side of caution. Be carful who (or is
it whom?) you trust. Trust is a commodity in small supply and is given out very
carefully. Yet by the end of the week everyone seemed fairly chummy with
everyone else; there was a very positive esprit de cours. I arrived with an
assumption that we all were here as Christians and therefore were all ready to
share yet I think I forgot that we are all human. Maybe I need to relax with my
theological excitement and learn a little more patience.
Lesson Two – It is
very difficult for Christians to trust other Christians.
When you are in a place of so many different traditions
especially traditions that have not always gotten along, it will be very
difficult to create a level of trust. Every conversation among participants
started with a question of where the individual was from and then which church
the individual was representing. The real question was behind these
pleasantries was often, “can I trust you?” If the person was from the “right”
group then trust could be found. This is a sad reality of Christianity, and
perhaps one of the reasons that the Forum exists. People are slow to trust
people, and Christians are even slower to trust other Christians.
Lesson Three – We
have a lot of work to do.
While the leaders of the conference continued to celebrate
unity, unity, and more unity, I left realizing that there are some very real
places of serious difference and disagreement. There is a deep tension between
Evangelicals and Orthodox, Pentecostals and Traditional churches, and elsewhere.
It is very telling when we cannot end with a service of the Lord’s Supper – the
very moment when unity is incarnate. I think the idea of the Forum is a good
start and applaud it’s efforts, but I leave with a very real understanding of
how much work we still have to do.
Lesson Four – The
Global Christian Forum Is Necessary, Good, and Unrealistic
One the worst witness that Christianity has in the world
(aside from all of the persecution of Jews, burning of witches, wars, etc.) is
the many divisions within our house. It is necessary that we work to get along
with others who claim the Lordship of Christ instead of looking the other way
with our grievances. We are supposed to see Christ in others and if we can’t
see Christ in our brothers and sisters who also profess to see Christ and yet
disagree with us theologically, doctrinally, ecclesiology, or otherwise, then
how will we see Christ in non-believers? The Forum is necessary.
The Forum is good because it is making that effort to bring
people together to try to see Christ in each other and trying to do this in a
positive way. This is a worthwhile cause.
The Forum is unrealistic because human brokenness will again
and again get in the way, pride will rise, anger will bring others down, and
fear will dictate our actions. I can say with certainty that we will mess it
up. Yet this is the church on a local and global level. It is an institution or
gathering that is broken. At the same time it is what God uses again and again
to proclaim the gospel to the world. We can’t do it, especially on our own, but
there can be moments of transcendent unity only through the action and the
grace of God.
Now What?
So now I need to consider what I should report to the good
ole’ American Baptists (if they haven’t already given up on me because they
have been reading my posts). Despite my gripes and complaints I am glad and continued
to be honored that I had the opportunity to go and represent the American
Baptists in Indonesia. I learned a lot about myself, and about the difficulties
before us as Christians. From what I have seen and experienced I would urge the
American Baptists to continue to stay involved in the Global Christian Forum.
Issues like the Prosperity Gospel (which is nothing less than a heresy of our
time), proselyting (or sheep-stealing) from other churches, and a general
feeling of mistrust of others are very real in the country and the world. These
difficulties again and again get in the way of sharing the love of Christ and
calling people to grow in their relationship with Christ. We need to be a part
of the solution and I think the GCF is on the right track.
Beyond that, I think the denomination, regions, or
individual churches should engage the challenge of unity every opportunity they
can. We should deliberately engage Pentecostals and Orthodox and everyone in-between
(including those crazy Independent churches and other Baptists). I strongly
feel that we should especially continue to engage the overtly Evangelical
churches because I believe are closer than many “classical” American Baptists
would like to think and we can learn something about ourselves. We need to
continue to work with established organizations like the National Council ofChurches, the World Council of Churches, and others. And finally we need to continue
to reach out to other communities of faith (Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc.) and
find that place of commonality or connection where we can all work towards
bettering the world.
I am glad I was able to go, and with all that I learned I
would gladly and humbly go again. It was a time when God certainly pushed,
challenged, and blessed me. I hope to take what the Holy Spirit has shown me
and share it with my church, my denomination, and all others who will suffer me
the audience (In other words, despite my earlier posts, I am very thankful that
I was able to go – thank you Roy Medley!).
I hope you enjoyed the pictorial timeline of my experience and thanks to all for coming along on the ride.
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