the proGnosis

…how was your Summer if it’s not too late to ask?

Good.

Let me tell you about a bit of mine. The lady and I had the privilege of attending an international student conference overseas. Here we met students representing Christian student groups from over sixty countries, and very quickly we started to realise that our ‘teaching/leading’ role was rapidly inverting itself. You see, as a Brit going ‘cross-cultural’, no matter how hard you might try, there’s always that sneaking little superiority complex in the back of your mind. We Westerners know how to do mission. We’ve got the speakers, the theologians, the books. The traditions.

And then you get talking to people.

Here’s an example of a couple of students we met. As far as they know, they’re the only Christian students in their country. The church is under huge pressure, and it is illegal to meet as Christian students on campus. “So what do you do?” someone asks, “No-one else is going to tell them about Jesus…” one of them shrugs, “we just tell them anyway.” And it’s as simple as that – university degree, future prospects, personal comforts all get put on the line – but remarkably, for them it’s a no-brainer. If the gospel is true, why would you keep quiet about it?

It’s it that point you realise that you’re not the one doing the teaching, it was then that the penny dropped for me; I remembered that where I come from, some church leaders are actually arguing that students shouldn’t be doing this at all – because they don’t agree with student leadership. It was at this precise moment I wanted to fly such people out there (I would have gladly paid their fares), ask them to look these young people in the eyes, and tell them that what they were doing was wrong, that they should leave it to the ‘experts’. I felt ashamed and guilty. Guilt of course can be real or imaginary, but for me the realisation was this, that such arguments are the luxury of a comfortable church. I would do well to look a bit further afield than Anglo-American evangelicalism sometimes, because there’s a big, bad world out there.

And there’s a big church, making big calls to make Jesus known.