Africa and Faith
Luke 18: 8b “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? ”
As I traveled this past week to Kenya, Africa with Bob Roberts, we walked through the largest slum in Africa called The Kibera--1.2 million people living in a 2 square mile plot of land. We met with church planters that are planting churches in the middle of hell. We joined our brothers and sisters in passionate prayer, exuberant worship and world class dancing in church--that’s right, they were dancing in church. They had very little on the outside. Their buildings were make-shift wood and zinc, tents, plastic chairs, horrible sound systems that punished your eardrums. Yet, I observed a vibrant and robust faith, a faith that was pleasing to God. Here in America, we have nice buildings, incredible sound systems, soft chairs lest we offend the backside of our overindulge lifestyle, but our faith is weak, feeble and anemic. Many times it is non-existent. Why do we need faith when we can do it ourselves? Will God find faith in America when He returns? Are you living by faith in any area of your life? Are you drawing upon the supernatural resources of God for any area of your life, or is everything in your life very manageable by your human strength? By faith, Abraham went out not knowing where he was going? Not knowing is our curse. We hate not knowing because we are a culture of know-it-all. We have it figured out. We have broken the secrets codes and wrote the books to inform the world. They are not buying it. The other side of the world has figured out that all we do here in the west is talk. Like my grandma use to say “Talking is cheap but it takes money to buy whiskey. ” Don’t ask me about the whisky part--never understood it. By Faith, Sarah received power to conceive, even when she was past the age. Faith not only calls us to the unknown but also to do the impossible! If it is possible for you to do it, then you do not need God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and when God says it is impossible, trust me, it is impossible.
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Jun 16, 2008 at 09:18 AM
Hi Omar,
I am glad to see you are now an active part of a blog. Thank you for your post. I suggest the most "unfair" thing about many Christian American lives is how "unfairly fair" we have been blessed with material goods, educational opportunities, medical care, etc, relative to so many others today and in history.
I also suggest "love of money is the root of all evil" 1 Tim 6:10 manifests in the "hell on earth" of that Kenya ghetto. You, as Bob, have a position of influence and spiritual authority over many Christian engineers or Christians who are privileged to have membership status in another recognized profession as law, medicine, accounting, etc. But there is no organized Christian influence in any of those professions, something that enables much institutional evil and inhibits much common grace.
Your post is frank in describing desperate poverty. My frank response is that you, as other "religious profesisonals," want to stay in your professional lane - you do not ask demanding questions of Christians about the ethical and professional practices in their professions and vocations, neither do you really want them to bring such concerns to you - because you really do not have good answers. And the beat goes on.
Institutional evil in Kenya and beyond, enabled by Christian professionals of various stripes, is an essential part of the existence and persistence of that ghetto. That institutional evil will not go away by itself, it needs to be confronted by the organized influence of Christians in their respective professions, among other ways.
The primary obstacle to an organized Christian influence in various professions is - you guessed it - "love of money is the root of all evil." Christians in professions are much like the "rich young ruler" mentioned in 3 Gospels - when a religious professional makes a demand that could touch their professional standing - such as being part of an organized Christian influence within their profession - they walk away and find another religious professional to deliver the religious goods and services they desire. You know it, so you make no such demand, because your personal economy depends, in part, on having Christian professionals supporting you.
Am I missing something? I think the desperate conditions in the Kenya ghetto demand an answer that goes beyond vibrant church services. God is not honored by those desperate conditions, as much as they produce faith via suffering.
I really, truly, am an engineer, with the limited personality engineers typically have - I accept my personality can be generously described as "functional."
If I cannot persuade someone as you that there ought to be an organized Christian influence in my profession of engineering, that the lack of such an organized influence plays out in that Kenya ghetto, and that you have the contacts, personality, and influence spur Christian engineers to start taking risks to their professional standing by becoming part of an organized Christian influence in their profession, then my message is not of God or I am a fraud in claiming to be a Christian engineer.
I am open to you, or anyone else, skeptically questioning the matter. Because I know how to skeptically question too.
Your co-worker in His vineyard,
Joe Carson, PE
Knoxville, TN
865-300-5831
http://www.christianengineer.org
Jun 17, 2008 at 12:35 PM
Hi Joe,
It is unfortunate how easily you pass judgement having very limited knowledge of the work we are doing around the world. If you read Bob's blog you will see that the message is clear, that God wants to use your vocation to engage society and bring transformation. That was the message to the church in Africa. We are persuaded that there needs to be an organized influence in the engineering field, the problem is the you are suggesting that we (Bob or Northwood church) needs to do it. The primary obstacle to this organization is not "The Love of Money, root of all evil" as you keep repeating. I believe it is professionals like yourself that want others to do what you should be doing. We are not engineers, you are the engineer. Why don't you go start an organization for engineers and do something about the ghettos in Africa-Omar
Jun 17, 2008 at 01:17 PM
"...you do not ask demanding questions of Christians about the ethical and professional practices in their professions and vocations"
"Why do we need faith when we can do it ourselves? Will God find faith in America when He returns? Are you living by faith in any area of your life? Are you drawing upon the supernatural resources of God for any area of your life, or is everything in your life very manageable by your human strength?"
A little more than confused by your critique Joe.
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