GlocalNet

When you visit with leading pastors from around the world, meet with business leaders, development organizations, and government and civic leaders - outside the US - it isn’t uncommon to hear the term “religious colonialism” describing the American church.  In the early days of hearing that I felt like it was harsh and didn’t like it.  As I began to understand the world, how it works, as well as the global church, I began to realize it was true.  No American Christian leader would call themself a “religious colonialist” - they would even abhor the thought of that.  What they don’t realize, it isn’t just past terminology but current well-intentioned but unwise behavior and actions that builds that concept deeply in the psyche of the global church and world. 

Right now, a year after Haiti - everyone is commemorating the anniversary and some “celebrating” the progress over what has been accomplished - though all would highly agree more needs to happen.  I am grateful for those who have made it a year.  I’ve been to a few global “catastrophes” and there’s the perception you have 3 groups.  The camera crowd - getting their mugs on the cameras for PR, and once the camera’s have left - so have they.  There is the fund raising crowd, pictures of them working put in their broshures and web-sites to get money.  Finally, there are those that stay.  There are some people however, that are never mentioned but sometimes get lost in the tide of a catastrophe but to me are the most critical - those that were there before the event and served in the event and will be there long after the event. 

How do we change destructive behaviors and build a healthy world and a church that is truly being a blessing instead of creating a ton of problems? 

1.  Use charity only for a crisis - not for long-term engagement.  There are times when something horrible happens, and people need help, be it earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcano’s, wars, famines - you name it.  But, tons has been written the past ten years on how charity is not what the world needs regular doses of.  Though it may make us feel good, and be an easy thing just to give a check - the world doesn’t need checks, it needs people who are willing to engage cities at a deep level.  I call them domains:  education, health, governance, communication, agriculture, social, etc.  If anything charity can unintentionally keep people in poverty because you’re giving fish, but not using that money to teach fishing.  I was recently with a group of incredibly successful leaders in a developing country.  Several of them have become very wealthy.  One of them told me, at first I felt guilty for making all the money I made.  I needed to be involved in “the cause” but I realized I’m helping the cause by providing thousands of jobs for people that wouldn’t have them.  The greatest thing I could do was build the economy.  He got it - the businessmen at that table represented tens of thousands of jobs. 

2.  Focus on a place long term.  Don’t take a “dine and dash” approach to missions or global engagement.  Jumping from here to there doesn’t help anyone.  Churches often brag about reaching the whole world and being on several continents, countries, and cities.  Generally, a church doing that really doesn’t go deep in any place but scatters stuff all over the place.  What if churches were as intentional in global engagement as they were in their own communities?  The impact would be dramatic.  The people in the church would own it.  It would require a long term focus.  I was with a key pastor of a huge mega-church recently, and they realized if they took all the money they were spending all over the place and focused it and their volunteers on a particular global city they could impact a city.  Think about it - what if the 2,000 mega-churches of America were each to adopt 2,000 cities of the world for a period of 10+ years - focus their money, volunteers, and domain leaders in that specific city - WOW!  There are enough churches to do what needs to be done - it’s amazing the absence of focus.  No mega-church could survive without intentional focus - we can’t expect anything less from how we engage the world. 

3.  Connect your leaders in domains.  Don’t just focus on preachers.  The problem with the global engagement of the church is because the church is led by pastors, it’s pastor training and religious work and church to church relations that are focused on.  The focus needs to be the city - not the church.  The church is a resource for the city and the city the market for the church.  There are no closed countries - the idea that we have to sneak in and out - is more about us than it is the Gospel.  Doctors, businessmen, educators, volunteers - are welcome in any country in the world and governments will work with those people.  If my model is primarily sending a few people to be vocational missionaries and I have to sneak them in - maybe so.  But if my model is the whole body of Christ is the missionary - then we serve globally, long term, in the name of Jesus in cities anywhere in the world.  We don’t need more seminaries and preachers - we needs to get disciples up on their feet acting like Jesus called us all to act. 

4.  Make disciples.  The T-life model of discipleship that we use is one that is used globally.  We didn’t invent it - churches globally are all using the same thing.  It will require a different kind of disciple to reach the world.  These are global disciples.  Every disciple is global - it’s not an add on option - it was a direct command by Jesus Christ.  A disciple isn’t an educated religious person - but someone who hears and obeys Jesus and follows him.  This is how the Gospel spread in the early days- not preachers, seminaries, events - but everyday followers of Jesus living our their faith, serving society, naturally talking about who Jesus was - HEAR HIS VOICE AND THEN OBEYING.  I’ve read Acts several times the past 2 months and that’s what it was.  We’ve redefined disciple into something that would be foreign in the early church.  Focusing just on knowledge, education, dispersing information, if anything slows the movement.  If a disciple is hear and obey - it doesn’t matter if you can read or write, a doctor or a trash man - everyone can hear God and follow.  This is the whole point about using the foolish to confound the wise.  His disciples are illustrations of this very point. 

5.  Leave your ideas and programs at home.  Go, listen, learn from the people who are there.  Missiology books are sadly becoming more and more outdated and out of touch with the world that exists today.  Books on globalization and current affairs read beside the Bible, and history books of the particular place you are working in are the best books to help you learn.  You have to listen today - you can’t just show up and do your thing and spout your stuff.  If you haven’t figured it out yet - one thing you will discover, is that the church in the world, doesn’t want the church in the West.  They want to be friends, they want to be co-laborers.  Frankly, we need them, a lot more than they need us.  God is at work in his church all over the world - you don’t need to go there to start yours - only serve his.

6.  Go as partners and co-laborers not as the Great Savior coming from the Western church.  People don’t want to be treated as charity cases.  Furthermore, they have as much (maybe more) to give you and learn from them as you have to offer them.  Money isn’t the only thing the world needs.  One project I was recently involved in required Muslims, Chrisians, and communists - and God was all over that action!

7.  Pray and and filled with the Holy Spirit everyday.  The strategic plan in Acts was prayer and the Holy Spirit.  Hate to say it - those who don’t have strong spiritual disciplines and emotional maturity will not make it in the future of global faith.  Hearing God, and courageously in faith responding to opportunity will be the key.  Just came back from a place where I was asked to meet with leaders and imams from that country.  I asked them, what if I bring dozens of pastors who want to spend the weekend in the home of an imam, go to his mosque, and then the imam and the pastor go visit a church (which they have in this country) together?  They went crazy over the idea.  The asked, “Would Christian pastors from America want to spend the weekend with us?”  That very question, broke my heart.  In this particular country there are a few churches - it became apparent to me - the greatest thing a church could do for this country was not connect with it’s emerging church, but with its established mosque to build relationships between Christians and Muslims and also to give hope and be a buffer for Christians there.  Paul didn’t start with the church, but with priest, synagogues, town squares, and amphitheatres.  Should we be engaged with the church?  By all means - but not like we have in the past. 

Sooooo, stay in Haiti and focus long term - it was messed up in the worst sort of way before the earthquake.  Make disciples - which are always global.  Engage the city through disciples in domains.  Get ready to learn more than you teach and to receive more than you give!  Hear and obey Jesus.  Go as a learner and fellow-partner - not as the Savior!

Many more things I could add - but this is enough just to chew on - gotta get on my sermon prep!!!!!!