8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

1/160

Ednbg

Youth Perspectives

2010

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

2/160

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

3/160

William Carey International University Press

Pasadena, California

Ednbg

Youth Perspectives

2010

Edd by Kk Sandg

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

4/160

Ednbg 2010: Y P

Cyg 2010 by Ednbg 2010

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9780865850125Lbay f Cng Cnl Nmb: 2010928578

N a f wk may b dd anmd n any fm by any manf xaml, ln manal, nldng yng and dngw- wn mn f bl.

Pbld by Wllam Cay Innanal Uny P1539 E. Hwad S, Paadna, Calfna 91104

Wllam Cay Innanal Uny P bl wk a f ny bj a mn and wmn d and add fman blm and wld.

Printed in the United States of America._________________________________________________________________

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

5/160

Contents

Pfa Brian Stanley

Indn Kirk Sandvig

1. Cmmn f S: Mlgy f Rland Allnn Twny-F CnyAndrew R.H. Tompson 92Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts

2. Falln I Babyln! Mnay Cnn Gd DyAaron . Hollander 252Christian Mission Among Other Faiths

3. Rnng Mn S:O Dy n PalnAnnie Osborne 492

Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts

4. Pmay f Mag f Ln a Pmdn WldAriel Siagan 612Mission and Postmodernities

5. J d Way a Cnal Mdl f Bldng PaflCmmny n Myanma Hau Sian Suan 732Mission and Power

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

6/160

6. Emnm: Mng Twad a Ml-Fad GlbalCnanJamie Hollis 872Mission and Unity: Ecclesiology and Mission

7. Wd Bam Fl and Ld Amng U: Mlgal Imlan fan Inananal ClgyJesse Zink 1032Foundations for Mission

8. Lng Magna: Bld Vgn May a Mdland Inan f Emnal Mn Luiz Coelho 1152Mission and Unity: Ecclesiology and Mission

9. Rlamng C Mnn Lg f M DJonathan Hyunjoon Park 1292Foundations for Mission

10. Lgman and Mn: Hw D W Ra El Wld? Patrick Stefan 1432Mission and Postmodernities

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

7/160

Preface

Isometimes tell my students that, whenever my awarenessof my advancing years threatens to depress me, I decide toattend a missionary meeting, for I know that I shall come away

immensely encouraged by the abundant evidence that I amnot so old after all! Enthusiasm for the world mission of theChristian Church appears, in much of the western world, to bethe preserve of a diminishing and ageing constituency. At leastin Britain, meetings convened for the purpose of enthusing orinforming Christians about the Church in the majority worldand its mission rarely attract the younger generation, despite the

stories of church growth and courageous Christian witness inhostile or dicult environments that such meetings are oftenable to tell.

It might be tempting to conclude, therefore, that the subjectsof mission and youth no longer belong together. Tis volumeof essays commissioned by the Council of the Edinburgh centenary conference suggests, however, that there is another

side to the picture. Te ten contributors to this book are allunder the age of thirty and yet are all passionately committedto a missional understanding of the Christian faith. Tey also

i

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

8/160

ii

E 2010: Y P

share a belief that mission is a subject that demands both serious

theological reection and appropriate action characterised,in David J. Boschs famous phrase, by bold humility. Teessays have been selected from the entries to a youth writingcompetition organised by Kirk Sandvig, the youth co-ordinatorof the Edinburgh project. Te range of the essayists reectsthe range of the entrants to the competition rather than beingfully representative of the distribution of the world Christian

family. Entrants from North America predominate, and thecontinent of Africa, so central in the story of the geographicalrealignment of Christianity to the southern hemisphere since themiddle of the twentieth century, is sadly not represented at allin this collection. Tis is especially regrettable, not least becauseit mirrors the serious neglect of Africa by the World MissionaryConference held in Edinburgh in 9, at which there was only

one delegate from black Africa. Happily, the other (and evenmore gravely) neglected continent at Edinburgh 9, LatinAmerica, is represented in this collection by the essay from LuizCoelho from Brazil, in addition to guring in the text of severalof the other essays.

Despite the imbalance in the range of the contributors,the themes with which these essays grapple are those that

occur again and again in contemporary debates over Christianmission: the meaning of the Christian missionary imperativein pluralistic religious contexts, the relationship of mission andunity, the missionary calling of the Church amidst injustice andoppression, and the paradigmatic nature of the missio Dei forthe mission programmes that Christians adopt, are all centralto this volume. Andrew Tompsons opening essay in particular

engages with the central problem of the uncongenial nature ofthe mission word to many younger Christians today, or at least with its high embarrassment factor when placed in an inter-

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

9/160

iii

iii

cultural or global context.

Delegates to the World Missionary Conference in 9were distinguished by their predominantly grey or white heads,according to one contemporary journalists report. Yet perhaps themost powerful address given at Edinburgh 9 was that deliveredby one of the youngest participants, Cheng Jingyi, the twenty-eight-year-old assistant pastor from Beijing who confronted theassembly with the challenge that Chinese Christians were calling

with some impatience for a non-denominational expression ofthe faith in their national context. His words had a great impact,and this young Chinese found himself catapulted as a result intoa position of leadership in the Continuation Committee and inthe history of ecumenical initiatives in Chinese Christianity. It isnot too much to hope that the voices of young Christians, eager,as Cheng was, to express the missionary nature of Christianity in

ways that make sense to their own generation, will have a similarimpact on the centenary conference that gathers in Edinburghin June .

Brian StanleyDirector, Centre for the Study of World Christianity,University of Edinburgh,

April 2010

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

10/160

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

11/160

v

Introduction

Youth perspectives on mission have often been unrecognizedduring the discussions of Christian witness throughout theworld. Most discussions of mission have tended to be dominatedby more experienced and accomplished missiologists that we all

know and respect. Tis perceived dominance has, unfortunately,created reluctance among many young missionaries andmissiologists to freely express their thoughts on Christianwitness. While many people have written aboutthe role of youthwithin the Church, very little has actually been writtenfrom theperspective of youth. Tis, however, does not mean that youthhave nothing to contribute on the subject of Christian witness

in the world today. As we will see in this book, the perspectivesof youth provide an invaluable asset to the Church as a whole,and their participation into the discussion of Christian witnessis strongly needed.

In an eort to increase youth participation and fostercreative thinking within the Edinburgh process, a youth writing contest was established in order to provide youth an

opportunity to share their thoughts on the issues of Christianwitness. Youth, ages 8-3, were encouraged to write a 3-word essay, engaging in one of the nine study themes of the

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

12/160

vi

E 2010: Y P

Edinburgh conference.

Te nine study themes are: Foundations for Mission Christian Mission Among Other Faiths Mission and Post-Modernity Mission and Power Forms of Missionary Engagement Teological Education and Formation

Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts Mission and UnityEcclesiology and Mission Mission Spirituality and Authentic Discipleship

After receiving essays from youth spanning around the world,including: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Myanmar,Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, the US, Canada, Germany,and the UK, this book will represent the top essays submitted

for the contest. An evaluation panel of top missiologists andtheologians of various backgrounds have selected the top essays.Trough careful consideration, these essays represent a varietyof theological, denominational, confessional, and geographicalperspectives, as they engage the various study themes. Whilenot all of the study themes have been represented in this book,these essays do represent many of the themes discussed during

Edinburgh conference.Given the nature of the Edinburgh conference, the

essays selected for this book exhibit many dierent writing styles.Some of the essays have more of an academic approach to thestudy themes, while others take on a more personal approach. Ineither case, the authors of these essays oer new and innovativeways of critically evaluating our approach to Christian witness

in twenty-rst century.Special thanks to all the authors who submitted to the

Edinburgh Youth Writing Contest, the Youth Writing

vi

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

13/160

vii

I

Contest Panel, the Edinburgh Sta, the World Council of

Churches, and all connected to the William Carey InternationalUniversity Press for making this publication possible.

Kirk SandvigEdinburgh 2010 Youth and Mission Coordinator

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

14/160

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

15/160

9

1

Communities of the Spirit:e Missiology of Roland Allen in the

Twenty-First Century

Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts

Andrew R. H. ompson1

Ihate it, responded one disaected seminarian. I hate theword mission. Te seminarians were preparing for a trip to ElSalvador, and were discussing missiology and its various implications.All of the students were ambivalent about the idea of mission, andthey reected on the various possible locutions to describe to othersthe purpose of their upcoming trip: service, volunteer, study,

relationship-building. Anything but mission.Tese students are not alone in their uncertainty.Conversations like this occur throughout the church, somewith reactions every bit as adverse as that of the student above.Church groups on short-term visits wonder what it means tocall such a thing mission. A group of young adults preparingfor their departure into the eld struggles with the connotations

of the term missionary, most opting for volunteer, orcommunity development worker. Tese conversations reectan understanding of mission primarily as an encounter between

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

16/160

E 2010: Y P

distinct cultures, usually characterized by inequality of wealth

or power, and accordingly they express discomfort with thecolonialist or imperialistic connotations and history of missionso conceived. Likewise, the choice of labels like service pointsto a recognition that the church must attend to communitiesmaterial needs, and a belief (justied or not) that missionmay not always include such attention. Tese sentiments areespecially prevalent among young leaders in the church, such

as the seminarians and missionaries above, who see mission as arelic of a less pluralist, less culturally aware past, and yet struggleto reconcile this perspective with the mandate to go and makedisciples of all nations (Matt 8.9).

Such a narrow view of mission, as primarily one-way, fromdeveloped or advanced societies to developing or third- world countries, with all of its attendant implications, is

inadequate to address the contemporary faith of Christians, youngand old; it is also theologically impoverished. Yet it persists in theface of decades of eorts to provide more appropriate missiologicalframeworks.3 In my own tradition, leaders of the AnglicanCommunion called upon the church to rethink the whole ideaof mission in terms that reect equality, interdependence, andmutual responsibility as early as 963.4Nonetheless, the objections

and ambivalence described above suggest a perception that theseconceptual changes have not always translated into notable shiftsin practice. Appropriately for this centenary, a practical missiologythat meets these twenty-rst century needs is found in the writingsof a missionary from the turn of the previous century, Roland Allen. Allens challenge to the missionary practices of his time,with their dependence on what he called the modern Western

spirit, and call for greater trust in the work of the Holy Spirit inmission communities, are as relevant to our current situation asthey were a century ago.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

17/160

C S

Before turning to Allens methods, though, I consider one

conception of mission that addresses some of the contemporaryconcerns already noted. A more theologically appropriatemissiology views mission as the concrete witness of Christiancommunities in all placesthe whole church bringing the whole Gospel to the whole world.5 Te ecclesiology of JohnHoward Yoder presents a compelling call for just such a view, onethat will subsequently be claried by the methods commended

by Roland Allen.

I. ProclaImIngthe mIssIo DeI

Mission is the concrete witness of Christian communities inthe world. Since the middle of the twentieth century Christianshave armed that Christian mission is always a participationin the missio Dei, Gods saving purpose for the world.6 Te core

of mission, then, must be the faithful witness of Christiansto the missio Dei, our testimony to Gods reconciling purposefor creation that embraces and subsumes and saves all othergoals and acts. Mission is therefore central to the identity ofthe church itself, as the faithful community that exists as a sign,in the world, of Gods mission. Conversely, the primary locusof Christian participation in Gods mission is the church, or,

more specically, the faithful communities that testify to themissio Dei; in other words, the church is central to mission. Tesending to which the etymology of mission refers is not thesending of individuals by one community to another, but ratherthe sending of Gods people by God in witness into the world.

John Howard Yoders ecclesiology helps clarify the contentof this proclamation.7 He describes the communitys mission as

a modeling mission, in that, the church is called to be nowwhat the world is called to be ultimately.8 In other words, theexample of the church testies to Gods purpose for creation

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

18/160

E 2010: Y P

the missio Dei. Specically, the witnessing community enacts

values of reconciliation, peacefulness, and egalitarianism in themidst of a world that undermines or rejects those values. Becausethe God it proclaims is other than and beyond the world, thechurchs ability to carry out this modeling mission depends onits ability to stand against the wisdom and values of the worldwhen necessary.9 It thereby proclaims by example Gods desirefor human life in community as revealed by Jesus, and works

toward some partial realization of that desire.Te witness of Yoders Christian community is theologicallyfounded. Its rst and core commitment is to Christs example,most fundamentally His cross. Te believers cross mandated inthe New estament is our imitation of Jesus in his disavowal ofworldly ways of relating to others. It is our willing acceptanceof rejection and suering as potential consequences of our

testimony. Witnessing to Gods mission of reconciliation andpeace necessarily places believers apart fromyet always inmission to and in service of, never purely againstthe world towhich they are sent.

Yet Yoders vision is also culturally apt: it acknowledges andaddresses contemporary concerns about pluralism. He arguesthat gaps between dierent cultures or beliefs are not bridged by

some universal metalanguage, but rather by our own particularwitnesses proclaimed in the language of pluralism. We are calledto discern how to proclaim Christs lordship in a way that ismeaningful to a pluralist world, the same way the rst Christiansdiscerned how to proclaim it in new and dierent contexts.

Yoder refers to this as a missionary ethic of incarnation.3 Godbecame incarnate to call us to a particular way of participating in

the missio Dei, and we can extend that invitation to all. Te factthat the truth has taken on particularity in a particular time andplace is the basis for our engagement with other ways of believing.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

19/160

3

C S

We proclaim this truth not by seeking to be less specically

Christian, but rather by working at every commonality andconict to which our particularity leads us. As we shall see, Allens missionary methods provide some suggestions for ourdiscernment of the shape of this engagement. Te existence ofChristian communities testies to the fact that our truth, like alltruth, is particular, and precisely in this particularity, it can bemeaningfully communicateduniversallyto other particular

contexts. As Yoder says, we report an event that occurred in ourlisteners own world, and ask them to respond to it. What couldbe more universal than that?4

II. rolanD allen: communItIesofthe sPIrIt

Roland Allen, an Anglican missionary in China at the turnof the twentieth century, criticizes the missionary practices of

that period. His challenges invite comparison with modernconcerns and suggest methods for realizing Yoders notion of aparticular communal witness in a pluralist context. Allen arguesthat the modern Western spirit, suers from a lack of trust inthe presence of the Holy Spirit in mission communities, createsutter dependence on the missionary, and is inconsistent withthe practices modeled by the most successful missionary in the

history of the faith, St. Paul, who was able to establish viableChristian communities in four provinces of the Roman Empirein the ten years between 47 and 57 C.E.5

Allen elaborates St. Pauls methods, addressing hisadministration of the communities (including leadership andnances), his preaching, and his use of miracles.6 First, incontrast to the administrative methods of his modern-day

successors, the key to Pauls success is that he founded churches whilst we found missions.7 Tat is, Allens contemporariesgather dependent communities around a single missionary,

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

20/160

4

E 2010: Y P

usually sent and supported by an elaborate foreign organization,

who administers the sacraments and delivers the teachings of thefaith. Paul, on the other hand, incorporated the local leadership,introduced the fundamental elements of the Gospel and Oldestament and basic sacraments, and, usually after ve or sixmonths, left behind a viable church in the care of local elders.8

He taught in a context of mutual instruction, allowing localprophets to speak, then withdrew from the community to enable

local leadership. Of course, Paul maintained communicationwith the churches through his letters. Nonetheless, accordingto Allen, Paul consistently emphasized the importance of theirfreedom.9 Pauls nancial practices also supported this: hedid not establish nancially dependent communities. Rather,nancial matters were always means to strengthen the unity ofthe Body of Christ.

Allen surveys the accounts of St. Pauls preaching, anddiscerns a characteristic recognition and understanding of theparticular condition of his listeners as regards their currentbeliefs, and a corresponding eort to address their own peculiarchallenges to accepting the Gospel. Underlying this approachis a frank acknowledgment of the general diculty of suchacceptance, as well as respect for the hearers understanding and

condence in the message itself. Tese aspects portray a style ofteaching that gave careful attention to the specic circumstancesof the communities. Finally, according to Allen, Pauls workingof miracles and teachings on charity (such as Corinthians 3.-3) illustrate Christian concern for doing good, a perspectivethat saw, in every case of trouble or diseasean opportunityfor the revelation of grace and loving-kindness. Miracles and

service manifested the Spirit and character of the new religion.Tis latter point deserves more consideration than Allen

gives it. Gods desire for creation is more comprehensive than

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

21/160

5

C S

material well-being; our participation in the missio Deitherefore

cannot be reduced to social or economic development programs.On the other hand, neither can it ignore the concrete realitiesof those to whom it is addressed. Indeed, one aspect of moderndissatisfaction with the idea of mission is based on a perception,noted above, that missions have neglected these realities inthe past. Both Jesus and St. Paul consistently attended to thematerial care of those with whom they shared the Gospel, in the

form of miracles and, in Pauls case, the collection for the poorin Jerusalem; we, as their successors, must do so as well. Nordoes it suce simply to assert that teaching of the faith must beaccompanied by care for material well-being, as two distinct partsof the churchs mission. Tere is an intrinsic relation between thetwo. Te Gospel is the good news to the poor (Luke 4.8).With its message of hope and liberation, the Christian faith has

concrete consequences in the life of the community.Tese concrete implications are not strictly economic

development in the way it is sometimes understood, withwealthier communities aiding those less fortunate (though theydo not exclude this), any more than mission is necessarily asending from more advanced societies to more marginal ones.Tey are, rather, a central aspect of the concrete discernment of

the Gospel in communities of all kinds; spiritual transformationand material change go hand in hand. Allen recognizes this:the activities of the Christians as individuals and as a body,the church in the place, should be the most clear revelation ofthe spirit [W]hen [people] see a change in the lives of theirneighbours[t]hen the people are face to face with the HolyGhost.3 If Christians have at times neglected the integral

nature of this connection, it is nonetheless true that it hashad real manifestations throughout the world. Christian faithhas been an integral (rather than incidental) force in eorts at

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

22/160

6

E 2010: Y P

education, community development, advocacy, and revolution

(two examples are considered below). Christian communitiesproclaim and participate in Gods mission not simply or primarilyin their words, but in their very lives.

Te missiology that I propose, then, builds on Allens insistencethat the church follow the example of St. Paul in focusing onthe communities in which mission takes place. It is a matter ofnurturing and developing communities whose lives reveal Gods

reconciling purpose, albeit incompletely, to the world aroundthem. o do this the church must address its Christian formationto the actual social and material situations of communitiesthemselves and empower these communities to advance thisformation themselves; that is, it must discern the truth of theGospel in those specic contexts. Discernment does not relativizeor undermine the Gospel. Rather, as Yoder argues, it is precisely the

particularity of the Gospel, of Christs lordship, that is professedin all new contexts, spoken in the language of pluralism. Andin all contexts, appropriate humility and dependence on Godsself-communication lead us to acknowledge that God is alreadypresent in all places and communities, waiting not to be revealedto them, but rather in them. Tis realization and the attendantgoal of empowering communities themselves to witness to the

Gospel in their own particular contexts together constitute theheart of Christian mission.

Mission so understood, as the proclamation of Godsreconciling mission in the concrete lives of communitieseverywhere, does not take place exclusively, or even essentially,across national or cultural boundaries. Rather, it occurs whereverthe life and ministry of the church constitutes a genuine

testimony to the kind of reconciled, loving relationships thatGod desires for Gods creatures. Nonetheless, encounters acrossvarious kinds of boundarieswhich are often much closer than

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

23/160

7

C S

we imaginecan call us to understand just how radical and risky

this reconciliation is, and are therefore a necessary component ofour participation in mission. Further, they can remind us that theboundaries between the witnessing community and the world towhom it addresses its witness may be uid and shifting.

Our participation in Gods mission ultimately requires us toapproach mission with an attitude of faith in the power of God inthe Holy Spirit. It was this faith, according to Allen, that enabled

St. Paul to entrust the formation and guidance of the early churchto the communities themselves. Such trust is risky, and a morecritical reading of Paul than Allens suggests that the Apostlesexample may be insucient here. Te trust and freedom thatAllen nds so evident in Pauls dealings with the communitiesare rmlyand at times aggressivelycircumscribed by Paulsinsistence on the purity of the Gospel (this is perhaps most

apparent in Galatians, the very text Allen cites as exemplary ofPauls emphasis on freedom!). Elsewhere, Allen attends to thisconcern for purity as he sees it in the missionary practices of histime.4 He believes that such fear for proper doctrine expresses alack of faith in the Holy Spirit, in the ability of others to receivethe Gospel, and in the doctrine itself. Te truths of Christianfaith, he argues, are not primarily intellectual assertions, but are

encountered in our experience. Tus the diverse experiences offaithful communities enrich, rather than threaten, doctrine.5

Allen urges us, therefore, to learn from the faith thatgrounded Pauls ministry. He argues that throughout his careerPaul believed in the Holy Ghost, not merely vaguely as a spiritualPower, but as a Person indwelling his converts. He believedtherefore in his converts. He could trust them. He believed that

Christ was able and willing to keep that which he had committedto Him.6 While arming the example of Pauls faith forcontemporary mission, I would add the need to deepen it in the

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

24/160

8

E 2010: Y P

way described above, balancing concern for purity with trust in

the Spirits ability to express the Gospel in new and diverse ways.God is active and revealing Godself in communities everywhere.Te church is blessed with the opportunity to witness to andparticipate in this missio Dei, and to commend all of its eortsto God, trusting that God and Gods people will together bringit closer and closer to fruition.

III. examPlesof mIssIonarycommunItyAs a missionary of the Episcopal Church, I worked in Sitio delos Nejapa, a poor community in rural El Salvador. It is a placeof great need, and its residents have been grateful recipientsof a small number of charity and development programs. Yetwhen the few community leaders try to mobilize support fortheir own eorts, or to encourage new leaders, they are met with

indierence. Many community members, particularly womenwith little formal education, attribute this apparent indierenceto, among other things, feelings of inadequacy or lack of ability.Tey do not advocate on their own behalf, they say, because theyare looked down on or ignored by local ocials; they cannot beleaders because they lack the skills.

In weekly Bible studies, however, these women are able to

encourage one another to value their own voices. In reecting onpassages such as Matthew .5 (I thank you, Fatherbecauseyou have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligentand have revealed them to infants) they begin to overcome theirself-doubt and recognize their ability to speak for themselves.Tis new self-awareness, in turn, empowers them to collaborate with leaders of the church and community to develop other

programs, such as a weekly sewing class.7Te story of the women of Sitio de Los Nejapa is an

example of discernment of the truth of the Gospel in a specic

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

25/160

9

C S

context. Te consequent changes, however slight, in the life of

the community testify to more reconciled, equal relationships. Another, perhaps more striking, example can be seen in the well-documented, real impact of Christian base communitiesin Latin America. Don Pablito, a Salvadoran in the town ofCinquera, recounts how regular Bible studies initiated by localpriests empowered community improvement: drunks stoppeddrinking, men stopped beating their wives, and workers began

to advocate on behalf of their rights.8

Again, discernment of theconcrete implications of the Gospel creates a powerful witnessto reconciled relations.

In both these examples, the material and social life of thecommunity is one with its reection on the truths of the Gospel,and constitutes its witness to the world. Here, in Allens words,the activities of the Christians as individuals and as a body, the

church in the place, [are] the most clear revelation of the spirit.In some cases, this witness relies on the work of missionaries ofsome kind, persons whose work is to build up each community.Yet more fundamentally, the mission involved is the witness of thecommunities themselves, as their formation empowers them toproclaim to the world, through their shared life, the missio Dei.

IV. conclusIon At its heart, Christian mission is participation in Gods lovingmission for all of creation. Tis participation is enacted in the livesof Christian communities everywhere, lives that bear witness tothe divine purpose. In following Christs example and testifying toways of relating other than those that dominate society, believersare set apart from the world, as Christ was, in mission to it. Tis

mission is integral to the identity of the church. Te life of thechurch witnessing to the world: this is the foundation of mission,the whole church bringing the whole Gospel to the whole world.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

26/160

E 2010: Y P

Te character of that proclamation will be determined by

the practices we use to shape our communities. Roland Allensmethods, focusing on the formation of viable communities,leadership from within, teaching that addresses particular,concrete contexts, and trust in the communities themselves andthe Spirit working in them, oer some initial suggestions. Missionso understood provides a theologically compelling corrective tothe impoverished conception that still leads some Christians,

especially younger ones, to question the relevance of missionor reject it altogether. Christian mission is not intrinsicallycolonialist or hegemonic, but is rather the proclamation ofGods presence in particular communities everywhere. Tis isgood news in a world that sorely needs it.

enD notes

. Andrew R. H. Tompson is a Ph.D student in ReligiousEthics at Yale University. With his wife, the Rev. LeighPreston, he served as an Episcopal Missionary in ElSalvador. He currently lives in West Hartford, and is activein the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.

. Tese experiences are from my own time as a missionary in

El Salvador with the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps.3. David Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in

eology of Mission, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books, 99),369-393.

4. Address by Rt. Rev. Stephen Bayne to Anglican Congress963, cited in Ian . Douglas, Te Exigency of imes and

Occasions, in Beyond Colonial Anglicanism, eds. Ian .Douglas & Kwok Pui Lan (New York: Church Publishing,), 8.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

27/160

C S

5. Bosch, .

6. itus Presler, Horizons of Mission (Cambridge, MA: CowleyPress, ), 3; Bosch, Transforming Mission, , 37;Douglas, Exigency, 4.

7. John Howard Yoder, e Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethicsas Gospel(Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press,984).

8. Ibid, 9.

9. Ibid, 9, cf. Bosch 386.

. John Howard Yoder, e Politics of Jesus(Grand Rapids,MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 994), 94-97.

. Yoder, Priestly Kingdom, 56.. Ibid, 49-54.

3. Ibid, 44.

4. Ibid, 59.

5. Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Pauls or Ours?

(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 96), 6.

6. Specically, Allen discusses miracles (chapter 5), nance(chapter 6), preaching (chapter 7) and teaching (chapter8). I have chosen to treat his accounts of Pauls teachingand use of nances together (based on a common emphasison local autonomy) as administration, and to change the

order.

7. Allen,Missionary Methods, 83.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

28/160

E 2010: Y P

8. Ibid, 84-9.

9. Ibid, 9. Allen cites the ambiguous example of Pauls letterto the Galatians; problems with this reading will be notedbelow.

. Ibid, 5-5.

. Ibid, 6-64.

. Ibid, 45.

3. Roland Allen, e Ministry of the Spirit: Selected Writingsof Roland Allen, ed. David M. Patton (Grand Rapids, MI:Wm. B. Eerdmans, 96), .

4. Roland Allen, e Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and

the Causes Which Hinder It(London: World DominionPress, 97), 57-79.

5. Ibid, 66-67

6. Allen,Missionary Methods, 49.

7. Te mission in Sitio de los Nejapa is still relatively young,

too young to point to more dramatic outcomes. Te sewingclass has, at the time of this writing, come to an end,and the community members are working with the newmissionary (a Salvadoran) to discern new possibilities forcommunity engagement.

8 Interview with Don Pablito in Cinquera, El Salvador,November, 7.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

29/160

3

C S

BIBlIograPhy

Allen, Roland.Ministry of the Spirit: Selected Writings of RolandAllen. Edited by David M. Patton. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.B. Eerdmans, 96.

Allen, Roland.Missionary Methods: St. Pauls or Ours?GrandRapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 96.

Allen, Roland. e Spontaneous Expansion of the Church and the

Causes Which Hinder It. London: World Dominion Press,97.

Bosch, David. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts ineology of Mission. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis books, 99.

Douglas, Ian . Te Exigency of imes and Occasions. InBeyond Colonial Anglicanism. Edited by Ian . Douglas &Kwok Pui Lan. New York: Church Publishing, .

Presler, itus. Horizons of Mission. Cambridge, MA: CowleyPress, .

Yoder, John Howard. Politics of Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm.B. Eerdmans, 994.

Yoder, John Howard. Priestly Kingdom: Social Ethics as Gospel.Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 984.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

30/160

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

31/160

5

2

Fallen is Babylon!Missionary Conversion to Gods Diversity

Christian Faith Among Other Faiths

Aaron Hollander1

Our rst task in approaching another people, another culture,another religion, is to take o our shoes, for the place we areapproaching is holy. Else we may nd ourselves treading onpeoples dreams. More seriously still, we may forget that Godwas there before we arrived.

~Kenneth Cragg

Any encounter with other religions needs to begin not with

dialogue but with silence.~Malachy Hanratty, SSC

M etanoia: repentance, conversion, reorientation. Tese areterms at the core of the Christian imagination.Metanoiaimplies the changing of nous, a Greek concept of the humaninteriormind, heart, the perceiving self. A related term inthe gospels is epistrephein, to turn towards, which clariesthe meaning of conversion for the life of Christianity. Te

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

32/160

6

E 2010: Y P

Church is called into being because of the need and capacity

for conversionturningamong the peoples of Creation: therequirement not of a 8-degree recoil from the movement ofour lives, nor the abandonment of the communities that nurtureus, but the reorientation of both towards new modes of beingin relationship with each other and with God. In this vein, thisessay is a study of conversion as a model for mission.

If the Church is called out to seek the metanoia of the

world, then we must be careful not to understand this task asconversion in too narrow a sense. A venerable archetype ofreligious discourse is that of challenging the assumption thatreceived religious belief and practice are being carried outappropriately.3 In other words, the call for conversion has beenand continues to be as meaningful within religious circles as it isbetween them. Missionary enthusiasm to convert others comes

with the risk of forgetting the Christian commitment to keepturning oneself toward the new lifeto convert the Church aspart of the world. Te Church in mission is participating in aprocess of the Spirit that calls it to share in the transformationit is working to inspire. Bishop Lesslie Newbigin is direct andinsightful: Jesus is not for one against the other. He is againstall for the sake of all.4

1. ears to hear: the sIgnIfIcanceof Inter-relIgIous encounter

We can recognize in an earlier era of mission our truncatedrecognition of God in the unfamiliar; unfamiliar lands, peoples,and spiritual traditions represented a great challenge for theChurch. When missionary churches belief in the pre-eminenceof their own heritage has been absolute, they have been in many

cases unable to recognize the spiritual depth and relationshipwith God to which, for instance, tribal peoples patiently attested.5

Te possibility of discovering religious meaning on unfamiliar

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

33/160

7

F I B

ground was precluded by a model of thinking that ranked what

was already known above what was yet to be known.However, careful attention devoted by the agents of missionto other religious milieus on their own terms reveals that humanestrangement from the Divine, and the reconciliation andhealing therewith, are indeed realities with more than one form.Te (Christian, Aboriginal Australian) Rainbow Spirit Elderspoint out that God does not speak to us rst and foremost

through European and Western theology6

for instance, thebrokenness of the land is the source of human alienation in thiscontext, not the other way around (as in the prophetic traditionof Israel). A priori missionary suspicion of indigenous ways ofknowing and relating to the sacred, supposing their insuciencyand need for Christian correction, was rooted largely in what wewould identify today as confusion of a theological model with

its subject of inquiry. Te model in which the messages carriedby natural phenomena, animals, and plants are read as seductiveand false was certainly resonant for early Christian asceticssearching to be puried of earthly things in anticipation of theeschaton, but to call it a normative model is to call into questionChristianitys applicability among cultures whose identity isclosely and essentially bound to the land.

A few brief examples from the Missionary Society of St.Columban (SSC) will illustrate the dialogical processes andchallenges at work in a more patient, open-ended approach tomissionary interpretation of the other, both among indigenouspeoples and other world religions.7

Many Columbans feel that, to this day, most missionarieshave not been adequately trained for dialogue;8 in other words,

they tend at rst to be bewildered by the realization that theirprecious message is but part of the total story of Gods interaction with Creation. But despite any initial fears of relativism, the

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

34/160

8

E 2010: Y P

missionaries attest again and again that theological equilibrium

is regained within this larger context. Witness to the gospelbecomes part of the rhythm of relationship and discovery, ratherthan its prerequisite. For instance, the Columban missionariesin Lahore, Pakistan, worked through the mechanisms of thelocal government to launch an interfaith radio program in 5.Waqt ki Awaz (Te Voice of the ime) brings together interviews,radio dramas, discussions, and news; the radio format allows for

interfaith concerns to be deposed from any academic or clericalpedestal and re-placed in a dialogue of life accessible to all.9Frank Hoare, a Columban in Fiji, became aware that HinduFijians were genuinely interested in Christians experience ofGod. Seeking to meet this interest and bear his witness, he foundthat he could learn from a Hindu model of religious teaching:Fr. Hoare clothed himself in a sannyasis (renunciates) simple

clothing and began to walk, sharing his vocation on no authoritybut that of his encounter with God. Te missionary thus cameto occupy a role in a non-Christian community that was notonly permitted but encouraged.

o some extent, argues John DArcy May, a fruitfulencounter between Christianity and other spiritual systems isonly now beginning to take place. Tat encounter begins with

repentance and the demonstration that a change of life is takingplace, combined with public and detailed commitment to therelationship. And to the extent that the encounter is more thana maneuver for powerif it is part of the Churchs mission forthe world, if it is carried out for the sake of Gods Reignit will allow the Church to be converted, deepened, orientedanew towards Gods reconciling presence. Such metanoia is the

possibility enshrined at the heart of Christianity; it is the greatcharism of the Church.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

35/160

9

F I B

2. the harVestof InsIght: mIssIons multIDIrectIonal

InculturatIon

Religious creativity, both within a tradition and in that traditionsinteractions with others, can be said to be more dicult, lesssecure, more disturbing and frightening, and ultimately farmore rewarding than syncretism or eclecticism. It requires thattraditions not merely be points of reference for contemporary lifebut that theycontinue themselves to live, and that those who adhere

to them are faithful precisely by trusting their capacity to continuespeakingrather than repeating a recorded message. Tis speakingof ancient, culturally resonant symbols to new worlds of humanunderstanding and interaction is at the foundation of Christianityitself: Jesus calling forth of prophetic images and promises to befonts of living water, bearing the vision of messianic Sabbath andreconciliation into the contemporary terms of Roman occupation

and Hellenistic Judaism.In this light it needs to be noted that deliberate hybridity

between religious imaginations, though often resisted assyncretism, cannot be unilaterally ruled out. Te RainbowSpirit Elders clarify this dangerous claim by pointing to the rstchapter of Johns gospel as an instance of just such hybridity: aninspired missionary document intended to convey the person

of Christ in unprecedented metaphysical terms resonant to theparticularities of Hellenic culture. Johns gospel provides greatinsight into the early Church and its understanding of Christslife; nevertheless, even with the gospel itself considered catholic,universally valid, it must be recognized that identication ofChrist with Logos is not. Tis identication, now beloved byChristians worldwide, began as a fortunate refraction through

the prism of local experience. Te Aboriginal translation of John:-4 demonstrates the capacity of the gospel to live newly andspeak in new ways when it is given its freedom to merge with

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

36/160

3

E 2010: Y P

dierent cultures and religious mentalities: In the beginning

was the Rainbow Spirit, deep in the land3

Certainly thegospel according to John had this freedom, and we do not accuseit of syncretism.

Is there more to be learned of God? It seems the utmostarrogance to deny it. Bishop Newbigin is clear that when apre-dened and immovable verbal orthodoxybecomesthe supreme virtue [of religion], and syncretism becomes [its]

most feared enemy,4

real dialogue and indeed, real missionare impossible. Much of the adultery language of the Hebrewscriptures was formulated out of the early Israelite conceptionof YHWH as a tribal god who would lift up his people againstthe rival gods of Canaan and Babylon; in this context, any kindof inter-religious collaboration can indeed be read as a betrayal.But today? Who is encountered by Christians among the chant

and ames of a Hindu puja? If the ancient binary has merelyshifted from our God/their God to our God/no God, wehave replaced tribalism with narcissismno more. Te riskof idolatry, reminds Gavin DCosta, is much greater whenworshiping only the God of our own construction.5

Te intercultural mission takes on a substantially expandedrole when taking on this possibility (if not imperative) of genuine

religious learning in the relationship with other faiths. As the wing of the Church that crosses over to dwell intentionallyin extra-Christian communities, missionaries are on the frontlines of inter-religious dialogue, going forth both to teachand be taught,6 to serve the neighbor and to serve the Churchby deepening its understanding of that neighbor, and indeedits own understanding of God. Tis task of mission has been

articulated in dierent waysor ignored, or anathemizedbutthat it has been a reality is beyond question. Sean McDonaghpoints out that the entire complex of liberation hermeneutics

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

37/160

3

F I B

exists in modern Western churches because missionaries

brought back liberation theology from Latin America.7

Tisis only one example of what William Shenk calls the harvestof new insights from the mission-churches of this century,amounting to a reformation in their inuence on the shape ofthe contemporary Church.8

So the corollary of co-creation between the missionary Churchand the religious milieu in which it dwells is the missions transmission

of its new understanding, its own conversion, back into the owsof the global Church. Tis is not a marginal task: tireless work bytheologians is needed for a kind of reverse inculturation, wherebythe images and commitments of the churches are continuallyreinterpreted in light of the missions deepening experience of theworldand deepening understanding of the truth enshrined butnot owned by Christianity.9When new symbols are permitted to

unfurl out of inter-cultural relationships and rally the maturingchurches in new directionsonly then can Christianity claim acommitment to catholicity. Ecumenism, our relationality with thewholeof the inhabited earth, asks us to communicate in new wayswith ourselves as much as with our neighbors.

3. the loVIng rIsk: relIgIonanD relatIonshIP

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words,begins the Genesis story of the ower of Babel. Recalling theconsequences of Babels collapse, we might lament that notonly the languages of communication but also the languages ofhuman response to the Divine are confused and often mutuallyincomprehensible. However, this story speaks to us today asthe hybrid of a cautionary tale and a prophetic armation:

the construction of a world-kingdom out of a single stockoflanguage, vision, and cultural normsis doomed by its verytendency to authoritarianism and uniformity. It is this temptation

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

38/160

3

E 2010: Y P

of Babel, which Newbigin calls the archetype of all imperial

adventures,

that the story insists is abhorred by God, is torndown and replaced by total and frightening diversity with all itsmisperceptions, discomforts, and irreconcilable contradictions.

I call this vision a prophetic armation from the perspectiveof Pentecost: Pentecost represents not the emergence andinstitution of a new universal language, a new foundation forthe totalitarian union of humanity under a single banner, but

rather the inspiration and exibility by which the outpouring ofthe Spirit bears meaning in all languages. Te miracle attested tois the ability of the apostles to speak languages other than their own;the passersby on the morning of Pentecost hear them speakingParthian, Arabic, Phrygian, Egyptian, and in the idioms andnuances of these languages hear the deeds and message of Jesusarming that the day of the Lords favor is in their midst (Acts

:-). Can we now trust that the oneness and right-ness ofCreation envisioned as the Reign of God is characterized byits radical diversity, a Pentecost-character of all languages ofmeaning rather than a Babel-character of one supreme modeof understanding to which all others are subordinate? Can weconceive that the reality revealed in the gospel is broader thanour grip on it, broader than the grip of the Church at large, is still

being created through the interplay of Church and world, andwill require not only the authority of the past but the dynamismof the present to be fullled?

When speaking of the relation of the Reign of God to religiousexperience beyond the Judeo-Christian imaginative eld, we arenot merely updating the anonymous Christian thesis. It isuntenable to suggest that the worlds religions are all oriented

secretly towards the same soteriological vision proclaimed by theHebrew prophets and lived by Jesus of Nazareth. Te Kingdomis envisioned in the gospels as being already but also not-yet:

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

39/160

33

F I B

already, insofar as it is known and experienced in the life, death,

and resurrection of Christ and the lives of his disciples, andnot-yet, to the extent that it is notknown, not yetexperienced,not completely realized in the life of Christ, not predicted orunderstood by those who await its fullness. Even while, as Paulattests, those baptized in Christ are blessed with the arrabon(Eph :4) the pledge or rst-fruits of the Reign, they donot know the shape of its universality. Tat which is universal,

writes Martin Fuchs, must be elaborated cooperatively amongall who are within its scope.3

Since Vatican II and the WCC assembly in Uppsala, wecan arm on broad ecumenical grounds that while Christiansmay conceive of salvation only through Christ, it is beyond ourauthority to rule out qualities of salvation beyondour conception.Te Kingdom of God, writes Jacques Dupuis, is thus made

up of all believers, Christian and otherwise, who in dierentways, through various mediations, have heard the Word of Godand received it in their hearts, and who have responded to thepromptings of the Spirit and opened themselves to his life-givinginuence.4 Indeed this diversity is divine mandate: Fallen,fallen is Babylon the great! (Revelation 4:8).

Tis line of argument about Gods Reign, though speculative

and metaphorical, nonetheless renders an open-ended theologyof religions legitimate. Because dierent faith-systems addressthemselves to dierent questionsabout identity, morality, relationto nature, and relation to God or Spirit or Source, the answersthey provide should not be taken as contradictoryper se; thesequestions may be framed in terms that make them appear thesame, but given the cultural-linguistic context in which they are

asked and the orienting narratives to which they contribute, theymust be recognized as non-equivalent. For the most intractabledisagreements between the faiths of mankind are philosophical

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

40/160

34

E 2010: Y P

rather than religious. One culture has been built on a dierent

view of existence from another.5

A Buddhist asking, Why isthere suering? will provide a dierent answer to that of theChristian asking, Why is there suering? but in addition isconcerned with a distinct way of experiencing and processingsueringis asking a dierent question. Tus the Christiananswer does not fulll the Buddhist question, although it mayinspire a new direction of thinking and a deeper cross-cultural

perspective. Another implication is that while the religionscannot be said to be strictly contradictory, they also cannot bestrictly complementary, as if they were puzzle pieces that couldbe interchanged and tted together as they are.

If the religions are neither contradictory nor complementary, what they are, then, is relational. Before we can expect anycommunication about religion with members of other faiths

to bear signicance, relationships must be established within which such conversation is appropriate. One of Christianitysmost cherished armations is that the nations and culturesof the world are each others kin, and deserve the unity andunderstanding that this familial context enablesand yet,such family relationships are complex, often painful, lled withparadox. Te paradox of centuries of Christian mission was the

deep sense of responsibility and familial love towards membersof other faiths, expressed (recognizably, for anyone with siblings)through insistence on I know best and a paradigm of youllthank me later. We can ask, then: what are the qualities ofmature relationshiprelationship dened in the Christianworldview, moreover, byloveeven for those who do not seek tobe loved and do not return love?

First, relationship requires a total commitment to listening, without presupposing an answer that suits us or justies ourcurrent stance. Relationship requires, adds Paul Knitter, that I

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

41/160

35

F I B

have to confront [others] when I think they are wrong, but I also

have to be authentically ready to be so confronted by them.6

Being able to acknowledge that we do not always know best,even if we have never before been challenged in a particular way,is a pillar of any healthy relationship. Love does not insist onits own way, writes St. Paul (I Corinthians 3:5). Love requiresboth commitment and discernment when going out fromones own space of comfort to encounter God in the foreign,

the unknown.7

It is a frustrating path, a frightening path, onwhich willingness to engage theologically with anothers sacredtexts and traditions can never be a substitute for the more costlydemands of friendship.8

Vinoth Ramachandra, writing these words in the context ofSri Lankan religious plurality and violence, has the experienceof complex inter-religious relationship to support this claim.

Friendship, solidarity, hospitality, shared living, shared bread,shared prayer: these are the ways of the Reign of God, and thenecessary ground of any inter-religious dialogue lest that dialoguebecome so academic or sterile that its purpose is forgotten.9 And to some extent, inter-religious relationship grounded inthese qualities of life is itself a shared prayer, a reaching outto the Spirit welling up in the interstices of Creations riot of

interdependencenatural, cultural, and spiritual. In DCostas words, such prayer of life is an act of loving risk, somewhatlike Jacobs wrestling with the mysterious gure, whose identityis unknown and who refuses to be named.3 o whom Jacobholds tight despite his strangeness, crying out I will not let yougo, unless you bless me (Genesis 3:6). Who does bless theone who took the risk to have striven with God and humans

(Genesis 3:8), yet never reveals his name. Whose name we maynever come fully to know as we go on wrestling until dawn.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

42/160

36

E 2010: Y P

* * *

Te mission of the Church is standing between two rooms, onthe threshold, the door held open. As pilgrims, we continue on arocky path, and as we join with other believers in realising Godsdream for our world3 by building communities of solidarityand shared life, we cannot but discover fresh meaning in ourown deepest intentions and visions of wholeness. Yet there isa distinct core to the Christian revelation, and it is composed

of more than its common ground with other revelations. TeChristian story for the nations is a story in which the seeminglyeternal powers of unjust dominion are not eternal, and in whichthe outcastes are brought home to table and restored to theirdignity; it is a story of the earth whose immense history andgroping complexity are not lled with vacant machines to beexploited but indeed are chosen as the dwelling place of the

Divine.3

When we speak of Christ as the presence of the Reign, we acknowledge that regardless of the Reigns interfaith andintercultural resonance it is fundamentally qualied by the Spiritthat was unleashed upon the world in Judea.

In the prismatic light of Pentecost, shining on the toppled,hegemonic walls of Babel, the Church bears its witness to thisstorybut cannot do so by denying or belittling the presence

of God in the rest of the world, nor by reaching theologicalconclusions on the true nature of non-Christian religions(as if those answers were readily available). Te pilgrim Churchneed not repudiate others articulations of truth in order to givewitness to its own; the very meaning of witness is authentictestimony to experience and understanding, limited as it is, inthe context of the witness of others. If the witness will not hear

and consider the testimony of others, she ceases to be a witnessand becomes a partisan ideologue.33 Witness is not authoritative;if the Church desires authority over the other religions then

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

43/160

37

F I B

it has strayed from following Jesus, who emptied himself of

status and took the form of a servant.34

Evangelism, in themindset I propose, is a function of kinship and service ratherthan assimilation.

Te reconciliation at the heart of Christianitys vision is notjust a restoration of a golden age or the re-enthronement of a longhumbled people in exile; rather, it brings us to a place wherewe have not been before.35 Tis is the challenge of Edinburgh

: that of bearing witness to a Reign of God that exceeds ourunderstanding, history, and experienceto which all peoplesmust be invited to participate in imagining. Te story for thenations is still being written.

enD notes

. Aaron . Hollander is a student of ecumenical theology

and inter-religious relations from New York City,beginning the PhD program in Teology at the Universityof Chicago in September . He currently serves as layecumenical ocer and as a chorister for St. Johns EpiscopalChurch, Brooklyn.

. Paul Ler notes that the relation between these two

terms in the gospels and the book of Acts helps to clarifythe process of conversion: for Luke especially, epistrepheinmarks the moment of turning, the rupture from a priorcourse, while metanoiein is the process of an individualsheart in ux. See Ler, Te Biblical Concept ofConversion, p. 35.

3. Tis has been the case among todays constructivetheologians, in the various historical reformations of thechurches, in Jesus challenges to the religious authorities,

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

44/160

38

E 2010: Y P

and back to the poetic guerilla warfare of the Hebrew

prophets (Brueggemann, e Prophetic Imagination, p. 75).4. Newbigin, e Open Secret, p. 56. Elsewhere, Newbigin

gives a denition of conversion that is consonant withwork here: he writes that it is a turning round in order toparticipate by faith in a new reality that is the true futureof the whole creation. It is not in the rst place eithersaving ones own soul or joining a societyIf either ofthese things is put at the center, distortion follows (citedwithout reference in Ler, Te Biblical Conception ofConversion, p. 44). His point is that conversion is neitheregocentric nor ecclesiocentric, but rather a process for thewhole creationboth those who are being challengedand those who have historically done the challenging.

5. I use the example of indigenous religions here, althoughsimilar trends of misunderstanding marked earlymissionary encounters with Buddhists and Hindus as well,because of the devastating assumption among some missionsto First Nations that certain (kinds of) cultures would have tobe dismantled and reconstructed from the ground up inorder to be saved. cf. Schreiter, e New Catholicity, p. 67.

6. Te Rainbow Spirit Elders, Rainbow Spirit eology, p. 6.

7. Te SSC is an international, diocesan, Roman Catholicmissionary society, which was established in 99 to facilitatemission from Ireland to China. oday they are operationalin many countries of Asia and Latin America, and live out a

vibrant identity of open-hearted, inter-religious pilgrimage andsolidarity with the poorincluding the degraded and violatedearth. In the summer of 8, I spent time at the Columban

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

45/160

39

F I B

headquarters near Navan, Ireland, in order to study embodied

missiology for my masters thesis in ecumenical studies.8. Connolly, An Evaluation of a Process of Strategic Planning

in the Missionary Society of St. Columban, p. 3.

9. From a conversation with Fr. Colm Murphy in August 8.

cf. Fischer, Fiji Revisited, p. 78-9. Fischer continues to

describe the opening that was created by Fr. Hoareswillingness to step out not only from his homeland butfrom his inherited way of religious communication: Afterlistening to Father Hoare one day a Hindu said withenthusiasm: Youre a guru, a teacher, a sannyasi! One ofthese holy men who comes out among us

. cf. May, Transcendence and Violence, p. 5. Many ofthe ecumenical landmarks of the last forty years havedemonstrated the will to arrive at this point anew, evenif hesitantly: the World Council of Churches (WCC)assemblies at Vancouver (983) and Canberra (99), aswell as its smaller convocations in Granvollen (988) andSeoul (99), sought to incorporate perspectives of First

Nations people not as an exotic addendum to ecumenicalwork but as the realization of ecumenisms orientation inthe manifold and interconnected earth.

. As Vinoth Ramachandra succinctly puts it, it is the gospelthat enables [Christians] to humbly ask forgiveness fromnon-Christians for the sins of the Christian ChurcheRecovery of Mission, p. 73.

3. Te Rainbow Spirit Elders, Rainbow Spirit eology, p. 88.Te whole passage is worth citing: In the beginning was the

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

46/160

4

E 2010: Y P

Rainbow Spirit, deep in the land. And the Rainbow Spirit

was with God, the Creator Spirit, and the Rainbow Spirit wasGod. Te Rainbow Spirit was in the beginning with God.Te Rainbow Spirit emerged from the land, transformed theland and brought all things into being on the land. With theRainbow Spirit came life, and the life is the light of all people.

4. Newbigin, e Open Secret, p. 3.

5. DCosta, e Meeting of the Religions and the Trinity, p.44.

6. Knitter,Jesus and the Other Names, p. 45.

7. McDonagh, e Greening of the Church, p. . Te Societyof St. Columban observed even in 98 that part ofthe missionarys work is transmitting the vitality of thechurches of the assignment to the home church (TeColumban General Assembly, Columban Mission Today, p.39). Tis vitality, of course, involves the ever-developinginuence of each local churchs cultural heritage andreligious milieu, and its unique insights into Christianityemerging from its life in community with particular others.

8. Shenk, New Wineskins for New Wine, p. 73.

9. Schreiter notes that in many indigenous cultures that cometo accept Christianity, the old ways are not supplantedbut reinterpreted in light of the new revelation (e NewCatholicity, p. 74). So too I am suggesting that for thechurches to engage with their missionaries experience of truth

beyond their borders is not to abandon revelation in favorof pluralism or syncretism but to read each revelation to theworld in the light of the insight of that world in its diversity.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

47/160

4

F I B

. David Bosch observes that until recently it was usually

assumed that inculturation was a process only relevant to non-Western churches, that the gospel was perfectly at home inEurope and America (cf. Transforming Mission, p. 449). Nowwe can see dierently, having been challenged to see thatuniversality does not belong to anybody, and rather is opento all ows of the universe to which it claims relevance.

. Newbigin, e Open Secret, p. 34.

. Te wordplay between my use of Babylon in the title ofthis essay and of Babel as a root-metaphor for its contentis not arbitrary. Not only is Babel the name given to thehistorical city of Babylon in the Hebrew scriptures, butgiven the history of the Jewish people in captivity there, itis unthinkable that the tremendous Babylonian architecture

would fail to impact their religious psychology. Observedthrough a history of religions lens, the mythos of Babelcomes to evoke the arrogant political structure and toweringziggurats of Babylon. Likewise, the collapse of Babylonin the book of Revelation, a prophecy aimed squarely atthe imperial hubris of Rome, employs resonances withthe fall of Babel and the proleptic doom of all human

authoritarianisms. Tough this essay is too brief to includea full exegesis of and constructive response to Genesis , aparticularly nuanced interpretation can be found in MiroslavVolfs Exclusion and Embrace, p. 6-3.

3. cf. May, Transcendence and Violence, p. 6.

4. Dupuis, Christianity and the Religions, p. 54. In thisinterpretation, therefore, inter-religious dialogue takes placebetween people who already belong together in the Kingdom

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

48/160

4

E 2010: Y P

of God (ibid.). It is hardly radical to say that Christ is

wholly God, but not the whole of God (Knitter, No OtherName?, p. 5); I am suggesting that it may also be said: he iswholly Reign, but not the whole of the Reign.

5. aylor, e Go-Between God, p. 84.

6. Knitter,Jesus and the Other Names, p. 39. An example thatmakes this point vividly clear is found in Vincent Donovans

account of preaching a sermon to the Masai people aboutovercoming tribal exclusivism and acknowledging Gods loveof reconciliation and the bridging of borders between people.At the end of the sermon, the cutting answer comes back:Has your tribe found the High God? In that moment,Donovan is in a state of true listening as well as proclaiming,in an authentic missionary state of relationship, and he

himself experiences conversion, having been confrontedwith the tribal exclusivism of European Christianity. Hisresponse is sincere and represents the potential of Christiansand non-Christians to move together in relationship to newunderstanding for each. He says: No, we have notBut weare searching for him. I have come a long, long distance toinvite you to search for him with us. Let us search for him

together. Maybe, together, we will nd him. See Donovan,Christianity Rediscovered, p. 45.

7. Mays evocative term for inter-religious dialogue conceivedon these terms is the sacrament of the strangerTranscendence and Violence, p. 7.

8. Ramachandra, e Recovery of Mission, p. 7. Tesewords, cited among a group of Columban missionaries(August 8), brought instant recognition. Fr. Padraig

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

49/160

43

F I B

ODonovan recalled a vivid recapitulation of the Good

Samaritan episode during his time in the Philippines: hiscar having broken down at dusk many miles from home,he watched as two busses drove by, driven by Christiansfrom his parish. Te third bus driver was Muslimwhostopped, and towed ODonovan not only to a servicestation but all the way home, past his own destination.Fr. Sean McNulty told of his visit to a famous mosque in

Pakistan, whose imam had been disappointed at the lackof visitors in the wake of political violence and reducedtourism. Upon learning that this rare visitor was a Catholicpriest, the imam threw his arms around McNulty in a bearhug, exclaiming Tats the best news Ive had all month!

9. Bhlmann argues that it is precisely this kind of academicdrift in inter-religious relations, promoting a commonground that is little more than classroom religion, thatmakes such relations untrustworthy to so many (eMissions on Trial, p. 34). DCosta concurs, observing thatthere is something very disturbing about the reality of loverefusing to be controlled by our theorizing (e Meeting ofReligions and the Trinity, p. 65).

3. DCosta, e Meeting of Religions and the Trinity, p. 5.

3. Te Columban General Assembly, Columban Mission in theird Millennium, p. 8.

3. cf. Revelation :3: See, the home of God is amongmortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them.33. As Newbigin writes, When the light shines freely one

cannot draw a line and say, Here light stops and darkness

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

50/160

44

E 2010: Y P

begins. But one can and must say, Tere is where the light

shines See e Open Secret, p. 98.34. Stott, Te Biblical Basis of Evangelism, p. 7 (paraphrasing

Philippians :7).

35. Schreiter, Reconciliation, p. 6.

BIBlIograPhyAagaard, Johannes. Mission after Uppsala 968, in Anderson,Gerald H. and Stransky, Tomas F. (eds),Mission TrendsNo. (NYC: Paulist Press, 974).

Bosch, David J. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts ineology of Mission (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 99).

Boys, Mary C. Te Sisters of Sion: From a ConversionistStance to a Dialogical Way of Life, in theJournal ofEcumenical Studies(Winter-Spring 994).

Brueggemann, Walter. e Prophetic Imagination (Philadelphia,PA: Fortress Press, 978).

Bhlmann, Walbert. e Missions on Trial: Addis Ababa 1980(Middlegreen, UK: St. Paul Publications, 978).

Te Columban General Assembly. General Chapter 1970: Actsof the Chapter(Dublin: Society of St. Columban, 97).

------. Columban Mission Today(Dublin: Society of St.Columban, 98).

------. Becoming More Missionary: Our Shared Experience(Dublin: Society of St. Columban, 988)

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

51/160

45

F I B

------. Columban Mission in the ird Millennium (Dublin:

Society of St. Columban, ).------. Strong and Courageous(Dublin: Society of St. Columban,

6).

Connolly, Noel. An Evaluation of a Process of StrategicPlanning in the Missionary Society of St. Columban(Dublin City University: MBS Dissertation, 993).

Cushner, Nicholas P. Why Have You Come Here?: e Jesuitsand the First Evangelization of Native America (OxfordUniversity Press, 6).

DCosta, Gavin. e Meeting of the Religions and the Trinity(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, ).

Donovan, Vincent J. Christianity Rediscovered: An Epistle fromthe Masai(London: SCM Press Ltd., 978).

Dupuis, Jacques. Te Practice of Agape is the Reality ofSalvation, in the International Review of Mission (October985).

------. Te Kingdom of God and World Religions, inVidyajyoti (November 987).

------. Christianity and the Religions: From Confrontation to Dialogue,trans. Phillip Berryman (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, [orig.: Il cristianesimo e le religioni: Dallo scontro allincontro(Brescia, Italy: Edizioni Queriniana, )]).

Fischer, Edward. Fiji Revisited: A Columban Fathers Memoriesof Twenty-eight Years in the Islands(NYC: Te CrossroadPublishing Company, 98).

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

52/160

46

E 2010: Y P

Haught, John F. Religious and Cosmic Homelessness: Some

Environmental Implications, in Birch, Charles et al. (eds),Liberating Life: Contemporary Approaches to Ecologicaleology(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 99).

Knitter, Paul F. No Other Name? A Critical Survey of ChristianAttitudes Toward the World Religions(London: SCM PressLtd, 985).

------. Jesus and the Other Names: Christian Mission and GlobalResponsibility(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 996).

Koyama, Kosuke. What Makes a Missionary? owardCrucied Mind Not Crusading Mind, in Anderson,Gerald H. and Stransky, Tomas F. (eds),Mission TrendsNo. (NYC: Paulist Press, 974).

Ler, Paul. Te Biblical Concept of Conversion, inAnderson, Gerald H. and Stransky, Tomas F. (eds),Mission TrendsNo. (NYC: Paulist Press, 975).

Lovett, Brendan.A Dragon Not for the Killing(Quezan City,Philippines: Claretian Publications, 998).

Maxwell, Finbar. Te Experience of ransition andHuman Personal Development in the Lives of Cross-Cultural Missionaries (Loyola University Chicago: MADissertation, ).

May, John DArcy. Transcendence and Violence: e Encounterof Buddhist, Christian and Primal Traditions(NYC:

Continuum International Publishing Group Inc., 3).McDonagh, Sean. e Greening of the Church (London:

Georey Chapman, 99).

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

53/160

47

F I B

McFague, Sallie.Metaphorical eology(Philadelphia, PA:

Fortress Press, 98).McNulty, Sean. Our Missionary Identity, in Columban

Intercom 3. (8).

Moltmann, Jrgen. God in Creation (London: SCM Press Ltd,985).

Newbigin, Lesslie. e Open Secret(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.Eerdmans Publishing Co., 978).

------.Mission in Christs Way: Bible Studies(Geneva: WCCPublications, 987).

Okure, eresa. Te Ministry of Reconciliation ( Corinthians5:4-): Pauls Key to the Problem of the Other in

Corinth, inMission Studies3. (6).

Panikkar, Raimundo. Te Christian Challenge to the TirdMillenium, in Mojzes, Paul and Swidler, Leonard (eds),Christian Mission and Interreligious Dialogue(Lewiston,NY: Te Edwin Mellen Press, 99).

------. e Intrareligious Dialogue(Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press,999).

Te Rainbow Spirit Elders. Rainbow Spirit eology: Towardsan Australian Aboriginal eology(Blackburn, Australia:Harper Collins, 997).

Raiser, Konrad. Ecumenism in Transition: A Paradigm Shift

in the Ecumenical Movement, tr. ony Coates (Geneva:WCC Publications, 99 [orig.: kumene im bergang(Munich: Christian Kaiser Verlag, 989)]).

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

54/160

48

E 2010: Y P

Ramachandra, Vinoth. e Recovery of Mission: Beyond the

Pluralist Paradigm (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster Press, 996).Schreiter, Robert J. Constructing Local eologies(London:

SCM Press Ltd., 985).

------. Reconciliation: Mission and Ministry in a Changing SocialOrder(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 99).

------. e New Catholicity: eology between the Global and theLocal(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 997).

Shenk, William R. New Wineskins for New Wine: owarda Post-Christendom Ecclesiology, in the InternationalBulletin of Missionary Research 9. (5).

Smith, Wilfred Cantwell. Participation: Te Changing

Christian Role in Other Cultures, in Anderson, Gerald H.and Stransky, Tomas F. (eds),Mission TrendsNo. (NYC:Paulist Press, 975).

aylor, John V. e Go-Between God: e Holy Spirit and theChristian Mission (London: SCM Press Ltd., 97).

inker, George. Spirituality, Native American Personhood,Sovereignty, and Solidarity, in the Ecumenical Review44.3(99).

Volf, Miroslav. Exclusion and Embrace: A eological Explorationof Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville, N:Abingdon Press, 996).

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

55/160

49

3Returning Mission to Its Source:

Our Duty in Palestine

Christian Communities in Contemporary Contexts

Annie Osborne1

I am writing on December , 9. For most, here in theUK, it was a particularly ordinary December Friday. UsualBritish people were going about their usual life, preparing forChristmas, celebrating the end of university terms, or lookingforward to a break from work. So it could have been for me,

too, but my ordinary December Friday has been marked by twoextraordinary events.

At lunchtime, I sang at a memorial service in thanksgiving forthe life of an exceptional man, who spent his short life ghtingagainst health troubles. Not only did he not complain, he alsomanaged to touch the lives of many others through his altruisticcommitment to his family, and to the wider society in his workas a lawyer. I never knew this man, and I know almost nothing ofhis personal faith, yet simply being present for his memorial wasenough to make me realise that here was a truly godly man.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

56/160

5

E 2010: Y P

Tis evening, I was doing my end of term tidy-up, in the

comfortable warmth of my shared student house and accompaniedby my iunes collection. Upon my Facebook news feed, thereappeared a link to a website, which caught my attention. Tewebsite was http://www.kairospalestine.ps entitled A momentof truth. Tis is a brand new statement written by a group ofChristians in Palestine. Te document is a plea to the world. Notjust to the political world, but to the Christian world. It is a plea

by a group of resistors, whose resistance continues without eectbecause it is not supported.Tis essay will take these two apparently unconnected events

to explore of what Christian mission is, and why it may be asimportant today for us to tend to older ground as new.

ButfIrstofall, Please, letthereBeloVe2

I shall begin by outlining the life of an exceptional man. o us, hemay remain anonymous, because each and every human, createdin the image of God, is given the opportunity to emulate such aman. Tis man was born with glaucoma, aecting his eyesight sobadly that doctors worried he would never see. With the supportand expertise of a doctor in his hometown, he was given partialsight. Tis enabled him to go on to great achievements, and he

stepped out of university into a law job in the city, without atrace of pride. Tis was his way of serving the world, of repayingthe debt of gratitude he had for having survived, and seen.

He went on to enjoy the natural world, rst in the mountainsand later developing a partiality for sailing, together with hisbrothers and friends. He married, and had one daughter. Bothwife and daughter loved horse riding, about which he knew very

little. Yet his joy was no less, whenever they achieved successin a race. His career as a busy London solicitor and his interestin radio led him to be at the heart of the success of one of the

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

57/160

5

R M I S: O D P

greatest radio businesses in the UK. We heard moving tributes

to him, today, from top lawyers and media directors who valuedhim both as a colleague and as a friend. His daughter, seventeenyears old, today gave thanks for the best father you could everwish to have.

Trough all of this, our extraordinary man was sueringfrom an extraordinary health condition, which was beyond eventhe most expert doctors in this countrys hospitals. He bore it

with patient acceptance. He never gave up his job, he never gaveup his sense of humour, sending a text message to his brotherwhile in an ambulance on his last day, declaring that the journeywas v. exciting.

Te story may begin to sound sentimental; but there is alesson that we may all learn from such a life. Our extraordinaryman achieved his extraordinary life because he possessed four

things: belief, love, support, and determination. Belief in hisability to make the world a better place; love for (and from) hisfamily, his friends, his job; support from all with whom he cameinto contact, above all his wife and his doctors; determinationto continue making the most out of life, even when life putobstacles in his way. Tese were his gifts, from God, which heput to the service of those around him.

And are these not also the ingredients of mission? A belief,above all in Gods goodness, and in our ability to bring the gift ofChrist into the life of our fellow humans; a love for all, regardlessof their creed, culture, colour or condition; a support from ourfriends and neighbours and for the hardships that many mustsuer, through poverty, violence, discrimination; support fromthe same God who says behold, I am with you always, to the end

of the age;3 and a determination to spread Gods glory throughthe worldto make disciples of all the nations4despite thechallenges it may present.

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

58/160

5

E 2010: Y P

He was no missionary in an ocial sense, but this man spent

his life demonstrating the gifts of God to the world, and therecan be no doubt that this mission touched all those who cameinto contact with him. And it is that mission, those gifts, whichare the very ingredients necessary for the successful, holy peacethat is sought by the writers of todays Kairos document.

tellmethatyoulloPenyoureyes5

Jerusalem, city of reconciliation, has become a city ofdiscrimination and exclusion (..8).6 Now, Jerusalem and theHoly Land have never been places of peace and tranquillity;for centuries upon centuries they have survived conict:Jerusalem a desolation.7 Much of that conict has been,and continues to be, a matter of religious hatred: Israelisettlements ravage our land in the name of God (). Still this

continues, and somehow although we condemn it ocially,those of us who live in Europe and the West seem to take thisconict for granted. We acknowledge that it is atrocious, buttreat it as their problem or insoluble and continue about ourgood Christian lives.

But the conicts in the Middle East are a source of dailyhumiliation which make family life impossible in a place

where even freedom of access to the holy places is denied ().Respect, family, prayer: three aspects of a dignied human life.Tree aspects of life that are consciously promoted and nurturedby our missionaries, who go out to new communities and teachtheir members about these values through the word of God.

We see nothing in the present or future except ruin anddestruction, write these Palestinians in paragraph 3., we see

the upper hand of the strong, the growing orientation towardsracist separation and the imposition of laws that deny ourexistence and our dignity. It is a bleak outlook indeed, and

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

59/160

53

R M I S: O D P

one that is fuelled by fundamentalist misuse of the very faith

that we share and that we have a mission to promote: the word of God is petried and transmitted from generation togeneration as a dead letter. Tis dead letter is used as a weaponin our present history in order to deprive us of our rights in ourown land (..).

It is unsurprising that those who are able to leave do so.And so the land is deprived of its most important and richest

resourceeducated youth (.3). And what sort of hope mayremain in a country whose youngest, most energetic, mostcapable individuals have themselves lost their determination andfelt lacking in the necessary support to defend their dignity?

Te document we read today is a desperate plea, from a deeplyfaithful, loving community. Teir faith is steadfast: we believethat the Word of God is a living Word, casting a particular light

on each period of history, manifesting to Christian believerswhat God is saying to us here and now (..). We renewour faith in God because we know that the word of God can notbe the source of our destruction (.3.4).

Tese people are not ghting against any religion, nor arethey making an enemy of their fellow countrymen: our messageto the Muslims is a message of love and of living together and a

call to reject fanaticism and extremism. It is also a message to theworld that Muslims are neither to be stereotyped as the enemynor caricatured as terrorists but rather to be lived with in peaceand engaged with in dialogue (5.4.). Tere is no question ofneeding to form a solely Christian community: Our presence inthis land, as Christian and Muslim Palestinians, is not accidentalbut rather deeply rooted in the history and geography of this

land [] It is Gods land and therefore it must be a land ofreconciliation, peace and love. Tis is indeed possible. God hasput us here as two peoples, and God gives us the capacity, if we

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

60/160

54

E 2010: Y P

have the will, to live together and establish in it justice and peace

(.3., .3.) Tese people are struggling with a generalisedlack of love and respect in their country, not with any religiouspractise or belief.

And despite all that they are going through, these people stillhave hope: oday, we bear the strength of love rather than thatof revenge, a culture of life rather than a culture of death. Tisis a source of hope for us, for the Church and for the world

(3.4.5). A hope that is derived from a faith, and that gives themthe determination to carry on, to toil endlessly to reach a newworld in which there is no fear, no threat, but rather security, justice and peace (.4). We believe that Gods goodness willnally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persistin our land. We will see here a new land and a new humanbeing, capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of

his or her brothers and sisters (). Teir appeal is for thevery essentials of a loving, peaceful world. Tey do not ask foranything beyond our call as Christians working for the good ofGods people. Is it something we expect to be asked for? And didwe need to wait to be asked?

moneycantBuymeloVe8

What are we, European Christians, of all denominations,currentlydoing, for these people who share our beliefs and strivefor the good of their community but whose lives are deprived ofsuch essential elements as love and respect? Could it be that weare investing our money, but not our love, in the Holy Land?Have we given up hope for the end of a conict, while those whohave to endure it from day to day remain loving and faithful

and above all, hopeful? Whatever our attitude, it is shamefulindeed to ignore a need for love and support, as shameful as ifwe were to allow our dear lawyer friend to live through his illness

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

61/160

55

R M I S: O D P

unsupported and unloved. Our mission as Christians is not only

to bring Gods word and Gods love to the heathen. It is tosurround the whole of Gods people with his love, and to use itas a tool for peace.

Tese people are appealing because they lack support fromoutside, they lack attention from the Church, they are powerless without the greater Christian mission oflove supporting andbelieving in their goal. Love is their word, love is their request,

love is their prayer. Our numbers are few but our message isgreat and important. Our land is in urgent need of love (5.4).Tese Palestinians rmly believe that if they are shown this love,if enough work can be done through love in their land, thentheir land will nally be a place where Christian, Muslim, Jew,any human can live a dignied life, peacefully, alongside hisneighbours, without fear or humiliation.

Resistance is a right and a duty for the Christian. But it isresistance with love as its logic. It is thus a creative resistancefor it must nd human ways that engage the humanity of theenemyand thus achieve the desired goal, which is getting backthe land, freedom, dignity and independence with methodsthat enter into the logic of love and draw on all energies tomake peace. (4..3, 4..5, my emphasis)

It is not the rst time that such statements have been issued.Tey do not make exhilarating reading. But this is not anacademic essay, to be swept aside among papers on a dusty desk.It is a call to us all to open our ears and eyes, to recognise thatpeacekeeping is not only about money, about political speeches,or about military intervention. It is also about love.

here I am, senDme9

Numerous prophets and apostles have been missionaries: onewas St. Paul, who went on a mission to bring the people of the

8/8/2019 Kirk Youth

6