I-YOUniverse

I never take media storms at face value. Take, for instance, this controversy over Jeremiah Wright. 

His comments were inflammatory. His ministry has been remarkable, though. He is highly regarded by responsible leaders. What if you sweep aside the distortion of sound-byte reporting and statements made in the heat of accusation-innuendo and the glare of the 15-seconds-of-fame spotlight? What if he has something to say? What if, though you disagree with certain statements, you find truth in his overall message?

During my friend Jean-Emile Ngué’s visit we watched the film Gandhi. The independence of India through spiritual struggle is one of the great victories of the 20th century. I’m intrigued by the Anglican clergyman C.F. Andrews, who showed up in South Africa to support Gandhi. Few of the English supported racial equality.

How did this clergyman escape the racism of his age? How did he so effectively identify with the Indian people?

I believe in missions and in the contributions missionaries have made. Missionaries way too often proselytize, however, and make converts twice the children of  hell as themselves (Mt 23.15). I’ve come to believe we need to go meet Christ among the people we serve, for Christ is already there. Too often what we bring is our own narrow white North American consumer culture.

Especially today, although 9/11 has changed our welcome of international students, the best opportunity in missions we have is the international students here. Think of the impact we could have by adopting students in our churches. Many live on starvation rations. A home away from home, no strings attached, would constitute worthy service in itself as well as plant seeds of Christian compassion. If a thinly disguised program to evangelize, though, such an effort would be disingenuous and sure to fail. We need to leave the winning to God, and simply do the loving.

I recall visiting a lovely SBC church in Gary, Indiana. It had a commercial style kitchen, fellowship hall, sanctuary to seat 300. But only four people attended, and there were bullet holes in the windows. Why? I asked the local Baptist leader. He said, “The problem is, you have to be converted twice to get into our churches. First, you have to become a Southerner, then a Christian.”

The great issue we face (perhaps not the greatest, but close), is racism. So many churches demand converts to be white first. I cannot speak for black churches.

What’s required is for us as individuals, if churches will not, is to become part of the lives of people in our cities, which are not whites only, to care about the issues people care about, to offer unconditional love. I’m afraid what most of us love unconditionally is our comfortable lifestyle. We live in a balloon of white privilege.

I’m still poring over The Ordeal of Love: C.F. Andrews and India (NY: Oxford, 1979) by Hugh Tinker. I found a used copy on Amazon. I’ve also found the two volumes of his Christian witness What I Owe to Christ and Christ in the Silence, which I will be reading soon. I’ve also found a terrific site for liberation theology reading at Liberation Theology Resources Online.