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I studied missiology in seminary. We were really digging into how colonialist practices were detrimental to the genuine desire missionaries had to share the gospel cross-culturally. This was Wesleyan/holiness seminary mind you.
Now, I believe those missionaries were truly called by God to share the good news of Jesus while serving others around the world. Many of them literally gave up their lives for this.
I also believe that God used, and continues to use these women and men to make a huge difference in the lives of individuals, communities, and even nations!
But modern cultural anthropology, seen through a theological lens, has taught us so much over the past several decades.
But modern cultural anthropology, seen through a theological lens, has taught us so much over the past several decades.
Today’s missionaries generally have a heightened awareness of cultural differences, and are able to “exegete” cultures they are inserted into, listening and learning before sharing. If anything, they’ve become much more effective.
For this reason I have a distaste for the ways we’ve used the word “contextual” & “colonialism” in the context of #UMC debates.
We’ve tended to pick & choose when it’s convenient for us to defend a position by claiming “contextuality” or oppose another due to “colonialism”
We’ve tended to pick & choose when it’s convenient for us to defend a position by claiming “contextuality” or oppose another due to “colonialism”
This happens on both sides of the debates by the way. Take our sisters and brothers in Africa for instance. When we happen to agree with their positions and/or statements, we claim context and praise their maturity. When we don’t like what we hear, we scream “colonialism”!
Meanwhile, we continue ever-so-slightly to encourage, even push our own agendas upon Christian sisters and brothers who are fully grown up, mature disciples of Jesus who, by the way, have sacrificed much more than most of us ever will for the sake of their faith.
To make matters worse, we can’t help but be inconsistent in our approach. I recently witnessed a friend who had once promoted our differences as “contextual” as a way to invite acceptance of theological differences.
He made a hard turn to celebrate a change he witnessed within a particular group claiming they have now freed themselves from historical colonialism by changing their minds.
My conclusion is that beneath the surface, we really still believe we are somehow more evolved, that others need to “catch up” with the west, and that we simply have understanding that other don’t yet have.
Meanwhile, things don’t look great for us on this side of the world!
Meanwhile, things don’t look great for us on this side of the world!
We’re living through an unprecedented identity crisis in the US, and we’re having trouble escaping a toxic radicalization of common people (left and right). What’s worse, we’re exporting it! You’d be surprised to hear words coming out of friends mouths back in my home country.
They use words to discuss politics and society that had not been their own. They are quite literally becoming just like us. An they’re not alone. We are exporting division and discord.
So, to end this long and winding thread, may I humbly propose that we...
So, to end this long and winding thread, may I humbly propose that we...
1- humble ourselves to listen and learn from the Church, beautiful and diverse as it is, especially in places where it is costly to claim the gospel of Jesus;
2- that we repent from our superiority complex, and pray that God would transform us, not others
2- that we repent from our superiority complex, and pray that God would transform us, not others
