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God’s grace may have changed direction
As a pastor of 23 years in two congregations, my intuition led me early on to this equation: Theologian + Sociologist = Pastor. You might think this a strange formula, but it seemed to work for me. It helped me understand people as well as the calling of God. It helped me recognize how to offer leadership to others as well as how to follow Jesus. But most of all it helped me understand that interest or lack of interest in matters of faith can come from many sources, not all of them religious. We bring our humanity into the church with us. We do not discard it at the door the way we shed our overcoats. The old saying that something is “so heavenly that it is of no earthly good” can be turned on its head and repeated back by saying that something is “so earthly that it blocks a view of the heavenly.” Theology and sociology form a powerful combination of viewpoints that every pastor needs. My guess is that truly effective missiologists have this combination down pat. The mysterious yet potent combination of culture and gospel has fascinated — even provided a holy compulsion — for all who dared to carry the gospel across the barriers of language and custom. Why do some congregations flourish and some flounder? Why does one era produce religious fervor, and another age garners overwhelming apathy? Why are the poor often more “religious” than the wealthy? Why do immigrant populations often display more interest in matters of faith than are displayed by their offspring in the next generation? Why is it that your personality type can help to determine your interest, or lack thereof, in attending worship or serving on church committees? Some say that America is on the same road as Europe, headed toward deep religious apathy and secularism. I don’t know whether that is true, but if it is, there are probably as many social/cultural reasons for this trend as there are religious ones. One of the antidotes to spiritual apathy for our society and for Mennonite Church USA at the beginning of the 21st century, may lie in our openness to accept, yea even invite, those from other parts of the world to come and be “missionaries” to us in America. The movement of God’s grace may have literally changed direction. If the 19th and 20th centuries showed a north-to-south movement, surely we are observing an equally powerful, if not more potent movement of the gospel, moving today in the opposite direction — from south to north. For myriad personal, economic, social and other “human” reasons, our own faith and that of our children may depend upon having the grace to receive the gospel anew from those whose fathers and mothers received it from our forebears. God may be at work, opening our hearts and minds to God’s saving power through immigrants from the Southern Hemisphere who are seeking new homes in the United States of America! Also in this issue: Features Related articles Regular features |
