An interesting conversation about ministry in the Middle East

I am conflicted on sharing this video, not because I think it is theologically horrendous. There are certainly some things that I disagree with, as the gentleman being interviewed is (I gather) extremely Evangelical Protestant. How he seems to understand the Church and the nature of the Body of Christ I think we would disagree on quite strongly.

That having been said, however, I still try to foster ecumenical understanding. When dealing with sincere Christians who don't believe as I do, I do try to foster the spirit that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are ultimately on the same team and trying to work as best we can for the greater Kingdom of God. To foster that, I do try to find those things that we can agree on and work with that. I really dislike arguing and getting sucked into polemical arguments over theology if both sides are not going to mutually respect the other as brethren in Christ. The minute we can no longer "agree to disagree" with some semblance of mutual respect, I generally tend to just say, "Well, God bless you..." and move on. If you are not going to operate in Christian charity and humility in our discussions, the productivity of any theological conversation has reached the end of its utility. 

As such, even with Christians with whom I have some serious and real fundamental differences, I do believe in the Catholic understanding of Natural Law. Natural Law being the idea that God put into the heart of everyone a basic concept of right and wrong, a basic longing to know and find God, and human reason and intellect. God is at work in every person, no matter how far they or their culture of origin has moved away from God. God is still there working somehow to bring all things to Himself in the Ages of Ages, beginning with leaving His divine fingerprints in the soul of every single human being.

This is why I do not get completely bent out of shape at the idea that every single person who has never heard the Gospel is going straight to hell. Some lost tribe deep in the Amazon that has never heard the Gospel or seen a European or a Bible ...God is still at work there somehow. He is using Natural Law to bring Himself to even so seemingly distant a tribe as an Amazonian lost tribe. That is not to say that they do not need to hear the Gospel, but God is at work in and through their culture.

God judges on what people know and what people reason. To him much is given, much is required, but the reverse is also true. God knows the heart, and if someone, had they had the opportunity to hear the Gospel but through no fault of their own never got the chance to in their Earthly life, I can only believe a just and merciful God will know that and at the end of life when all is revealed, be there to ask a soul, "Now, do you understand what I have been trying to teach you through your life by my Natural Law?"

Yet again, I digress, but my point is that if God can be at work in a lost tribe, how much more can He be at work with Christians of good will? While some Christians may not have the full of the Truth of the Church, they do have a true and vibrant relationship with Jesus in some way. As such, I think it is important to see and hear how God might be at work in other Christian traditions. My own Faith is not the only way through which God can or does move. I believe God can and does speak to and through some of our separated brothers and sisters in Christ in other denominations.

As such, my friend over at AnglicanTV did a very interesting interview with a missionary who trains and sends people to create churches in places where Christianity is illegal, to the extent that his face has to be blurred out in this interview to protect his own safety. It reminded me of the old Dragnet episodes that ended with "The names and faces have been changed to protect the innocent..." Here is the video:

Now, again, he says a lot of things that I personally would theologically disagree with. I think his understand of what is the Church is partially flawed, but he makes some very insightful comments about Iran in particular that need to be heard. God is at work in a place where most Western Christians would think that the Christian God surely is not, and yet listen to what he is saying about the thirst people have there and what it happening. In a country where our Presidential candidates are getting shot at, I found it very refreshing that Aslan is on the move, so to speak.

I was also taken with his comments on how creating churches works in contexts like Iran. I have been pondering his words, particularly the parts where he discusses what *does not* work: pre-packaged how-to manuals and Western productivity based outcomes. I thought that was very interesting. Seven years he said they worked and made no quantifiable progress. Most missionaries flame out after seven years of no discernible progress. Even if they don't, certainly their funding from the West will dry up because we have been conditioned to see spread sheets and data showing company growth. What is not productive in a quantifiable capitalist marketing model must die, we say. We want profit results, and we want it now (or at least within 3 years).   

I think we have to be very careful, as this gentleman rightly says, that the economics of the Kingdom of God is not necessarily Excel Spreadsheet based with growth charts and untapped markets. The Kingdom of God is not necessarily a consumer based market economy. Leaving the 99 sheep to find the lost sheep is not good usage of the CEO's time. The lost sheep should just be fired, wherein the 99 sheep become all the more productive.

And yet, that's not how the Good Shepherd operates his Kingdom.