I've been thinking about this post throughout the morning.

Ouch.

I receive that rebuke.

Very true, very humbling. It reminded me of these words by Sadhu Sundar Singh - an Indian follower of Christ (1889-1929):

"The West is like Judas Iscariot, who ate with Yesu, only to later deny him. The West ought to fear the fate of Judas, lest it hang itself on the tree of learning. You have so many privileges. We in the East have to give up many things when we become Christians. For you, it is not so. Therefore be careful that you don't lose your only possibility for eternal happiness."

http://www.bruderhof.com/articles/WarningToWest.htm

Blessings,
Paul

You are so right, Keith. I find it disheartening how much of the conservative Christian internet is taken up with sectarian ruminating.

I had not stopped long enough to realise that the church is now vastly non-western. Yes...we are missing out on what Christ would be saying through these people since they have no global voice. A very interesting thought. (We probably think we know it all anyway).

We are the rich white folk arguing about 'stuff' as you say. To be honest I think that's a great call. It almost becomes an intellectual persuit and a return to the book culture Christianity of the modernist church which we emergents were initially critical of. I guess of late I have become increasingly tired of all the fine tuning detail of 'emergent' doctrines in blogs and the debate that follows.

So many words......blogs become enclaves for verbal addictions. And then I remember a reference to how we are to be judged for every 'idle word'.

In many ways I am jealous. I would love to be in a vibrant church people with a deep sense of spirituality.

A while back I briefly posted something that parallels this at
http://emergingblurb.blogspot.com/2005/03/following-secenes-may-disturb-some.html

all the best for now mate.

I almost feel simple and foolish to speak about mission work I did in the US because of this post. But the first time I read your blog I was struck by a comment you made about not expecting those we serve to adapt to our culture but to switch that around and adapt to theirs.

I have been praying about doing missions work for years and now that I'm back from Alaska, I'm missing the simplicity of that tiny remote village of Native Americans. I thought I was a 'low maintenence' person, but I have forgotten even the 'relative poverty' I grew up in. It was refreshing for me to see how I could do with so little again. I long to return to it. If this sounds off-topic, it's really not. My blog-heart is changing slowly to reflect my true voice.

I don't have your experience so I can't speak like you do. My eyes haven't seen what you've seen; but I know I wasn't in White Mountain, AK by mistake. There was pain and need there that I identified with and God wanted me to touch it. So while I DO with much respect agree with the spirit of your post, I have to say, there are many who are in need everywhere. And Jesus is not just in one area of the world. He's Lord of the harvest and I pray the Lord of the harvest will send workers to the destinations of His choice.

May God bless your work and the people you so desparately care for.

I couldn't agree with you more. The issues that are debated in the western world are often the same issues we've been debating for a hundred years or so. I feel that often these debates don't 'solve' anything, just go in circles and most of the time we just agree to disagree. People are often surprised when I tell them that two of the biggest 'sending' nations at the moment are Nigeria and South Korea. This shift has happened while the western church is busy debating these same issues, right under their noses!

Thanks everyone for your comments!

Although in one sense, my post is hopefully a reminder to us all, in another sense, it is you guys who are already listening - so God bless you! How my heart longs for the church in the west to look and listen beyond its own preoccupations.

Paul, thanks for the reminder of Sundar Singh. It's ages since I read his life, and i remember it as a timely challenge in my life.

Paula, I agree with you completely, and don't want to take anything away from that. In my post I speak of Africa, in our particular neglect of what she has to say to us, but she also represents the whole spectrum of neglected voices and regions from across the world.

Blessings

This is a great post. I fault our chruches though for not talking about what the Third World Christian leaders are saying. Recently, our chruch brought over a chruch leader from the persecuted part of Sudan and the congregational's response to his talk was overwhelming. We need to hear more. So, why can't our fairly well-to-do churches bring more of these leaders over here to speak? And Christian TV? Where are the Third World Christian pastors and so forth on these programs?