DEFENDING A SPACE

PROMOTING conversation over controversy

By Brittany Thompson

Photo by Patrick McLendon

While many Christians spend years developing their evangelism skills, Jim Henderson has devoted himself to perfecting the art of listening. 

This practice has become the framework of a journey in which Henderson has re-examined traditional approaches to evangelism, featured non-believers at a conference for pastors, co-founded a non-profit, purchased a soul on e-bay and written two books. The nonprofit, “Off the Map,” promotes what its supporters call “doable evangelism,” urging followers of Christ to “notice and serve others in non-dramatic, ordinary ways.” For Henderson, this means communicating openly with people of other faiths or no faith at all. 

“I value the opinions of people who have no beliefs,” Henderson said, “and I embrace them to comment on the Church.” Rather than defend the Church from its harshest critics, Henderson pursues friendships with the people who disapprove, and he protects the open exchange of ideas he shares with them. This is what he calls “defending the space.” 

“When a Christian listens,” Henderson emphasized, “[others] will let down their defenses, give you the benefit of the doubt and treat you respectfully. I mean, when you sit with people and they trust themselves to you and they open up and are vulnerable, that’s a sacred moment. You don’t want to mess with that. You just sit there and try to not mess it up.” 

“Defending the space” essentially means guarding a relationship with someone of a different faith more adamantly than guarding the Church or God or the faith itself. 

Henderson’s first book, Evangelism Without Additives, explores the question, “What If Sharing Your Faith Meant Just Being Yourself?” In his second book, Jim and Casper Go to Church, Henderson calls Christians to move from “apologetics to apology, talking to listening, strength to weakness, beliefs to spirituality, debate to dialogue and manipulation to intentionality.” 

“We think we should be defending the faith because we’re in the beliefs business,” he explained, “but one of the main skills of defending the space is not to talk. The skill is learning how to say something like, ‘Tell me more.’” 

Henderson spent 25 years as a pastor drawing from the ever-changing trends in an effort to attract who he calls “outsiders,” or “the people Jesus misses most” to his Church. Feeling like a failure when seats remained vacant, he turned to marketing books to study what the business world had to say about reaching an audience. To further his research, Henderson began paying “unchurched” people $25 to come to a church service and fill out a survey. While he said he wasn’t shocked by the answers he received from his survey, he found that the participants were surprised Christians were listening to them. 

“That was sort of moving and informative,” Henderson remembered. “In warfare, they say the way you overcome enemies is by surprising and mystifying people. One of the ways you surprise people in the business we’re in is by asking their opinion.” 

Hearing from people outside the Church was an early step in the process that has solidified Henderson’s belief that Christians should spend less time and energy defending their faith. During a series of job transitions, Henderson resigned from his pastoral position to go back to contracting, but he was soon hired by a large church to direct evangelism. In this position, he continued his research, hosting a conference called “Evangelism Off the Map,” in which he paid three nonbelievers to speak candidly to 500 pastors about their true feelings toward the Church. The pastors responded with overwhelming approval, and Off the Map began.

Henderson soon heard about a graduate student, Hemant Mehta, who was selling his “atheistic attention” on e-bay in an attempt to show his willingness to go to church and hear from Christians. Off the Map won the bid at $504. Rather than use the opportunity to coerce Hemant to convert, however, Off the Map asked him to visit 12 churches and keep a blog about his experiences at each. The blog scored an astounding readership (more than 50,000) and landed a front-page article on the Wall Street Journal. 

It was this honest dialogue and Henderson’s resulting friendship with Hemant that led Off the Map to seek out an atheist to co-author a book with Henderson. This was the premise of his second book, Jim and Casper Go to Church. Though you have to read the whole book to take in the scope of its purpose, even its basic idea is entirely unlike anything recently written. In it, Henderson narrates his travels from house churches to well-known megachurches with Matt Casper, an astute atheist with a good sense of humor who gives his profound, honest and often blunt thoughts about each church they visit. 

Nearly two years after the publication of this book, Henderson and Off the Map are still examining the way the Church does evangelism, and they continue to host forums and conferences and hear from “outsiders.” 

“We don’t need consultants; we need insultants,” Henderson said. “We don’t like being insulted, yet Jesus was ridiculed, hung on a cross, and nobody really got him. We don’t want that for ourselves.” He compared this period in Church history to the shifting of tectonic plates.

“When earthquakes happen, it seems sudden, but it’s not,” he said. “There has been something building up to this.” He went on to explained that Church as people today know it has been passed down through time. 

“We’ve been handed on a style that maybe worked in the past, but it’s not workable now, and so we need to change,” he said. He added that Christianity, like other world religions, organizes itself around a set of beliefs. “This is characterized in what we think of as the sinner’s prayer, where the way you become a Christian is that you pray a prayer and then you’re going to go to Heaven and you aren’t going to go to Hell,” he said. “We’ve reduced it down to punching in a ticket punch.” To counter this clock-in, clock-out view of Church, Off the Map listens to outside opinions, sharing truth but keeping dialogue open. 

“We began practicing to notice people, putting a hand on people’s backs and asking them how they’re doing and then listening,” Henderson said. “We bring to Christians the feedback and the experience of outsiders and have them talk to us first hand.” What about those who still feel uncomfortable listening when they believe they have the truth? 

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, ‘The church is only the Church when it exists for others,’” Henderson shared. “If I were going to learn how to defend the space, the first thing I’d do is start to reread the Gospels. I would start talking to outsiders about what they think of me and my religion and my people and my beliefs and my practices. And I’d let them talk and I’d practice listening.” For more information about Off the Map or to hear podcasts, visit www.offthemap.com.

Discussion Questions:

- Why do you think Christians are afraid to simply listen? 


- Do you feel pressure to defend faith rather than have open dialogue?

- What can you do to defend the space in your own life?

- What parts of Jim Henderson's position make you uncomfortable? Why?

 

Further Reading:

Jim and Casper Go to Church by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper

Evangelism Without Additives by Jim Henderson

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation by Christine Wicker

The Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory A. Boyd

CARE TO BE COOL

WHAT one organization is doing to help care     

by Mandy Hewitt

Who really cares about social issues and helping other people, fighting for a cause, or getting up off the couch for something other than a second glass of tea? Sam Davidson and the people at CoolPeopleCare Incorporated believe that cool people do, and who doesn’t want to be cool?       

It was at a Washington, D.C. rally when Sam Davidson, president and co-founder of CoolPeopleCare and a Samford alum, first saw the words, “cool people care.” 

“I thought it was a brilliant message that the world needed to hear. After a few conversations, a friend (who had a design and marketing background) and I decided to provide the resource that is known today as CoolPeopleCare.org,” Davidson said. And so began the venue aimed at doing exactly what it claims: to help people care.           

After you find something to care about, what’s the next step? How do we put our passions into action? These are the questions CoolPeopleCare seeks to answer. “After looking around, we found a lack of resources for those of us who wanted to make a difference,” Davidson said. “We want to be an online resource that is getting more and more people involved in the world of social change, many for the first time. We want to bring people into the social change conversation, on their terms, so that they see the impact of their small and dedicated actions. Then, they’ll be more likely to give more and take those bigger, more meaningful, steps.” Therefore, Davidson said, “CoolPeopleCare is simply a resource for people who want to live a more caring lifestyle. To that end, we offer content and products on our Web site that make that easier.”

CoolPeopleCare.org is an excellent resource for getting involved in the community. The site includes everything from a listing of volunteer opportunities in 44 major U.S. cities—which Davidson says is in the process of growing—to simple suggestions of how you can make a difference in your hometown. Through thought-provoking articles, an online store and helpful Web links, CoolPeoleCare.org zeroes in on making service opportunities accessible to anyone who wants to make a difference. 

“To me,” says Davidson, “making a difference can’t be a one-time event. It’s a way of life and we’ve got to incorporate that better.” CoolPeopleCare truly looks to encourage people to make the small changes that will have enormous impacts. Davidson recently co-authored a book called New Day Revolution with Stephen Moseley, the other co-founder of CoolPeopleCare, Inc. The book is aimed at a similar goal as the Web site: giving easy tips to make people who care aware of day-to-day opportunities. 

“I think the next generation has the inspiration and drive to change the world like never before,” Davidson said.  “They’re just looking for the ‘how.’ We think we can provide that ‘how’ like never before to more and more people.” 

Because college students are a part of that generation, he offers them a few words of advice:

1. Learn what you like. Chances are, that major won’t land you your first job. So study what you like. Make sure you learn how to read and write well, as those skills are in demand and employable anywhere. Take as many classes outside of your major as possible.

2. Life is more than the classes you take. Leave campus. Explore Birmingham. Visit a different part of town. Play an intramural. Experience these four years – don’t just make it through them.  

3. Dream big. No matter how old you are or where you come from, the need for big dreamers will continue to grow. If you’ve got a vision for something truly great, begin putting it into action.           

CoolPeopleCare, Inc. is redefining what it means to be cool. “If we could get the message out that ‘cool’ isn’t defined by the car you drive, the soft drink you choose or the shirt you wear, but rather by the ways in which you care, we could change the world by mobilizing new and more people for community change,” Davidson said. So what do you care about? Do you care? Sam Davidson, Stephen Moseley and CoolPeopleCare, Inc. care about getting people to care. After all, caring is cool.

Discussion Questions:

-       Have you ever wanted to help but didn't know where to start?

-       What are your passions for others and are you doing anything about it?

-       What keeps you from acting on your passions?

-       Why do you think we hesitate to do what we know is right?

Suggestions for Further Reading:

coolpeoplecare.org

newdayrevolution.com

gabedixonband.com

New Day Revolution by Stephen Moseley and Sam Davidson

LISTENING TO THE MUSIC

EXPLORING the music of Sufjan Stevens
by Colin Camacho

Photo by Daniel Ruck

Music, like film or other forms of art, is a beautiful medium to communicate emotions, questions, doubts, or even to critique public and personal issues. Music is a language that people are speaking, and it’s everywhere. As both a Christian and a lover of music, I enjoy digging deeper into lyrics and trying to understand what artists are really trying to say through their music. It is clear that the human condition is a central topic, no matter the genre, but lately I have wondered about the spiritual climate of other listeners. Unfortunately it is evident that we as Christians tend to over-spiritualize things a bit much, so in order to be relevant and truly embrace how popular culture views these lyrics, I wanted to see how other listeners, perhaps non-Christians, interpret the very same songs.

Consider Sufjan Stevens. Stevens, who does not fall under the Christian genre per se, addresses many prevalent topics of faith in his art. His ideas explore various heart issues, and his questions embrace the culture around him, making him an important figure in music today, especially for the Christian community. A particular song, “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.,” is about the infamous serial killer himself, but at the end of the song Stevens finishes with a comparison of Gacy’s disposition to his own sinful inclinations. The song is truly a poetic reflection on the human condition and the depravity of man.

In looking at a few blogs on the meaning of the song, it was obvious to me that this track was creating a bit of discussion among listeners. Along with the presence of many Christianized interpretations, there were just as many responses of frustration. One listener wrote, “I hate that everyone keeps forcing Christianity on these songs.” Even more comments reflected dissatisfaction about how we as Christians keep reading into his music, always trying to put a spiritual twist on his lyrics and seemingly try to claim Stevens as “our own.”

I find a lot of truth in these statements; there exists a real problem when Christians over-spiritualize certain themes in music, film, or other areas of expression. But, as justified as either side may be, perhaps the irritated bloggers’ views of Christianity have been shaped by the present stereotypes of Christian music today. It is obvious that the typical contemporary Christian pop lacks substance, is overproduced, and is aesthetically embarrassing, more often than not cloned and pumped out in neatly wrapped institutionalized packaging. And because of the prevalence of such material, the listeners may assume that most Christians have a shallow perspective of music.

Stevens’ music, however, is anything but Christian pop, and it is refreshing to find such sincerity in an artist fully infused in secular culture who can be intellectually honest with his faith and doubts. Speaking of Stevens in an article, Christopher Stratton says, “Spiritually speaking, Stevens stands at the forefront of a widespread movement of young people looking to live out their faith sacramentally, willing to persist in the face of the mystery of God and fully engaged with the world through art and liturgy.”

Stevens’ approach embraces real issues, and a non-Christian blogger noticed this. In reply to another blogger’s comments he said, “he (Stevens) acknowledges that believing in God sometimes doesn’t make much sense, and ironically makes me, an Agnostic, much more open to his Christian beliefs. You rarely hear anybody Christian (especially for me, growing up in the South) willing to talk about that duality.” Stevens represents an approach to faith in his music that is authentic, so can you blame us Christians for latching on and wanting to claim him as our own?

I know that music like this helps me relate. It teaches me how to feel all over again, and brings me into true worship. A song like “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” drives me to the foot of the cross to ponder my depravity; yet as I see Christ, I am also lifted up by an unshakeable grace in the greatest gift I could never earn. It is these moments when I find myself in intimate connection with my God, and music is always a catalyst for these times. There are few moments (apart from reading Psalms) that I feel so connected to the human condition as when I listen to music, and Stevens has pushed me further down this path. When listening to lyrics, I find many times that I am dealing with the same muddy doubts and asking the same questions as the artist, leading me back to dependence on God for guidance. Surely He gets glory from that.

We do not all have to jump on the Sufjan Stevens bandwagon or closely follow other artists like him and cling to all their words, but we must begin to become more intellectually honest with ourselves, our peers, and our God. It is not easy to go outside our comfort zones and embrace the world, but this pursuit will deepen our roots, unlock doors we would have never walked through and bring more insight through that reflection. We will then begin to know ourselves and our surroundings better, contributing to our progressive growth in articulation of what lies beneath our surface, all while listening to culture and what God really wants to say through it. In the meantime, ask God to help you as you go, and turn up the volume.

FINDING MY HEART IN AFRICA

LEARNING to trust God's plan
by Ashley McCleery

Photo by Daniel Ruck

As we cruised down the open road, I gazed warily at the Driver wondering if He knew where He was going. “God,” I said addressing the One sitting in the driver’s seat and guiding me down the road of life. “You just missed our turn.” Before He could get in a word edgewise, I said, “You see, I want to work with a prestigious magazine and become a world renowned journalist, and we just passed that road on the right.” As I tried to grab the wheel, I said, “Don’t worry. I’ll attribute all my success to You.” Before I gained control of the car, He gently took the wheel and compassionately said, “Ashley, let’s go for a ride.”

I had no idea that ride would take me on a two month mission trip to Swaziland, a tiny country located in South Africa. I also had no idea why God desperately wanted me there, but I soon found out.

With a stuffed hiking backpack and a suitcase filled to the brim with ministry supplies, I was ready for training camp in Gainesville, Ga. During worship the second night there, my team learned an African praise song and dance to accompany it. Filled with joy, I joined a moving line of dancers. As I stomped to the beat in the “conga line,” I stepped in a hole bending my left foot in a 90 degree angle, which shot excruciating pain through my body.

The next day, I stared at my swollen, purple foot and prayed frantically, “What should I do, God? What if it’s broken? Will they send me home?” Replacing fear, God gave me an overwhelming sense of peace with the scripture Romans 10:15, which states, “How will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” I glanced down at my bruised foot, and I knew God had a sense of humor. But, I also knew God was telling me to continue on my journey because He was still in the driver’s seat.

Upon inspection, a staff member and former nurse said it probably was just a sprain and it would heal within a week. Until then, I was advised to use my team as much as possible in getting from place to place. And, that’s exactly what I did. For two weeks, my team carried me and acted as my crutches. Although my foot still hurt, I was able to walk very slowly on my own by the third week. By the fifth week, I miraculously climbed Execution Rock, the highest mountain in Swaziland.

As I climbed up the final steep rock to the top and stared at the beautiful green hills of Swaziland, God whispered, “Don’t limit me, Ashley.” I heard this phrase once more when I went to the doctor back at home and discovered God had sustained me for two months on a broken foot and three torn ligaments.

Although my foot was a small hindrance to my ministry, I discovered my own stubbornness to be the largest hindrance. I did not want to minister to the sick. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about them, but I knew that wasn’t my gift. Instead, I delved all my energy into the local orphans. For the first couple of weeks, my team led Vacation Bible Schools, taught informal school and hosted a community wide orphan camp. However, during the orphan camp, God opened my eyes.

After singing, dancing and feeding over 200 orphans at the camp, my team and I tried to convince the hyper kids to sleep. When the noise subsided, I squished in between several orphans and tried to sleep myself. Automatically, a little girl and boy cuddled with me in hopes of warmth and comfort from the freezing concrete floor. As I cradled these two precious gifts, I realized why these children and over 70,000 children in Swazi are orphans: AIDS. Right then and there, God changed my hopes and desires for the trip. I wanted to visit the hospitals.

Cautiously, I entered the children’s ward of the hospital unaware of what God had in store. I was definitely not prepared to see rows upon rows of beds housing children wrapped in bandages with severe burns, babies struggling to survive with IVs stemming from their tiny heads, children suffering from Tuberculosis and AIDS and the dear boy I came to love, Thembenkosi.

I walked to Thembenkosi’s bed and immediately knew this was where God wanted me to be. With one look at this precious nine-year-old boy, God broke my heart. His thighs, the size of my wrist, stuck through toddler diapers and his sunken eyes rolled back in his head as he went in and out of consciousness. Each breath was such a labor as his chest heaved to achieve one gasp of air. I knew I was staring death in the face. AIDS was stealing his life.

Despite the overwhelming despair in the hospital, God allowed me to bring joy. As I watched this sweet boy deteriorate, I prayed over him, sang praises to the only One who could heal him and read hope from the Bible. Eventually, the Lord took him home where he isn’t suffering anymore.

Although I had claimed earlier that being with the sick wasn’t my gift, God obviously knew otherwise. With this one precious boy, the Lord changed my heart and showed me that I had once again limited Him.

However, Thembenkosi wasn’t the only person God wanted me to bring His love to. Throughout the rest of the summer, I visited two different hospitals and spread my time between the children’s ward and the women’s ward. And, Thembenkosi wasn’t the only one who reminded me I had limited God.

Walking into the Tuberculosis ward one day, I approached a woman who was sitting in her bed reading. I introduced myself and she did the same. Joyfully, she clutched her Bible with one hand, grabbed my hands with the other and proclaimed in rough English, “My name is Nelisiwe. I have Tuberculosis, and I’m HIV positive, but I know my Jesus is going to heal me.”

At that moment, tears welled in my eyes full of shame. I was ashamed for doubting that God would heal my foot. I was ashamed for doubting my spiritual gifts. I was ashamed for doubting God’s power. I was ashamed for doubting God’s plan for my life. I had been limiting God, and it needed to stop. “Oh Lord, take the wheel,” I prayed. “And this time I mean it.”

But, what does it really mean to give God the wheel to our lives? As Christians we are called to live a life glorifying our Savior, but more than that we are called to surrender to Him. We need to surrender our plans and aspirations for the future realizing God knows far better than we do what’s best for our lives. We need to die to self and live for Christ. When we crucify our plans, we allow God to bring His power into our lives. We allow Him to be the Potter and us the clay.

By surrendering my whole life, not just a portion, to God in Swazi, I saw how He changed the desires of my heart. My dreams and desires for my life have changed and now they hopefully match His.

Even though I experienced God’s provision in Swazi, I still struggle with doubts about my future. When I do have doubts, I open His precious Word and cling to Isaiah 55:8-9, which states, ‘”My thoughts are completely different than yours,’ says the Lord. ‘And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.’”

WISHFUL THINKING: A SEEKER'S ABC BY FREDERICK BUECHNER

BOOK review
by Neal Tucker

Photo by Daniel Ruck

“Glory is to God what style is to an artist.” With his witty style, Frederick Buechner writes a book very much his own in Wishful Thinking: a Seeker’s abc. Buechner tries to give new binding to old books, and in so doing, appeal to the 21st century mind. He writes on various ideas like Love, Questions, Fools, the Gospel, Eternity; and he offers a new pair of glasses to see seemingly lofty topics, such as how Jesus can also be God: “Just as your words have you in them - your breath, spirit, power, hiddenness - so Jesus has God in him.” So if you have the desire to seek out your wishes, those angels upon which truth sometimes takes flight, get a copy of this book and learn more of the glory of God: “what God looks like when for the time being all you have to look at him with is a pair of eyes.”

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

MOVIE review
by Amber Tatum and Steven Bonham

Good to the last drop. Or so the subtitle should read. Little Miss Sunshine beams in as the surprise indie hit thus far in 2006. Despite seemingly trite circumstantial elements such as the ever popular “journey in a car equals journey of life” theme, hyper dysfunctional characters and gratuitous language (thank you heroine-pumping grandpa), the film boldly captures the poignancy and soul of honest relationships. At times the movie could be mistaken for a documentary due to dead on performances by the all-star cast. One might even expect the film’s big names such as Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear or The Office’s Steve Carell to be spotlight hogs, but in fact, the six distinct main characters function as one beautifully twisted ensemble.

Little Miss Sunshine is undoubtedly made beautiful by the “little” things; namely, perfect comedic timing, priceless facial expressions and appropriately placed music (Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago” takes the cake). The film is certainly one of the darkest comedies to hit theatres in a while with its blatant presentation of drug abuse, homosexuality, death, suicide, divorce, and horrific parenting. However, it is nearly impossible for anyone not to feel just a bit lighter upon exiting the theatre. USA Today’s Claudia Puig writes that “it's one of the rare comedies that is consistently funny for most of its 101 minutes, which is no small feat.” We agree Claudia. We agree.

BEN HARPER, BOTH SIDES OF THE GUN

MUSIC review
by Amber Tatum and Steven Bonham

As the title suggests, singer/songwriter Ben Harper’s new two-disc album, Both Sides of the Gun, features a number of opposites. Aside from the two disc distinction between the mellow acoustic disc and the more rock-driven full band disc, Harper presents a genuine juxtaposition in thematic considerations.

On one hand he uses his album as a political platform (again) with songs like “Black Rain” -a response to Hurricane Katrina. But he also shows his ever vulnerable heart on the sometimes redundant yet arguably stronger acoustic side. With tracks like the sorrowful “Never Leave Lonely Alone,” and “Waiting For You,” Harper gravitates to his usual desperation. But on the other side of the acoustic gun, the final song, “Happy Everafter in Your Eyes,” awaits to cap the disc with the optimism of the full band tracks such as the stirring opener, “Better Way”. And by the same token, it seems that Harper is still searching for something greater than himself with every track he produces.

The California artist who introduced Jack Johnson to the music scene has one upped his most recent solo effort Diamonds on the Inside with a diverse sound that can be compared to the likes of Bob Dylan or Ray LaMontague. To be sure, Ben Harper has found his side of the gun and while he probably won’t change the world in his attempts, we love to listen to him try.

RYAN SPENCER REED

INTERVIEW with a traveling photographer
by Melissa Gibson

How many times in my college experience have I seen the wide-eyed, open- mouthed expressions on peoples’ faces when injustices are exposed? However, it is as if this nakedness comes in and out with the wind. Seconds later our lips turn upward in a laugh, and we are running in the quad toward a frisbee, not running away from a gun. Our boyfriends take us on dates and sex is just a choice. When does the six-year-old Sudanese girl choose? Or does she just choose not to cry? I am not blaming Samford students, like myself, for our apathy, but I am acknowledging it. It is our duty to know and make known the truths of today. What does this look like? Is it possible to dream like we did as children? Can we change the world?

Ryan Spencer Reed was in his sophomore year at Calvin College when the road to his purpose became defined. “I came to college with an idea about where I wanted to be and how I wanted to live my life, but it completely changed based on an encounter I had with the world around me,” Reed said. As a pre-med physics major, Reed sought after a “social manipulation tool” to make a positive impact on society. He soon found an outlet in photography. With three uncles in the profession, Reed experimented taking pictures initially as a hobby. Two years later he sold his car to pay his way to Africa, armed with a camera and a passion to provide others with an encounter similar to his own.

“I was born white in America,” Reed said, humbly pointing out his unearned privilege, “I won the galactic lottery.” In the past four years, Reed has traveled to South African, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanania, Chad, and Kenya documenting displacement of Africans due to war. His concern is the responsibility we have as Americans. Are we to take our “lottery” winnings and keep them solely for ourselves? We are the very ones propagating inequities with our indifference. After all, “we are the most influential and affluent society ever to walk the face of this earth,” Reed added. Beyond America, Reed sees the world not as a collection of separate places, but as one interconnected community to whom we are accountable.

“What we don’t realize is that the issue in Sudan is not just a Sudanese issue. It’s not just Darfur, it’s the whole country. And it’s not just the whole country, it’s the whole region. But it even goes deeper than that. This is not just war – this is genocide.” Reed is confident that people need more than just a healthy awareness. We are obligated also to know why these problems exist and what things can be done about them. “That is what journalists do – document work that is done to raise awareness.”

Reed’s favorite quote by President Harry Truman says a lot about his character and motivation: “The only thing new in this world is the history we do not know.” According to Reed the past it what concerns us. It is our job to know and to act. We have the resources, but we don’t use them enough. “On an individual level there are a lot of things that civilians of this country can do,” he said. “But you have to start locally.” According to Reed, we can demand more coverage of world issues, we can write letters of appreciation for justice sought, and we can advocate for a non-profit approach to the news. “There is a shameful percentage of what we could and should contribute,” he admitted. “We have an obligation to protect human life. As long as there’s one person in slavery, none of us are free.”

The Global Church

CHRISTIANS living around the world
by Kurt Selles

Photo by Jordan Jarvis

On the afternoon of July 29 of this year in Hangzhou, an ancient cultural and political capital on China’s prosperous eastern seaboard, hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes policemen swarmed on a site in the suburbs where Christians were building a church. Claiming that it was an “illegal structure,” the police cleared a path through the crowd of several hundred Christians and used a few drill-equipped backhoes to flatten the almost-completed structure. When some of the Christians at the site resisted the demolition, the scene quickly turned ugly. According to eyewitnesses, the police used truncheons to beat the Christians, sending a number of them to the hospital.

The destruction of the unregistered church in Hangzhou took place on a Saturday afternoon. The next day on Sunday, July 30, millions of Chinese worshipped openly in thousands of churches spread across the country. In some places, Christians met in apartments to sing, pray, and share the story of the Bible. In other places, lines formed outside church buildings as thousands waited to worship, to openly profess their faith, and to hear God’s word preached.

Which of the above two scenarios more accurately represents what’s taking place in the Christian movement in China today? Is it a persecuted church under attack by a hostile government as reported in Time (Aug. 28, 2006), or is it a religious movement blossoming and flourishing across the country?

Both are true, though, fortunately, governmental pressure is lessening while the number of Christians and churches continues to grow.

At one time, China’s militantly atheistic government attempted to wipe out all religion because it was seen as the “opiate of the people.” Christianity, with the taint of its close association with Western imperialism, was singled out as a chief target. Over time, and especially since the early 1980s and China’s dramatic opening to economic development, the government’s policy toward religious practice has softened and become much more pragmatic. Though government pressure still exists, as Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times editorialist said in September 2006, “it tends to be somewhat localized. Your average Christian in China hasn't been threatened, doesn't know anybody who's been beaten up”. As with many areas of personal freedom in China today, as long as activity is not perceived as political, almost anything goes.

While some pressures still exist, the overall trends for the Christian movement in China appear positive. The same Time article that reported the church demolition in Hangzhou also noted that as many as 1,000 Chinese per day are becoming Christians. And as more and more churches dot the landscape, Christians are growing more confident in asserting their presence in the country and claiming the religious freedoms guaranteed in the Chinese constitution.

What does the burgeoning Chinese Christian movement look like? Twenty-five years ago when churches were reopening their doors after the chaos and disaster of the Cultural Revolution, the church was predominantly rural, elderly, female, and uneducated. Today church attendance cuts across all walks of life. Though the church is still larger in the countryside, the church in Chinese cities has witnessed explosive growth, too. Today more women than men attend church, though the number of men coming is also growing. Among the newcomers are older people, middle-aged people, young people, and even a growing number of children. And despite the persistent stereotype of being an underclass movement, the church is drawing doctors, lawyers, teachers, and many other professionals.

Other things have changed for the Chinese church, too. Whereas once outside pressures dominated the life of the church, today the movement is faced with a number of pressing internal challenges. As new believers come from all regions and walks of life, this new diversity presents Christians with the challenge of getting along. The explosive numerical growth has rendered many church facilities woefully inadequate to house their congregations, and in some places church facilities are rundown to the point of being safety hazards. Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the church is the lack of trained leaders; in some provinces it is estimated that there is one ordained pastor for every twenty thousand Christians.

Despite these significant challenges facing the Chinese church, its prospects for the future have profound implications for the worldwide church. As China takes its place on the world stage, so too will the Chinese church. Already many in the Chinese church are awakening to the potential contribution of Chinese Christians to the global missionary task of the twenty-first century. And as this process of participating in missions expands, so too will the maturity of the Chinese church.

Do you care?

COPING with the world's problems
by Jennifer Wilmore

Photo by Jordan Jarvis

I have a lot of questions. What is the worth of a life? Of half a million lives? Can a world that vowed “Never Again” in response to the Holocaust still fail to act, fully knowing that innocent people are being brutally killed, raped, driven from their homes and denied their livelihood?

I know the answer to the last question because, for the past three years, the international community has allowed government-sponsored militias to carry out genocide against the people of Darfur, Sudan. Genocide is the deliberate, systematic attempt to exterminate a national, ethnic, religious, political or racial group. We are shocked and saddened that this evil was perpetrated in Nazi Germany and Rwanda, but do we not care that it is being carried out now in Darfur, where the death toll is estimated at over 400.000 people and 2.5 million are struggling to survive in refugee camps? Will we be content to weep over the remains of even more precious lives lost when we could have saved them?

As people of faith, our just God calls us “to act justly and to love mercy” (Micah 6:8)—to manifest our love for Him by loving others. In this case, loving our African neighbors as ourselves requires us to first intercede in prayer for them and to then to use the means God has given us to demand that our government and the international community act immediately to save millions of lives.

So I guess my last question is, will you care?

INVISIBLE CHILDREN

UNDERSTANDING the problem in Uganda
by Lindsey Harter

Photo by Jordan Jarvis

It’s almost comical now to think back on the fears we had as children when the lights went out at night. Shadows became monsters and sometimes we were sure about those horrible creatures that lurked beneath our beds while we slept. It was always comforting to hear Mom or Dad assure us that “there is nothing to be afraid of”.

For the children of northern Uganda, fear far exceeds that of an imaginary shadow, and it cannot be accompanied by any true assurance. These children simply hope to make it through the night, praying that they will not be abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that has been attempting to take over the Uganda government for the past 20 years. Unfortunately, for about 30,000 Ugandan children, this fear has become a reality, leaving them as sex slaves, objects of torture and mutilation, or forced as soldiers against their own people.

The LRA targets children roughly between the ages of 5 and 14 because they are strong enough to carry weapons (and learn how to use them) but young enough to be brainwashed through fear. This process begins almost immediately after their capture. Usually within the first week, the children set aside for soldier training are forced to murder another abducted child with nothing but a panga (a type of machete). If a child disobeys, the same act he was instructed to perform will be carried out on him instead. Constant exposure to this type of violence has now become their routine environment. Removed from their homes, the only education these children will receive will be in tactics of murder and destruction.

Every night there are tens of thousands of Ugandan children who travel to bus ports or hospitals from their homes in an attempt to sleep safely. Despite this heavy darkness, compassion and love for these children are becoming increasingly evident throughout the world. Invisible Children, an organization based in California, works to bring international attention to the issue, motivate governmental efforts, and raise financial support to build communities of safety and education for the children of northern Uganda. Unfortunately, however, there is much more work to be done. Please join us in bringing hope to this desperate generation of children.