Why Learning from the Global Church Matters
Can the West be converted?
The question, posed by General Simatoupong several decades ago, has become increasingly relevant as the church in the U.S. continues to discover what it means to minister in a post-Christendom world. The local context for mission has changed significantly in the last few decades as the culture continues to move toward secularism. Amid the church's many challenges in its immediate context, the attention given to foreign missions has sometimes receded. The needs around us are sufficient to exhaust all of the church’s time and resources. Moreover, in light of the slow progress seen locally, how can we even consider the church's mission in places like Latin America?
However, according to Newbigin, the church’s involvement in foreign missions is part of what can give us progress in our immediate context. Involvement in foreign missions is critical in strengthening the church’s missional vocation. It is an urgent matter for the health and renewal of the church in the U.S. Why?
Newbigin provided several reasons. Upon his return to Great Britain in 1974, after almost four decades of missionary service in India, Newbigin found a church that had lost confidence in the gospel and whose voice was relegated to the private realm of life within a pluralistic society. He realized that an Archimedean point was needed for the European church to be free from its cultural captivity so the church could overcome its blind spots and syncretistic ideas. Newbigin found it in the church’s cross-cultural mission. He believed the global church’s perspective is needed to equip us to be critics of our own culture, discover our syncretism, and grasp a deeper understanding of the uniqueness and finality of Christ (Newbigin 1977, 1994).
As we engage with the church in Latin America, we need to do so with an honest, two-way-relationship mentality. The U.S. and the Latin American church need each other. There is much to give as well as to learn and receive (1. Cor. 12:21-25).
