A Note from a Friend Part 2
(again.. this is from a friend to me... think of this in terms of an honest journal entry to you from a friend... what do you think? what would you say? )

Missions. Church. Evangelicals.
My wife and her sisters grew up in a Baptist church. It has become one of these places that some of the post-moderns are so bent against. It is in the last part of a giant building phase. It has a few projector screens above a big stage. The services are very polished and clean and typical. It has experienced lots of growth over the past few years, and considers itself very successful. Most of the people there are very genuine and believe their way of church is the right way, and I think assume that all other Christians agree.
I get the chills just walking into the building. Creepy chills like watching that Benny guy on TV, not good chills like Christmas morning when it snows.
Anyway, most of my in-laws would agree that this is a pretty shallow and fake place to be and God doesn’t solely reside in that place, but they all hail from similar theology. It would be kind of like disagreeing with the size and feel of Willow Creek, but using all their materials.
My wife has three sisters. All are married, two are missionaries and ones husband is a youth pastor in So-Cal. So you can imagine how pervasive missionary, evangelical thinking may be in our time together as a family, and it assumed that I, being a good Christian, also subscribe to the same theology. I constantly endure generalisms like “this place in China is a dark, dark place” or stories on conversions with people that they’ll never see again. Having “a heart for the lost in unreached people groups” meanwhile I am looking for the unreached wallets that haven’t spent any money on advertising lately so that I can persuade them to do a commercial. I don’t really think I give a shit about the eternal state of my neighbor’s soul, I’m more interested in whether he’d want to play cards or come over for dinner. I think that if someone else assumed I care about the ‘lost’ or that I even understand what that means (even though I’ve used that language… lots.) I’m going to develop turrets syndrome and just start cussing at the slightest hint that the conversation is going in the direction of typical evangelical generalities about life and people. I want to write and apology letter to all of the people I ever walked through the ‘sinners prayer’, or anyone I ever referred to as ‘lost’ or ‘unsaved’.
So. I guess the questions I am asking myself are these; how do we live as Christians in a world where that title has been so misused, so distorted? How do we co-operate, tolerate, or even have community with those people who are contemporary missionaries and evangelicals? I am not saying that my way of thinking is right, and I don’t think I want to have theological debate with my family; it is just that I am so offended at the generalities and assumptions sometimes. I don’t know how to respond, without being an offensive prick. Sometimes I’d just rather be considered a heathen then a Christian, that way I am not expected to understand or agree.

posted by riddle at 1:53 PM | |