5 Principles for a Successful Red Shield Appeal

Around this time of year Salvation Army Officers all over Australia are either engaging or avoiding the mammoth task of organising the annual Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal Doorknock in their local community, which is held at the end of May each year.  While the Red Shield Appeal is still widely supported by very generous Australians it tends to evoke a love/hate relationship from those tasked with the responsibility to recruit and mobilise an army of volunteer collectors. This is largely due to competing demands on the Officer's time, complacency by a growing number of Salvationists and community fatigue from a continuous stream of fundraising events by other worthy charities.

Still, the necessity of the Red Shield Appeal to funding the mission of The Salvation Army is inescapable and deserves the very best effort from ALL who consider themselves as "Salvos".

As somebody who shadowed my parents from my earliest memory as a collector, who graduated to an area captain at age 14 and as a colleague who has coordinated the Red Shield Appeal as a Corps Officer for the past 20 years in four very different communities, I offer these five principles to recalibrate our collective attitude and approach to the Red Shield Appeal...

1. The Red Shield Appeal is EVERYBODY'S responsibility.
   Irrespective of rank, appointment or position in The Salvation Army we all have a vital part to play. Even if you do not have a direct role in organising the appeal you need to ask yourself, "Am I a servant or steward of the mission of The Salvation Army?"  A servant of the mission will do their bit to participate in a good cause but a steward of the mission will take ownership of the same cause. The difference between the two is the degree of resolve you have to do whatever it takes for the mission to succeed!  As a servant, the overall success of the appeal is not my responsibility, but as a steward I am a stakeholder in its success.
   
   
2. The Red Shield Appeal is an OPPORTUNITY not a distraction.
   I don't know of any Salvation Army Officer who doesn't want to engage their community to advance the kingdom of God through their respective appointments. The Red Shield Appeal provides a powerful platform for this type of engagement with community groups, local businesses and other organisations. Despite recent challenges for The Salvation Army we are still blessed with a high level of community acceptance that provides an open door to build relationships and invite the public to participate in our mission.  Once people step through that door, we have an opportunity to cast a 'grander vision' of the 'why' behind the 'what', which can provide life changing pathways for further dialogue and volunteerism beyond the Red Shield Appeal.
   
   
3. The Red Shield Appeal begins BEFORE it starts!
   I cannot overstate the importance of networking and nurturing community relationships ALL year round. Waiting until these relationships are needed diminishes the level of engagement that comes from more reciprocal relationships formed before they are necessary. Also, there is a significant difference between approaching warm contacts for assistance than cold canvassing strangers. The energy you invest in this space before the Red Shield Appeal will pay dividends during and after the appeal.  You indeed 'reap what you sow' when it comes to building community relationships.
   
   
4. The Red Shield Appeal MOBILISES an army.
   There is no other time of year when large numbers of Salvationists and supporters are united around a common cause and mobilised to saturate the community of a local Corps, with the backing of a PR driven media campaign.  Even though the goal of the Red Shield Appeal is to collect money the motivation is to resource mission; and our mission is ultimately to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.  The Red Shield Appeal gets us out of our Corps buildings and into the community with an extraordinary message of hope that is manifested through our social programs that serve the most vulnerable people in Australia.  Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?!
   
   
5. The Red Shield Appeal rises and falls on YOU.
   Leadership expert John Maxwell is often quoted as saying, "Everything rises and falls on leadership."  A brief overview of biblical and church history, corporate successes and failures, and social and political revolutions, prove this statement to be true! The uncomfortable truth is your attitude towards the Red Shield Appeal will set the tone for the engagement of others. While there is much about the Red Shield Appeal you cannot control, your attitude is on you. It is a choice.  It's a choice that will influence the participation of your congregation and community.

I get the tiredness that comes from coordinating such a large fundraising campaign and I understand the frustration of not having enough collectors. But I cannot help to remain optimistic about the possibilities! It is my genuine hope that these five principles will serve as a challenge and motivator to harness all the opportunities that come with organising and participating in the Red Shield Appeal. 

What Breaks God's Heart?

One of the most quoted phrases from contemporary worship in recent times would have to be "Break my heart for what breaks Yours" from Brooke Fraser's well loved song 'Hosanna'.  Every time I sing these words I immediately think of all that is broken in our world through a lens of social justice - war, poverty, slavery, human trafficking, drug and alcohol abuse, family violence...and sadly, this barely scratches the surface! Interpreting these words in this way is consistent with the message of the prophets - "And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8) - and is in alignment with the mission of Jesus Christ - "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners  and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour" (Luke 4:18-9).  God is clearly concerned about human suffering and flourishing and is grieved by anything that diminishes His image in humankind.  But could there be more than a social justice lens to understand the meaning of these provocative words?  What else breaks God's heart?

Again, I look to God's message and mission as revealed in Scripture and discover that He is as concerned about holiness as He is about justice...

"This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.  I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes." (Ezekiel 36:22-23)

So when I sing, "Break my heart for what breaks Yours," my thinking needs to extend beyond that which offends my humanity to that which offends God's divinity.  While the two are not mutually exclusive, as God's holiness and justice are inseparable; it seems the former has a declining impact on the hearts of many Christ followers than the latter. In fact, when Christians raise their voices against a violation of justice it evokes a somewhat different response from others than when Christians raise their voices against a violation of holiness. This is an interesting paradox when you consider that the first and greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).  The depth of this love calls for complete devotion that synchronises two hearts as one, so that the pursuit of holiness reframes what breaks the hearts of those who say they love God. 

Consider these expressions of such love towards a holy God by key leaders in Scripture...

King David, who was described as being "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14), offered a prayer of repentance for his sin against a holy God, whom he loved:  "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.  Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge." (Psalm 51:3-4)

The prophet Isaiah saw his sinfulness in the presence of the holiness of God and cried, "Woe to me!  I am ruined!  For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5)

The disciple Simon Peter, humbled by the authority of Jesus, "fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"" (Luke 5:8)

The apostle Paul, fully aware of his own wretchedness and the power of the Spirit, chose not to "live according to the flesh" nor to have his "mind set on what the flesh desires; [but to] live in accordance with the Spirit [with his] mind set on what the Spirit desires." (Rom 8:5)

 
In each case their brokenness led to repentance and their repentance led to holiness and their holiness positioned them for mission.  God says, "Be holy because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).  Why?  Only when our hearts are fully aligned with God's heart can our hearts be truly broken by what breaks His.  Only from this posture can we truly identify what is broken in this world.  Only then can we bring a message of hope and engage in a ministry of healing.  Only then will God's kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

God's mission demands a posture of humility before a holy God, otherwise...

How can we preach a mandate of HOLINESS when we continue to justify what is right in our own eyes?

How can we participate in a ministry of HEALING when we cannot recognise the brokenness of our fallen humanity?

How can we promote a message of HOPE when we are seduced by the values of this world?

What breaks God's heart is when the church misinterprets the full counsel of Scripture and misrepresents the character of God by setting holiness and justice against each other, thereby robbing people from experiencing the fullness of life that Jesus came to give all humankind!

We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.  When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.  Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language?  Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!”  Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”  (Acts 2:5-12)

My dream for our community is that everyone we encounter, from all cultural backgrounds, will say of the Cranbourne Salvation Army, "We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"  

Today, I captured a photo of some of our Community Support Services volunteers representing six nations, different faith perspectives and diverse life experiences. Yet, each one of them identify with the mission of The Salvation Army in some capacity and voluntarily give their time to serve our common humanity.  In this space there are many messages being spoken by both our words and actions, but I wonder what part of our mission is most being heard and understood?  What is our primary witness - the works of 'man' or the wonders of God?  Is there a langauge of love that personifies the love of God and transcends culture?

The cultural diversity of our volunteers is reflective of the cultural diversity of our community.  My prayer is that the Spirit of God will move with such power through our ministry that everybody we encounter will be "utterly amazed" just like those gathered at Pentecost and will also ask, "What does this mean?"  When they do, may we be empowered to declare the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in such a way so "that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Acts 2:21).

Cross-Cultural Ministry

"The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian
Church.  Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission
is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination."

The Salvation Army International Mission Statement

As a part of this international movement I not only see the internationalism of The Salvation Army expressed in various nations from a distance but up close through diverse cultural expressions in my own ministry context in Australia.  This creates a rich and complex cross-cultural mission field for me and my church.  

While I personally have a culturally diverse heritage, with Maltese blood and Italian and German grandparents, I am Australian born and was spiritually raised in an English speaking, mono-cultural church in a working-class suburb in Melbourne.  Yet, growing up, my best friend was Croatian and some of my class mates were from a Lebanese, Egyptian, Turkish and Greek background.

Our training as Salvation Army Officers was alongside an Indonesian cadet who trained with us in Melbourne. Our first appointment was in the Northern Territory where we engaged with the Indigenous community and hosted a number of YWAM discipleship training teams from south-east Asia and Europe.  Through successive appointments we have led short-term mission trips to Chiang Mai in Thailand, and Denpasar, Jakarta and Palu in Indonesia.  In our current appointment we have an active ministry to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Egypt; conduct English classes for a diverse range of nationalities; participate in inter-faith dialogue with Pakistanis from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community; provide facilities for local Christian Indian prayer groups; and have a large multi-cultural volunteer base.

It is any wonder that God has birthed within us a passion for cross-cultural ministry!  However, despite our passion, how do we effectively lead and minister in this space?

Most of our cross-cultural ministry has been accidental, providing us with steep learning curves that have demanded far more intentional responses.  Our growing awareness of other cultures has led both me and my wife into formal learning pathways to educate and equip us to navigate this culturally diverse ministry landscape.

Recently, I was asked to make a presentation to our Growing Healthy Corps group about some cross-cultural ministry insights we have learned along the way.  We are far from experts and feel at times we have little clue about what we are doing in a very complex and fluid environment.  Nevertheless, our journey so far has instilled within us four fundamental beliefs and three missional convictions about cross-cultural ministry.

Cross-Cultural Ministry - 4 Fundamental Beliefs

1. The Creator reveals Himself to ALL humankind (Romans 1:20)
2. God's desire is for ALL to be saved (2 Peter 3:9)
3. Holy Spirit is preparing hearts for salvation (John 16:7-15)
4. Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12)

These four fundamental beliefs enable me to interact with different cultures and other faiths from a different position than from my evangelical upbringing.  First, we don't need to take God anywhere, He is already present, providing all people with a partial revelation of the Creator God through His creation.  Second, no culture or religion is outside of the scope of God's salvation.  Third, Holy Spirit is at work long before us, therefore, our role is to 'join in on a conversation that has already begun.'  Finally, a full revelation of God can only be seen through Jesus Christ.

Cross-Cultural Ministry - 3 Missional Convictions

The Apostle Paul's interaction with the men of Athens (Acts 17:16-34) has given form to my fundamental beliefs by providing a biblical framework that has produced my missional convictions about cross-cultural ministry:

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. (Acts 17:16-17)

Conviction #1 - Look for where God is already present

"Cross-cultural witnesses need to look for such indications of God's prior working in whatever societies they go to and work in continuity with them."

Charles H. Kraft, Anthropology for Christian Witness

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. (Acts 17:22-23) 

Conviction #2 - Listen for gaps in their revelation of God

"As we work with the people, we need to find out what kinds of questions they are asking for which they are unable to find answers within their culture."

Charles H. Kraft, Anthropology for Christian Witness

 

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:26-28)

Conviction #3 - Learn how to share a revelation of Jesus

"It is very significant to me that Jesus was a storyteller.  

We westerners are sermonizers, and there is a big difference between the effectiveness of a storytold message and a sermonized message."

Charles H. Kraft, Anthropology for Christian Witness

These three missional convictions are not only a three step process for sharing the gospel in a cross-cultural context but in any context.  They create a posture of looking, listening and learning that fosters what Clark Pinnock calls a dialogical relationship, which is foundational to effective cross-cultural ministry.

"We should watch for whatever Spirit may be teaching and doing among them.  This posture creates the possibility of a dialogical relationship.  We can enter into the faith of others and acknowledge truths and values found there.  These are our fellow human beings, seeking truth as we are.  God is reaching out, and people are responding.  So let us watch for points of contact and bridges of communication." - Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love

Paul personified a dialogical relationship with the men of Athens that enabled him to recognise where God was at work, identify a gap in their knowledge and evoke from them a relational response, "We want to hear you again on this subject" (Acts 17:32).  The result?  "Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed."

This has completely changed my approach to evangelism in all contexts, especially cross-culturally!  As a cross-cultural minister I should maintain the attitude of a fellow learner who is also on a faith journey.  As a cross-cultural minister I need to tune into the universal work of the Spirit and share it's unique expression in Jesus Christ.  As a cross-cultural minister my role is to join in on a conversation that has already begun.  

"We have to say both yes and no to other religions.  On the one hand, we should accept any spiritual depth and truth in them.  On the other hand, we must reject darkness and error and at the very least see other faiths as insufficient apart from fulfilment in Christ.  The key is to hold fast to two truths:  the universal operations of grace and the uniqueness of its manifestation in Jesus Christ." - Clark H. Pinnock, Flame of Love

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 13

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 13

JELAMBAR:  Our Mission Trip finished on a high with us visiting Jelambar Corps during a ten hour stop-over in Jakarta on our way home.  We served at Jelambar Corps with a team from our previous appointment at Noarlunga Corps on a Mission Trip three years ago.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 12

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 12

FUNERAL:  The Salvation Army in Palu takes funerals to a whole new level with seven services officiated over three days for Mr Oskar Hohoy!  It has been an incredible privilege to witness the proceedings and to be asked to speak at two of the services.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 11

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 11

AVAILABLE:  Today has simply been about being available.  Available to respond and connect where needed as Nyoman and Suni make arrangements for Oskar's funeral tomorrow.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 10

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 10

EMOTIONS:  Late last night I received a phone call from Major Nyoman Timonuli to inform me that our plans for today needed to change as the Elementary School Principal of Palu School and CSM of Towua Corps, Mr Oskar Hohoy, had suddenly passed away.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 9

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 9

CHILDREN:  Throughout this Mission Trip we have been blessed by meeting so many children in Salvation Army run kindergartens, schools and children's homes from one side of Central Sulawesi to the other.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 8

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 8

TEAMS:  After a much needed day of rest and with a couple of team members still feeling a little off colour, today we were given the option to divide into two teams.  One team would take a fairly strenuous trip back up into the mountains on motorbikes to visit schools and Corps in the Lindu District, while the other team would stay local visiting Corps and Centres in the Palu area.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 7

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 7

REST:  After a week of full-on mission activities and adventures taking us all around Central Sulawesi, we were all feeling a little weary!

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 6

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 6 

ADVENTURE:  Our mission trip today took us on an adventure high into the mountains to the remote Tamodo Corps in West Palu.  Due to limited road access, we changed vehicles half way up the mountain at Dombu Corps, climbing onto the back of motorbikes with local riders for the last hour of the trek along very rugged, steep and narrow roads.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 5

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 5

REVIVAL:  The much anticipated Youth Revival Meeting commenced at 10.00 am with youth from six Corps and seven Outposts gathering in the Pantolobete Corps hall for worship. 

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Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 4

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 4

RFA:  Our day started early with a long trip to West Palu for some more school visits enroute to the Lalundu District Youth Camp, where we stayed the night.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 3

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 3

CONNECTIONS:  The words of Don Moen's song, "My soul follows hard after thee, early in the morning will I rise up and seemed apt as we arose very early this morning to get ready for the 6.00 am Holiness Meeting at Towua Corps.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 2

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 2

CONTRASTS:  Today we hit the road for a visit to three schools run by The Salvation Army in the East Palu Division.  Our trip took us along some pretty windy and rough roads into the mountains where our senses were overloaded with unfamiliar sights and smells of rural Central Sulawesi. 

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 1

Mission Trip Reflections: Palu Mission Trip - Day 1

RECEPTION:  Our mission trip to Palu commenced with a series of overwhelming welcomes from the staff and children at the Palu School.

Read more about our Mission Trip...

Palu, Here We Come!

Tomorrow, together with our mission team from the Cranbourne Corps, we embark on an exciting adventure to serve our friends and colleagues Major Nyoman and Captain Suniati Timonuli at The Salvation Army school and Towua Corps in Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.  

We trained together with Nyoman in Melbourne 18 years ago and this will be our third mission trip serving him and his family in their ministry context - Denpasar in 2009 and Jakarta in 2011 with the Noarlunga Corps mission team and now Palu with our mission team from Cranbourne Corps.

We will be engaged in a variety of mission activities, including - preaching, teaching, pastoral visitation, prayer ministry, school ministry, youth ministry, painting and assisting with a building project.  Most of all we get to partner with other Salvationists in advancing the kingdom of God in their part of the world, building relationships and encouraging each other on our faith journeys.  

We are passionate about serving God through the international vehicle of The Salvation Army and are excited about joining in with what Holy Spirit is doing through Bala Keselamatan in Palu, Indonesia.  If you would like to follow our mission activities while we are away between the 9th and 23rd October, you can read my mission trip reflections at the following blogspot:

http://ephesiansfour12missions.blogspot.com.au

Tuhan Yesus memberkati anda!

Engaging With Other Religions

Over the past three years, I have been on an extraordinary journey of discovery as I have dared to entertain the idea that God is at work through other religions.  Even now, writing such a realisation still feels a little strange as I have grown up in an evangelical culture that says, 'you are either of God (as Christians understand Him) or of the devil,' and there was no grey area to allow for the possibility of divine revelation occurring in an interfaith context.

Scripture unmistakeably records God declaring, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 5:6-7); Jesus affirming, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No-one comes to the Father except through me"  (John 14:6); and the Spirit's relationship in the Godhead, "When the Counsellor [Holy Spirit] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me [Jesus]" (John 15:26).

As a Christian, I hold firmly to these Biblical truths and an uncompromising belief "that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship" (The Salvation Army, Doctrine 2).

However, I also recognise that "since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).  I understand that faith comes from God:  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no-one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8); "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:2).  And I affirm that Holy Spirit is already at work in the world - "in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people" (Acts 2:17) - revealing Jesus Christ - "He [Holy Spirit] will bring glory to me [Jesus] by taking what is mine and making it known to you" (John 15:14).

Therefore, I have come to believe that Holy Spirit has planted a seed of faith in all people, and religion is a human response to a partial revelation of God, forming a framework of understanding around what has been revealed.  This means that my interaction with other faiths is not to bring God where He is already present, but to discover where God is already at work and join in a conversation that has already begun.  From this posture I can share a fuller revelation of God by pointing people to Jesus Christ, because "in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9) and "the Son [Jesus] is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1:3).

For me, this has radically changed my view of and approach to evangelism!   Evangelism is not so much a proclamation of truth, but an interactive relationship that gives witness to the incarnational truth that "the Word [Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14) so that "whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).  Clark Pinnock describes the nature of such a relationship: 

“We should watch for whatever Spirit may be teaching and doing among them. This posture creates the possibility of a dialogical relationship. We can enter into the faith of others and acknowledge truths and values found there. These are our fellow human beings, seeking truth as we are. God is reaching out, and people are responding. So let us watch for points of contact and bridges of communication” (Pinnock 1996, The Flame of Love, p. 205).

From this vantage point I now find certain "evangelical" language an affront to the Spirit's presence and activity in other faiths.  To suggest that people are 'heathen' or 'godless' is to deny God's sovereignty.  To renounce the 'god' of any religion or to pray against the 'demonic spirit' of a religion, dishonours other people's spiritual journey, dismisses the work of the Spirit, disregards a partial revelation of God, and does little to foster a dialogical relationship where Christ can be revealed.

• What if the 'god' of a Muslim is a partial understanding of the Creator of the universe?
• What if the 'faith' of a Buddhist is a genuine response to prevenient grace?
• What if the 'religion' of a Hindu is an attempt to live out a divine consciousness?

Let me be very clear at this point!  I am not suggesting for a moment that other religions are an equal or alternative pathway to God.  I am not denying the reality of a spiritual battle between the God of heaven and "the god of this age [who] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4).  Nor am I suggesting that all aspects of religious practice are Spirit-led or God-honouring.  Every religion, including Christianity, has embraced false or incomplete beliefs about the Creator and have demonstrated behaviour that is contradictory to a holy and just God!  Pinnock expresses well what I am suggesting:  “We have to say yes and no to other religions.  On the one hand, we should accept any spiritual depth and truth in them.  On the other hand, we must reject darkness and error…The key is to hold fast to two truths: the universal operations of grace and the uniqueness of its manifestation in Jesus Christ” (Pinnock 1996, p. 202).

With a new wave of religious extremism emerging in our world today, we must be very careful not to reject the work of the Spirit in fear of the work of Satan.  We must not assume that people seeking God through another faith perspective are the enemy.  We must be careful not to shut down the dialogue with people from other religions or cultures.  We must seek to strengthen relationships with people on a faith journey rather than segregate ourselves from them.  We must not exchange a spirit of humility for a spirit of superiority.  We must keep a posture of learning and openness to wherever and with whomever the Spirit is moving.  We must "in [our] relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11).

With eyes wide open to the ministry of the Spirit within other religions I am better positioned to “seek [and] discern the Spirit’s presence and activity in other faiths” (Amos Yong 2005, The Spirit Poured Out On All Flesh, p. 247) and recognise that “The Spirit’s mission is to bring history to completion and fulfilment in Christ" (Pinnock 1996, p. 194).  Then, like Paul who dialogued with the men of Athens about their altar "to an unknown god" (Acts 17:22-27), we might evoke a similar response from our interfaith dialogue, "We want to hear you again on this subject" (Acts 17:32).

Who Do You Pray For?

Sitting in the Worship Gathering at Tabor College this morning, we were introduced to a time of prayer by one of the lecturers who shared an interesting conversation he had with a student about the dichotomy he experienced in prayer.  The student reflected, "With my Anglican friends we pray for the world.  Whereas, with my Pentecostal friends we pray for each other." What an insightful contrast!  

This immediately caused me to reflect upon my own church context, "Who do we pray for?  Is the focus of our prayer others or ourselves?"  Neither prayer focus is wrong, but it seems to me that one without the other is incomplete.  As I extend this reflection to whom Jesus prayed for, I see no such dichotomy but a union of the two.  In the model of prayer Jesus taught His disciples in Matthew 6, Jesus prayed both for His kingdom and each other.  In the prayer Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane in John 17, Jesus prayed for Himself, the disciples and all believers.

I have often thought that you can tell a lot about the priority of mission by what one prays for.  For the whole body of Christ to effectively engage in mission we need to pray for both.  We need to pray for each other and we need to pray for our world, probably more than ever before! 

Who do you pray for?