June 2, 2006
Pentecost 2006
Dear Partners in Christ’s service,
I was recently encouraged and stimulated by my dialogue in a
class at Fortaleza Theological Seminary in northeast Brazil. I
was preaching in the lovely chapel, which was newly finished and
inaugurated as part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the
seminary. The students on the liturgy team were nervous, but did
a fine job. The pianist was magnificent. The music was inspiring.
My text was from Jesus’ missionary intercession in John
17: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they
also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have
sent me.” It is overwhelming to think that we participate
in the unity of the trinity so that we may participate in the
mission of the triune God! Therefore, unity of the faith community
(local, denominational, and global) is indispensable for our common
mission and witness to the world. Jesus prays for the peace, unity,
and purity of the church. Why hasn’t God adequately answered
Jesus’ prayer? God respects human freedom and decisions,
even when our divisiveness grieves God ’s heart of love.
After chapel, the seniors invited me to dialogue. Our talk was
moderated by the Rev. Aureo Rodrigues de Oliveira, president of
the seminary. The classroom was full.
“What are the obstacles that keep us from evangelizing
effectively?” someone asked. “How can we evangelize
with boldness and respect our Brazilian culture and popular forms
of religiosity?” asked another. Some of the obstacles, I
admitted, are a legacy of work done by missionaries who forced
people to renounce their own culture to become Protestants. We
need to replace our very negative and prohibitive faith, I said,
with a positive and life affirming faith that appreciates the
joy and solidarity that are so strong in Brazilian culture.
We talked about the prejudice of most Brazilian Protestants against
Catholics, which makes unity and mission difficult. They wanted
to know how to relate to Afro Brazilian religions and to the growing
Pentecostal movements. An Afro Brazilian student was fascinated
to learn that the demographic center of Christianity has shifted
to the Southern Hemisphere and that representative Christianity
today is no longer Euro American, but Afro Latino. We found no
easy answers. We struggled with the challenge to share our faith
with respect and bold humility, while seeking to value and be
one with people whose faith in Jesus Christ differs from ours.
Returning to Curitiba in south Brazil, I received the disturbing
news of the downsizing restructuring of the General Assembly Council
in Louisville. On May 1, 75 national staff jobs were eliminated,
and 40 mission workers who are retiring or voluntarily ending
their service will not be replaced. Fifteen more mission workers
were in jeopardy of being called back from the field. These cuts
were caused by a $9 million shortfall in the 2007 budget and a
trend of decline in unrestricted giving to the General Assembly
Council. There was even a decline in Directed Mission Support
(DMS), almost all of which is designated for missionaries. Thanks
be to God, a few days later a large unrestricted bequest from
a Presbyterian woman was announced, so no mission workers had
to be called back from the field. We now have two years to build
our base of support for the sending of mission personnel. If we’re
not successful, the church may have make further cuts in the mission
force.
Our current predicament—theological pluralism, fragmented
mission, funding crises—reminds me of the 1,000 piece jigsaw
puzzles I loved to do with my family as a child. Each family member
would choose a certain part of the picture to assemble, but we
all constantly looked at the “big picture” on the
box to see how each assembled part fit into it. Presbyterians
participate in over 1,000 pieces of God’s mission. But we
often focus on our differences rather than on the big picture.
We struggle to fit the pieces together into a whole and to value
those who are working on other pieces. We now have an opportunity
to unite across the theological spectrum in God’s holistic
mission.
Due to the trend for local congregations to have a more direct
involvement in mission and to designate funding, we have the chance
to be renewed by discovering the integration of local global mission.
As we reflect on the transforming significance of the winds and
fire of Pentecost, remember that the Spirit sent the faithful
into the local community and into the whole world with the good
news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I would like to challenge and invite each of you to encourage
your congregation to be a part of God’s holistic global
mission by pledging to my Directed Mission Support. By making
your gift or pledge to DMS account “D505854 – Sherron
George,” you help keep mission personnel in the field in
this time of crisis.
Your partner in God’s mission,
Sherron George
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
39
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