|
God loves the whole world
Christians are called to both preach Jesus and to work for justice — everywhere
by Vernon Broyles III
Faith in Jesus Christ calls for a global perspective. Presbyterians can dare to claim that such a perspective has been lived out throughout our history. Missionary zeal led us to send some of the earliest Christian witnesses to “the four corners of the earth.” But we must confess that, at times, efforts to “Christianize” native populations mixed bringing “people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior” with subtle forms of cultural colonialism.
On the other hand, the work of those witnesses has also demonstrated over and over the awareness that if Jesus Christ is Lord of the earth, his lordship is not only over individuals, but also over nations and tribes, and over social, political and economic structures.
It was clear to William Henry Sheppard and William Morrison — as they preached Jesus in what then was King Leopold’s Belgian Congo — that the brutalities suffered by the Congolese workers on Leopold’s rubber plantations were an affront to God and must be challenged. For their witness to the world about these human rights violations, Sheppard and Morrison were accused of meddling in the affairs of a sovereign nation. Acquitted by an international court, they returned to their preaching, having raised international interest and drawn the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S., into the struggle.
Beyond the evening news
In our current denomination-wide effort to renew our commitment to overseas mission we dare not disconnect “the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ” from the constant biblical command to seek justice for those who are oppressed. And that requires knowing what is happening to the world’s most-vulnerable people. We must be informed about unfolding tragedies around the world.
This includes places that do not regularly make the evening news, such as Madagascar, where a democratically elected president was replaced in a deadly coup, the leaders of our partner church beaten and detained, and many people killed. Another is Sri Lanka, where thousands — mostly ethnic Tamils, including many Christians — have been killed or herded into compounds and subjected to horrific conditions.
And we dare not forget Kenya, once the most stable country in Africa. Its co-leaders cannot stop undermining each other; conflicts threaten to reignite recent civil violence that led to thousands of deaths, burned churches and massive displacement — a violence in which even Presbyterian-related Christians and Reformed Church-related Christians fought each other because of different tribal affinities.
Jesus is Lord. He is Lord of all. He is the Living Word through whom we are called to live out “The Whole Gospel,” the Gospel for the whole world in which love and justice are inseparable. We who bear the name of Jesus Christ must insure that as we embrace it and proclaim it, no one hears a divided message.
Vernon Broyles III is a volunteer for public witness in the PC(USA)’s Office of the General Assembly. |
