I have been writing local articles from a distance for Examiner.com, keeping a pulse on Minneapolis through news outlets and friends in the community. At first, I thought it something of a conundrum, almost cheating, to sort through my global spiritual experiences and attempt to connect them relevantly to our home, from a hostel in Panama, a classroom in Costa Rica or most recently, the streets of Mexico.
It has been everything but difficult. Dare I say, easy?
I shipped my Kindle home prematurely and have been at the reading mercy of Rod’s book shelf. My most recent pick-up, a textbook by Timothy C. Tennent entitled, Theology in the context of World Christianity, has helped me make sense of why this may be. Yes, a textbook. Tennent discusses (among many other things) the transcendent power of the gospel. He provides extensive historical trends in the church to reveal the continual shifts in geographical locations of church growth and spiritual awakenings.
It seems so simple, right? Of course the gospel is transcendent, of course it penetrates all people groups and cultures, of course it is relevant despite if you dry your clothes in a machine, or hang them on a line. Of course?
I had never realized just how much I took for granted the beauty of this truth, until now. It hits you differently, when you are worshiping across the world and you realize, though the chords are different, that somehow “these people” have discovered the same truths I did, when I was by myself in my college dorm room.
They sing of the weight of sin, but have never heard John Piper preach. They sing of his redeeming, overwhelming grace, but have never read Francis Chan. They boldly proclaim Jesus as the “way, the truth, and the light” but have never heard of Campus Crusade for Christ and gone through evangelism training.
If people in Nicaragua, Cuba, Panama and Mexico get it –powerfully- that we live the gospel, that we stand on its promises with out waiver, that we live now only for an eye’s twinkle and we do it at breath taking (I mean breath taking) selflessness, what does that say about us?
What does it say about our declining belief in the authority of the scriptures and the growing liberality toward sin in our country? We have shelves of books, we are the Western hub for systematic theology and para church mission organizations, we produce more worship songs in a year than most any other country and yet, we are steadily converting Christians that doubt the authority of scripture, see truth as progressive, never share their faith, barely tithe, and are struggling to justify church membership.
What are we? Who are we? Whose are we?
The movement of the Holy Spirit, is real, biblical, felt and bold, no matter where He is. He transcends all ways of life and he teaches. When we remove the personal, insistent seeking of His power in our lives I believe, we are left with the state in which I described above. With waivering and differing core truths, with empty prayer lives, doubtful hearts and far and in between home cooked dinners with our neighbors.
My travels have reinvigorated my heart for the U.S., and for Minneapolis. For once, I do not see North Americans as the gospel tellers, but instead, the gospel needy. Timothy C. Tennent, author of “Theology in the context of World Christianity” says this after research and reflection on the declining state of Western Christianity and the flourishing growth of spiritual revival in places like India, China and Western Africa, “It is thrilling to see those who once were the object of our missionary endeavors now bringing the gospel back to us and reminding us of that which we have largely forgotten.”
The actual article entitled "The transcending gospel" can be found: Here
