This morning Father Roberto Salazar, a priest from a parish in San Jose with over 14,000 members, spoke about partnerships in Latin America between Catholics and Protestants. He believes that God is moving to help Christians live out a more authentic faith through relationships and shared experiences. He noted that Catholics and Protestants should learn to be able to serve together for the common good of society because they are all a part of the body of Christ. This is difficult, especially in a place like Latin America, because many walls have been built up on both sides.
The next lecture was from Dr. John Stam, an 81 year old missionary, professor, and author from San Jose. Dr. Tink introduced him to us as an underground revolutionary, and Dr. Stam even described himself as a conservative liberal radical Orthodox Evangelical. Regardless of the unique description, he had a lot to say about the state of the evangelical movement in the world today. He thinks that many Protestants are comfortable in today's society, and that is not a good thing. A relationship with God has traditionally been characterized by persecution, suffering, and poverty. It should not be easy to be a Christian. He thinks that many forms of prosperity doctrine in today's megachurches are leading large numbers of people to the gates of hell. Nearly every page of the Bible is filled with passages about poverty, opression, compassion, or justice. Many churches are lethargical because they are unwilling to engage new believers in the discipleship process (which is often time consuming and difficult). He noted several heresies present in the modern church. They are the money centered gospel, demon centered gospel, miracle centered gospel, apostolic gospel, prosperity gospel, rapture centered gospel, and authoritarianism (pastors trying to control people's lives without being held accountable by others). He finished by saying that pastors are not teaching people to be critical thinkers, and that is causing problems worldwide because the gospel message is often paradoxical.
This afternoon our group travelled to a parish in Cristo Rey, the toughest neighborhood in San Jose. Over 400,000 Nicaraguan immigrants have come to this area in search of a better life, but unfortunately they have not found work which has led to much illegal activity. We walked down the "worst street in San Jose for drugs and prostitution" according to our guide from the parish. This parish has established a holistic community outreach ministry which cares for orphans, homeless people, over 800 single moms, disabled people, and poor senior citizens. They have established over 40 ministries in the past seven years to care for the diverse needs of this community. Julie and I had an amazing experience connecting with the children in the orphanage. One little girl hugged and kissed Julie and held her hand for nearly the entire time we were there. She reminded us very much of Kyra. At one point she captured a beautiful butterly, and this was cool for us to see because Kyra loves butterflies as well. All in all we witnessed a powerful agent of community transformation through this small parish in the most troubled neighborhood in the city.
I thought it was interesting hearing Dr. Stam describe himself as a conservative liberal radical. I have been disoriented in my own philosophies since starting these BGU courses, and I seem to relate to many things that I have never paid much attention to while at the same time rejecting idealogies that I once held. It's good to see an 81 year old theologian still wrestling with his identity.
While the parish in Cristo Rey was a great learning experience, I walked away wondering what they were doing to address the systemic issues related to social justice in that neighborhood. Why were people remaining in poverty? I saw many similarities between Cristo Rey and Homewood. Both communities suffer from systematic oppression that keeps cycles of generational poverty in place. Both communities have significant illegal underground economies. Both communities suffer from isolation apart from access to the mainstream economic, political, and religous power structures in their regions. However, I see many signs of hope in both communities.
3 comments:
Bryan
Lots to talk about here...
1st, the denominational differences issue. We need to put that to rest. Let's be honest, it's a lot more about cultural differences than theological differences. We've let these differences really hold back what God would like to do through us. It's high time we start looking at how we can work together to build the kingdom.
2nd, I agree with Dr. Stam about all the heretical 'gospels' that are being preached today. It's awful. I also agree with him that there is very little critical thinking being done in Christendom today. I disagree that pastors should be teaching people to be critical thinkers, in that is not the job of pastors - it's the job of parents and teachers. Critical thinking skills are skills that need to be 'taught and caught' as a child; if you don't acquire these skills in your youth, you're probably not going to be able to acquire them and an adult, or even as a teen. Parents, please take that as both a word of exhortation and a warning.
3rd, I like the idea of being conservative, liberal, and radical - conservative in values and theology, liberal in extending grace and service, and radical when being viewed by the world.
Lastly, on social justice: after watching what's transpired in Washington since January, I have given up on trying to work at bringing social justice and change into our society in a general sense. I believe we've reached a 'Romans One' point in Western culture, i.e. God has 'given us over', an unredeemable situation. On the other side, I believe that should even more strongly motivate us to 'live Christ' and work to bulld relationships and reach, teach, and serve individuals, building the kingdom one life at a time. Our government, culture, and social systems my be irrepairably broken, but there are still lives to be redeemed.
Anyone else have a thought on this last point?
John V
What do you think it will take to get the attention of the Western evangeligal church to mobilize to become relevant in society?
Also, what do you think it will take to get the attention of the church in Pittsburgh to become relevant and agents of transformation for the many needs of the city?
Hmmm.. I'm reading these comments about 2 weeks after they were posted, but I had a couple of thoughts...
First point - I agree completely. Most denominational differences are cultural, disguised as theological.
Second - While I agree that parents and teachers should teach critical thinking, I think it's also up to the pastor as well. Especially theological critical thinking. Pastors ought to be modeling the kind of exploratory faith that asks hard questions of its own theology.
Third - I'm not sure by conservative/liberal it's meaning conservative in theology, liberal in expression of said theology. Many followers today are finding a third way of doing theology and practice, that steps away from the old binary ways of thinking, and instead finds a healthy blend of the best of both ends of the spectrum.
Of course, that may be a more western development. I've been surprised by how conservative (even fundamentalist) many third-world ministries are...
- Tim
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