Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 36, No. 11 Home Page
From one perspective, the General Assembly and the numerous associated meetings were important because of the statistical information which they provided. For example, India has become the largest Protestant missionary-sending country in the world. The Christian community in India has produced 15,OOO cross-cultural missionaries, most serving in the diverse regions of India itself but some also serving in foreign lands. The Indian Christian community is itself growing rapidly. Each day about 4,000 people in India become Christians. The data from various other Asian and African countries is equally striking and encouraging.
With such statistics, it is not hard to believe that while earlier this century about 80 percent of the global Christian church was white, today about 80 percent is non-white. And the non-white percentage continues to increase. Perhaps in another generation the whites will be down to 10 percent and desperately in need of an influx of Christian renewal from the Third World. William Carey and Hudson Taylor would be amazed. For me, the startling evidence that the centre of Christian strength (not to be confused with "Christian wealth") has shifted dramatically from the white to the non-white world was a very important lesson.
This lesson in turn, produced a second lesson which is really a fundamental question: How should the minority, Western, mainly white church, with its vast financial wealth, relate to the majority, non-white, financially mainly poor, Third World church? What will shape the relationship? Will it be wealth or numbers or giftedness or spiritual dynamism or historical record?
This question, of course, has also become a major issue for North American Mennonite Brethren as restructuring the global Mennonite Brethren community is being considered. If, as seems likely, much of the decision-making will gradually shift away from the mainly white, Western church, are we ready and willing to accept such a change in the locus of authority?
A third fundamental lesson, which was illustrated in much of the General Assembly, was that we ought not to assume that the most effective Christian preaching, teaching and leadership still come from the Western, white world. Such an assumption has lost its validity. The powerful messages and other presentations by Tokunboh Adeyemo, Jun Vencer, Judy Mbugua and a score of other Third World leaders made it abundantly clear that the evangelical era following that of Billy Graham will not be dominated by one North American.
A fourth key lesson to be learned is that despite the huge missions infrastructure and the abundance of mission training centres, sending agencies, literature and specialists in North America--all important in their own right--the greatest enthusiasm for evangelizing the world is now found in the Third World. This reality, rooted partly, but only partly, in sheer numbers, means that the way North Americans plan and strategize for missions will continue to change. North American domination, other than financially, has come to an end. Will North American Christians continue to support missions generously, even sacrificially, when the locus of decision-making is not automatically associated with the locus of financial strength?
A fifth lesson, which was underscored repeatedly, was the emphasis which Third World Christians place on reconciliation. For most North American evangelicals, this peace emphasis must come as a surprise. It has been customary in North America and Europe to dismiss the peace teachings of Anabaptists and other peace churches as marginal and optional. Delegates to the 10th General Assembly made it abundantly clear that peace teaching and reconciliation ministries are a vital part of Christian faithfulness and are desperately needed around the world.
The widespread scandal of Christians physically fighting fellow Christians brings shame on the followers of Jesus and cripples their witnessing. It would be puzzling in the extreme if North American evangelical pastors and leaders, who have minimized or even rejected the New Testament's emphasis on peace and peacemaking, would come away from this assembly and still believe that peace teaching is excess baggage. As numerous Third World leaders explained and emphasized, one of the great needs throughout the world is to bring about reconciliation among Christians, especially among those who have allowed national, ethnic, linguistic or tribal identity to become primary. Clearly, if Christians proclaim the good news of salvation but withhold the good news of peacemaking discipleship, then we should not be surprised if the peacemaking lifestyle modelled by Jesus is not the norm. The legacy of Ireland, Rwanda and many other places stands as a startling reminder of what an incomplete gospel produces.
A sixth major lesson taught by the Assembly was that the two centuries of major missions endeavours by the Western church have paid off massively. Time and again leaders from abroad thanked the Western church for bringing them the gospel. They pointed out what had been achieved. Our parents and grandparents, and those who sacrificially supported missions in earlier eras, would have been thrilled to hear about the globalization of the church.
Finally, this great assembly highlighted an important difference between North American evangelicals and most other evangelicals. Many North American evangelicals still wrestle with the relationship between proclaiming the gospel of salvation and practising the so-called "social gospel". This dichotomy is rooted largely in the fundamentalist-liberal theology controversy of the early 20th century. In the Third World, and generally in the World Evangelical Fellowship, this dichotomy is not a problem. As numerous delegates pointed out, the test of Christian authenticity and faithfulness lies precisely in a complete, holistic witness.
The 10th General Assembly of the World Evangelical Fellowship has come and gone. The extent to which its valuable lessons and blessings will continue to influence our churches is now up to us.
Return to the M.B.Herald Vol. 36, No. 11 Home Page