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Let me list three reasons why thinking from the Majority Learning from the
World will be of great value to the church worldwide.
Global Church
1. All Christian truth is cruciform coming from a theology
of the cross of Christ and from a belief that obedience
to Christ cannot be divorced from taking up a cross of In Conversation with
suffering. Suffering and material deprivation can foster
deep thinking about God’s truth which Christians living Chris Wright & Ajith Fernando
in the affluent West could easily miss. As suffering and
persecution are realities in most churches in Majority World An excerpt from “On Mission with Chris Wright,” a
nations, these churches are uniquely positioned to enrich podcast from Langham Partnership.
the church with deep, health-giving, cruciform truth.
CHRIS: I just wonder what you think of as your primary
2. In many parts of the western world, churches are or most urgent message for the church, especially the
in decline and are losing the positions of influence church in the West. Now you’ve written this, and I’m
they once had. In response to this, some Christian quoting: “I have a great fear for the church. The West
communities, trying not to cause offense to outsiders, are is fast becoming an unreached region. The Bible and
soft-peddling radical Christian essentials and losing their history show that suffering is an essential ingredient
cutting edge. Others are trying to assert that their views in reaching unreached people. So will the loss of a
are the official values of the nation and should therefore theology of suffering lead the western church to
be enforced. Sadly, many are pursuing these paths in ways become ineffective in evangelism?”
that are viewed by outsiders as intolerant and arrogant.
AJITH: I think one of the important things to
Christians in the West can be emboldened and instructed remember is that the Christians were a majority in the
by hearing the voices from churches where growth and West for a long time. And so they were privileged and
vitality is evidenced in the midst of persecution. There are they had their way there. The government was in some
helpful models of winsome witness amidst hardship. ways serving the church almost, and that has changed.
And one of the fears I have is that people begin to
Their vibrant experiences of growth and of God’s power
have contributed a unique flavor to their interpretation of panic and respond with unnecessary aggression to
and approach to God’s truth. When Christians experience their loss of power within the community. When Paul
God powerfully at work among them, their eyes are said he becomes all things to all people, one of the
opened afresh to discovering certain biblical truths, things he said was, “To the weak I became weak.” And
I think weakness is one of the ways by which we can
present the glory of the gospel, because there is a truth
about Christianity, which is so convincing, so real, that
we don’t have to be afraid. What I fear is that when
people see their power going, they are hitting back,
they are bitter.
But there is the confidence in truth that gives us
freedom, in spite of all the attacks that come to us,
to speak winsomely about the gospel. And I think
that is the way the West is going to be reached again.
The West was losing ground. The church was losing
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