Christians Impacting the World - Planet Shaking
by Steven Wong
Christians can impact the world around them with their very existence. But we can only impact the world most effectively if we are unlike the world. Otherwise, we merely reinforce its tendencies and trends. Like many organisations, the Church has, in the past, quite often placed its interests ahead of even its raison d'être. It has either actively contributed to or passively sanctioned some of the most non-positive transforming events in history, including bloodshed, torture and persecution over doctrinal and denominational disputes, political power and control, and even suppressed scientific discoveries.
There have also been long periods of indifference and complacency where the needs of "the neighbour" in the Second Commandment were all but forgotten. Out of the Reformation, however, came a recovery of the gospel and with it, the desire to change the world from within and without. Not only was there newfound passion to reach the lost in distant lands but also to reform the societies and communities in which one lived.
This is precisely why it is so important to spread the 'counter-cultural' message within churches but in a wider, rather than narrower, sense than it usually is. We are all familiar with the passage that says, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. ... Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." (1 John 2:6, 15-17)
To do the will of God is not confined to attending church, evangelism and mission but acting in a way where choices about work, lifestyle, parenting, politics and social relationships all conform to the integral mission. The greater the degree to which we have been transformed from within, the greater we can influence the world around us in a total lifestyle sense rather than the sum total of individual activities.
In many senses, getting the "living right" is the real key to larger social and political transformation. What do Christians who are engineered with Biblical values think about such issues as good governance, corruption, social justice, human rights, treatment of migrants and refugees, and so forth? How do they perceive international problems of armed confrontation, terrorism, inhumane regimes, nuclear proliferation and global warming? How do they express and more importantly, engage in addressing these issues so that society is bettered not just for themselves but especially for those without a voice and ability?
All too often, the Christian community reacts to defend its own interests but is slow to act for others, let alone those across borders. It is imperative this should be recognised to be an Achilles heel of many Christians. Perhaps not wishing to be mistaken as social gospel proponents or deviate from the central task of soul saving, Christians have, by default, vacated the task of social development and nation building to those of other persuasions.
Transformation via Counter-Cultural Christians
The idea that to be a global transforming Christian, one must be called out among God's chosen elite, perhaps in reluctant Gideon-like fashion, may have more to do with our psychological need for heroes and heroines rather than the need and reality of the situation.
The reality is that while larger-than-life figures are needed to lead, inspire and labour, global transformations are accomplished by the masses, that is, counter-cultural Christians living out an existence that reflects and upholds God's purposes in all the spheres, whether political, social, economic or spiritual.
It is only when these spaces are occupied and transactions worked at and carried out by the carriers of Christ's teachings that the process of transformation can and will be accomplished.
This is an extract from the article "Transforming Christianity: What Does It Mean To Be A Global Transformer? which is published in full in the upcoming book "Forum VI- Transform Nation Agenda" produced by the NECF Malaysia Research Commission. |
