As we continue considering how we might involve all of God's people in all of God's mission, we should consider what it means to convey better understandings of the role of God's people on mission.
There are several components to consider here. We need to think like global Christians. We live in an era where media, especially video, has a common presence in church services.
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Consider this: When was the last time your media depicted those from unreached people groups rather than just man on the street interviews or movie clips? Have you used the powerful short video exploration of the glory of God over his creation in Willow Creek's, Ten Thousand Words? Have you explored the universal themes of love and redemption from an international perspective like those in the Academy award nominated Czech movie Most?
Have you taken a service to show Ee-Taow or a video of the Maasi worshiping? Until western Christians are exposed to what God is doing around the world, our people may remain wrongly convinced that we are the locus of God's work on earth.
If we are going to be global Christians, we must think like global Christians. To think like global Christians means that we must put the kingdom of God first. We no longer consider ourselves American or British Christians first, but Christians who are American, British, or Kenyan second and citizens of heaven first. The emphasis here is not an artificial disintegration of national borders, but a biblical perspective that the breadth of God's kingdom transcends those geo-political restrictions.
Ed Stetzer, Ph.D., is President of LifeWay Research and LifeWay's Missiologist in Residence. Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine and Catalyst Monthly, serves on the advisory council of Sermon Central and Christianity Today's Building Church Leaders, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. Ed is Visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Ed blogs daily at EdStetzer.com.
Source: Christian Post
