Written by admin on August 5, 2010 – 5:31 pm
There are 4 premiere stages in the world, and China has a strong presence in all of them:
- Economic Stage – China has become an economic superpower
- Political Stage – China has a table on major political issues
- Sports Stage – hosted the recent Olympics
- Faith Stage – China is coming back to this stage
Leadership is about influence. Leadership is also about the right direction. If you lead people from here to there, and it’s the wrong direction, what are you going to do? Martin Luther’s revolution and Protestantism is the most significant change of the last couple thousand years. The discovery and settling of America is the most significant change of the last 500 years. What will be the most significant change of the 21st century? The most significant thing of the twentieth century is not 2 world wars, it is the rise of China because its rise will make hundreds of years of difference. Even more than “rising up,” China is “coming back.”
Until the 14th century, China was a leader in most areas, and even in the 1800′s, China was the largest world economy and in the 1820′s had 1/3 of the world’s economy. In the last century, China has fallen back, but the last 30 years, China is beginning to catch up again and is experiencing the fastest and most dramatic growth in human history. By the end of this year, China will be the 2nd largest economy in the world, and by 2020 China will likely pass America and once again become the largest world economy. This is China’s come-back to the center stage of being a superpower and into its leadership role in the world.
Question: Will being the greatest economic power ensure that China will be a leader in the world?
- 1/ 3 of China was polluted
- 1/5 of the river’s were polluted
- There are major resource challenges as many of the resources will be consumed in the near future. There is much disparity, corruption, and great, critical, and severe challenges.
If China does not have the ability to export values and ethics, it will not become a superpower. America has something called “The American Dream” and there are “American Values”. China must go through more than economic changes. It must go through values changes in order to mature as world leaders. China must learn from the values of the whole world, and most importantly from Christian values and the Christian faith.
It was cool to hear Dr. Xiao as he thanked us for the missionaries that have come to China through the years, and hoping to see China become the largest sending nation in the future.
A couple questions I had in response to Dr. Xiao:
- Was this a bit of a prosperity gospel mix, China style?
- I heard some borderline civil religion and empire/ Christianity connections that I’m always wary of which remind me of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. I’ve seen this in America in which the gospel is co-opted, syncretized, and sometimes recreated with the success of the empire as the focus rather than the Kingdom of God. I find this especially interesting in light of the 4 world stages that Dr. Xiao mentioned earlier… 4 stages that Rome and America (and England for that matter) have mixed together into an interesting civil religion. I only hope that as China’s Christian community grows that the leaders pay attention to the dangers of mixing empire and Kingdom, but I suppose that’s for a longer discussion for another time.
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Written by admin on August 18, 2009 – 7:35 pm
I haven’t posted any sermons lately, so here are a couple from the last several months:
Revolutionary Love 8-2-09
Love in Action 7-5-09
Angels 6-14-09
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Written by admin on August 7, 2009 – 4:45 pm
These are some of my notes from the eighth session of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit.
Have you seen any difference 3 years later (since Bill’s last interview at the Summity with Bono) in the way the church is responding to global poverty and AIDS?
“As a person who really enjoys going off on the church, you’ve really ruined it for me.”
“We’ve referred to the church as the sleeping giant, but I didn’t realize the giant could run that fast.”
“The church is now in the lead, not in the rear.”
“In the global village, Africa’s down the lane…”
Bill challenged Bono on why he’s not more committed to the local church, when he’s so passionate about the place of the church. Bono said he is part of the church, but he probably isn’t more committed because of the denominationalism.
“It’s not charity… it’s something else… it’s justice and equality.”
It’s not ok that a child dies because they can’t get a 20 cent immunization.
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Written by admin on June 8, 2009 – 11:03 am
The Belhar Confession was approved as a 4th standard confessional by the Reformed Church General Synod 2009, where I was privileged to be a delegate. The vote was 166-65. Now it goes to the Classes (akin to “Presbyterys”) for a 2/3 required vote to make it official.
To read the Belhar, click here.
Here’s some background and information from our advisory committees: click here.
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Written by admin on June 8, 2009 – 10:23 am
Here are some of the discussion points from the floor of General Synod 2009 regarding the Belhar Confession:
- We don’t expect our confessions to be “complete” as theological statements.
- This is not a “staff, top-down” process. This work comes from us, the people of the RCA and delegates.
- We need to pay more attention to how we treat all people inside and outside our doors.
- The Belhar is a beginning, not an end. Our actions will be more important than our words.
- Racism is real. The Belhar shows our shortcomings in how we treat those on the margins. It calls the church to be the church it has never been.
- Voting down this recommendation does not mean that the Belhar is removed. There is another recommendation that will allow us to keep using it, but without exposing us to its possible dangers.
- Clarification of Jim Brownson’s statements requested about what “true faith in Jesus Christ is the only condition for membership of this church” (Belhar) means and if that is in contradition of the Belgic Confession, and whether that statement means the visible or invisible church. Brownson responded “visible.”
- Argument that the confession is steeped in the cross of Jesus Christ.
- All 24 seminarians voted yes in favor of the Belhar. (GS3 is a group of seminarians who are here. They don’t have true voting privelege, but do have privilege of the floor.) One reason was that the Belhar addresses issues that our current confessions do not.
- Our reservations to change the Belhar are more about our training, than about how the Holy Spirit works in different people in different ways.
- “I have been too afraid to preach about racism, but have been pricked to the heart.”
- The Belhar was written by those who suffer the most. How could we, as people of privilege, think that we could change it to make it better?
- Justice from Christ is a claim that comes from Scripture that we have never made, and it is about the unity of humanity, not even about racism.
- “If anyone feels the Belhar will open the church to them, then I will vote for it.”
- I have separation, enmity, and division in my white homogenous congregation. We need the Belhar to tell us how to act towards one another. I need it in my family when anger and hurt and bitterness comes up. I treat my children in ways that I shouldn’t.
- It’s time for us to love all people in all conditions.
- I have never spoke to anyone in the global south who spoke against the Belhar.
- The risk of voting against outweighs the risk of voting for the Belhar.
- The Belhar gives future generations an understanding not only what it means to be reformed, but what it means to be a child of God.
- I need this for my ordination vows. I need this to hold me accountable.
- The RCA and others around the worldneeds to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in South Africa to make this witness.
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Written by admin on May 25, 2009 – 11:00 pm
“It appears that it was all
a misunderstanding.
What was only a trial run
was taken seriously.”
–Czeslaw Milosz, “This World”
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Written by admin on April 2, 2009 – 8:40 pm
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