REPENT!

I attended a clergy retreat last week that included lectures by writer/theologian Dana L. Robert, professor of World Christianity and History of Missions at Boston University Seminary. One of the things I found intriguing is the changing face of missions in the 21st century. Did you know there are currently 30,000 foreign missionaries working in the United States? These are trained missionaries who have been sent here to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and plant churches on US soil. In what is often pegged as a postmodern and post Christian era, many in the third world church see this country as a fertile mission field and have responded by sending missioners to the US in response to the perceived failure of Western Christianity! Case in point is the Redeemed Christian Church of God of Nigeria. While the RCCG currently only has 292 churches in North America, the denomination has 5 million members worldwide. The RCCG is developing a 500 acre denominational North American center in Floyd, Texas that will include a 10,000 seat sanctuary, two elementary school-size lecture centers, a dormitory, several cottages, a lake and a Christian-themed water park. We appear to be in the beginning stages of a radical reformation of Christianity in this country. Who would have anticipated this reversal of roles?  Still the church in America must find its bearings and begin to think of itself in terms of the global community it is now a part of. As things continue to change rapidly in this world, do we hang on tight to what we know or do we "think outside the box" imagining God's future for us? I vote for the second.