:: St. Stephen's Musings ::

:: Friday, January 02, 2004 ::

Let the Competition Begin

The Olympic Games are coming to Athens, Greece this summer. We will see great feats of endurance, amazing displays of strength, and...oh yeah--stupefying amounts of cultural, theological and historical ignorance from missionaries like these. The money quote:

"We are planning to implement a program for churches in the U.S. to 'adopt' a Greek church and support it with Bibles, finances, discipleship materials, and mission teams."

You know--'cuz we need to bring Christianity to the Greeks and other backwards people who have never heard the Gospel.

Update: I have no problem with people proselytizing and reaching out--don't get me wrong. It is the ignorance and arrogance with which is done by my generation in general (and these types of groups specifically) that gets my goat. It still amazes me how radically different our evangelistic praxis is.

Update 2: In the comments Daniel et al prove once again that intense and intellignt conversation can result in a strengthening of ties and charitable dialogue.

Update 3: Jeff Fountain, director of YWAM Europe, had this to say in response to a letter sent by Matt about this issue: "Our intention is not to work against existing churches but as much as possible with local churches .... You may be interested to know we are sponsoring a consultation on Eastern Christianity next month near Athens so that many of our western folk can learn more about the Orthodox Church." These are very good things to hear.

Update 4: Basil writes a more detailed explanation of what he meant in one of the comments he left on this thread.

:: Karl :: 3:58:00 PM [Link] ::