By Dr. John Fullerton, Senior Pastor
I am writing this from the guest house on the campus of Forman Christian College in Pakistan. Here, I have come to realize four things important to the American church: perspective matters, education matters, mission funding matters, and mission sending matters.
Perspective matters.
Relative to Christians living in Pakistan, American Christians have no problems. We do have our challenges, but we also have the privilege to deal with those challenges from the majority position.
Islam is by far the majority faith here. Christianity is a minority. That comes with much discrimination, harassment, and, in rare cases, open hostility because they are Christians. In America, we have groups who are overlooked in careers or expected to take menial jobs or are minimized by the powerful, but not because they follow Jesus.
We certainly don’t know what it is like to live in fear or face violence because of our faith, as a group of Christian students described to us. We don’t have blasphemy laws that are randomly applied and can result in a mob burning your church and home.
I urge perspective on our Christian faith in America. Please do not take our privileged place for granted. We are blessed in order to be a blessing to others.
Education matters.
It matters to improve life, but also to protect. We heard repeatedly that many of the problems in Pakistan were due to lack of education. Those who suffered often did so because their persecutors were not curious and remained ignorant. They were uneducated. The result was anything from marginalizing the Christians to killing them.
Here, we rarely have the extremism of killing because of ideological differences, but many problems between individuals or groups come from refusing to try to understand the other. The solution must be curiosity, learning about the other person, and refusing to dehumanize them.
Think about a someone with whom you are in conflict. What would it look like to put down your verbal or emotional weapons and seek to understand and connect? The differences may not go away, but the animosity could. We saw Muslim, Christian, and Hindu students studying, playing, and eating together. They learned from each other and were friends. We can learn from that.
Mission funding matters.
Among the many ways we fund mission work, we support six overseas missionaries and give a combined total of $34,000 per year to them. We have done this for years. I feel great knowing we are helping people serve.
Why fund overseas ministries when mission giving is needed right here in Lakeland and in our church? That is a fair question. There is truth to it, which is why we give generously to local mission agencies. It is also true that giving to the “least of these” (Matthew 25), making disciples “of all nations” (Matthew 28), and bearing witness to Jesus “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) is our calling as a church. We fund global mission to fulfill our calling as a church.
Mission funding always wrestles with the challenge of infinite needs and finite resources. Our church makes sure that part of our finite resources goes to fund global gospel ministries.
Mission sending matters.
In over 27 years as a pastor, I have often encouraged people to consider becoming a pastor. About a dozen people have done exactly that. Not once have I encouraged someone to consider serving in the mission field. Yet, in Pakistan, we met several wonderful missionaries.
We had dinner with a mission couple. She is American; he is Pakistani. Her life’s work was always to go to the mission field in Pakistan. She had no plans to marry, but God had other plans. Both are committed to living and helping others live well as a Christian minority in a country in which 98 percent are Muslim.
Mission sending today is more complex than it once was and has a wide range of theological, cultural, historical, and practical perspectives to consider. Yet, our church continues to support individuals called to the mission field. Perhaps that is you. I’m now on the lookout for those who are called.
If you are interested in hearing more about Pastor John’s trip to Pakistan, he will be sharing in the Agape class on Sunday, April 6 at 9:15 am in Room A. All are invited.