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What is Asia? Asia ranges from the world's highest point, Mt Everest at 8,850m over sea level, to the world’s lowest land point, the Dead Sea which is 392m below sea level. Asia ranges from the barren permafrost tundras of northern Siberia to the tropical rainforests of the Indonesian archipelago.
Asia also ranges from affluent multibillionaires of Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Hong Kong to 790 million people still living in absolute poverty on less than one US$ per day in between.
Asia is the largest continent on earth, with 50 countries. 61% of the world’s population lives in Asia. China and India both have populations over one billion each, and together their population is 62% of Asia’s population and 36% of the whole world’s population. In addition Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan are also among the ten countries with the largest populations in the world. Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world, while Mongolia is the most sparsely populated.1
In Asia the very rich and most poor countries often live side by side, like for example Japan and North Korea, or Qatar and Yemen. Most Asian countries are still underdeveloped. But some are developing very fast, like giant China which has produced double digit growth for a number of years. Others are hardly developing at all like its northern neighbour Mongolia.
Asia is the home continent of all the significant world religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism and most of them still maintain their strongest presence here.
What is Asia? The answer is that most of our whole world is contained in this continent. What is Asia? Well, since Asia is so immense both in scope and in variety, we may at the same time say that there is not one single Asia, but there are an immense variety of Asian realities. The Asian Christianity that we are part of and the challenges to which we are pondering here together today exist in all of these realities.
I myself come form one of the north-western extensions of the same continent, that is classified separately as Europe. First of all I must therefore humbly admit my own limited insight when it comes to the topic I have been given here. My experience of Asia proper is mostly China and especially Hong Kong where I have spent some 13 years. I also spent five months as a student in Israel. But the Asia that lies in between most of you are much more familiar with than me. I therefore hope that you all actively will give your contribution in connection with my talks here and later during the work shops when you will be discussing together in groups.
In order to try to get to grips with this immense topic, I have chosen to look at it from the perspective of our Trinitarian faith.
An Ecumenical World View
“I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”
When confronted with the immensity of Asia and the diverse realities in which God has placed us as his people and his church it is good to start from the first article of our Creed. This enormous continent and its rich diversity of peoples and cultures are all part of God’s creation. Here is the majority of humanity, which God has created, and which he still sustains and cares for: every single Asian, everyone among these 3.7 billion people, everyone among us. Just as every Asian is a precious part of God’s creation, which he cares for, we as his children are also called to care for Asia and all of her people.
This is not just an emotional attitude that God wants us to go around with. Our intellect is also part of God’s good gifts to us in creation, and he expects us to use it in His service and in the service of the people of Asia.
There are different issues that
are especially challenging in the Asian context right now in the beginning
of the new Millennium. The first and most burning of these is the war in Iraq
these days. This conflict is of course not only an Asian affair, but it is
closely linked to the world situation as a whole. I am not going to go into
all the political aspects of this conflict. One of the decisive factors, which
have contributed to this renewed conflict is, however, the September 11 terrorist
attack on New York two years ago. Al Qa’ida, the terrorist organization that
was behind the attack, has been developed as a radical Muslim response to
the Gulf War in 1991, when the USA was allowed to station its troop on Saudi
Arabic soil. According to its leader, Usama Bin Laden, this amounted to a
challenge and a provocation against Islam’s holy places. Through the years
since then Bin Laden’s rhetoric has gradually been stepped up and a massive
amount of terrorist fighters been trained. The terrorist attacks on the USA
have also gradually been stepped up culminating on September 11, 2001. 2 The
war on the Al-Qa’ida and its allies, the Taleban regime, in Afganistan was
a direct response to this attack. The renewed war on Iraq is, however, only
indirectly a continuation of this. But it would hardly have been politically
possible without the post September 11 sentiments in the USA. Bin Laden opposes
the USA and the moderate regimes in the Muslim world cooperating with the
USA. A continued conflict could give increased incentive to fundamentalist
forces in Muslim countries. It could also continue to strengthen the terrorist
threats around the world. The attacks on Christians in parts of Indonesia
by Muslim terrorist groups have already a problem for some years, and these
kinds of tensions could easily spill over also to other Muslim countries in
Asia is the terrorist groups get increased incentive to further violence.
Fresh news from Pakistan last week actually tells of an intensive hate campaign
being waged on the Christian minority in Pakistan as a result of the conflict.
“Pamphlets have been distributed in various parts of the country saying it
is the duty of every Muslim to kill Christians wherever and whenever they
are found.”3 Earlier an Islamic Militant group based in Islamabad, published
a pamphlet demanding Pakistani Christians to convert to Islam or face death.
Actually the Christians in Pakistan have already paid a price for American
actions in Afghanistan. In 2002 more than 40 innocent Christians were killed,
and more than one hundred wounded, in terrorist attacks in retaliatory attacks
by pro-al-Qa’ida and pro-Taliban militants.
The conflict in Iraq thus raises the question of how the different religions
can live in peace together. This is of course not just a question of Muslim-Christian
relations, but also about Hindu-Muslim relations in India and Hindu-Christian
relations. Also the Buddhist-Muslim and the Buddhist-Christian relations here
in Thailand are important.
In order to promote peace and understanding between cultures and people created
by God, it is of utmost importance to have an open dialogue on different levels
between the different religious communities.
In his post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Ecclesia in Asia, in 1999, Pope
John Paul II encourages the Roman Catholic Churches throughout Asia to engage
actively in such interreligious dialogue:
Interreligious relations are best developed in a context of openness to other
believers, a willingness to listen and the desire to respect and understand
others in their differences. For all this, love of others is indispensable.
This should result in collaboration, harmony and mutual enrichment.(…)
As the Church explores new ways of encountering other religions, I mention
some forms of dialogue already taking place with good results, including scholarly
exchanges between experts in the various religious traditions or representatives
of those traditions, common action for integral human development and the
defence of human and religious values. (…)
The Church must continue to strive to preserve and foster at all levels this
spirit of encounter and cooperation between religions.4
I think that we as Protestants can fully agree with out Roman Catholic brother
in faith on this point. Let us join forces in common dialogue between the
religious communities in Asia in order to promote this kind of cooperation,
harmony and enrichment between the different religious communities. We are
all part of the same humanity, created by the same heavenly Father. It would
be strange if we would not do as much as we can to communicate with each other,
to live in peace together and together promote the common good for all of
us and the whole of Asia.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment” says Jesus “And the second one is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt. 22:37-40) This is the very heart of your Christian faith: Our first priority is to love and serve our Heavenly Father in total and all encompassing commitment. But this first commandment is immediately followed by the second one which turns our attention to our neighbour. Our neighbour is our neighbour irrespective of what is her or his religious affiliation, as Jesus shows very emphatically in his parable of the good Samaritan which he told in order to explain to whom ‘neighbour’ refers in this context. Jesus intentionally chooses the Samaritan, which had a different religious position than the Jewish mainstream of his day, as our role model. So we see that creating and maintaining good relations to our neighbours irrespective of religious affiliation is part of the very core of our Christian faith. Jesus also directly talks about the importance of peacemaking right at the outset of the of the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Mt. 5:9). If we are to be like our Heavenly Father, we are to be facilitators of peace and reconciliation in this world, not just on a global of national level, but in the specific context where we are, here and now. God calls us to transcend all borders of religious, racial and tribal prejudice in order to love our neighbour as ourselves and promote peace and understanding between all human beings.
One task that is closely related to the issue of peacemaking is the question of justice. “Blessed be those, who hunger and thirst for rightousness, for they will be filled” (Mt.5:6), Jesus proclaims in the same Sermon on the Mount. This righteousness includes both our relation to God and to our neighbour. Love also includes justice. God’s justice, however, according to the Bible shows a particular preference for the needy. According to the Torah God shows special care to the socially and economically disadvantaged. “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing”(Deut. 10:18). The prophets continue to hammer in this central message of the Torah: “Away with the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your harps” says the Lord according to Amos “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Amos 5:23-24) Therefore the people who God once had liberated from the slavery in Egypt also once more had to be brought into exile. But still there was hope: God was sending his chosen servant to deliver his people: “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations”(Is. 42:1) Later Isaiah continues with a proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favour: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Is. 61:1-2a). This was the passage that Jesus read and applied on himself and his ministry at the start of his public ministry in the synagogue of Nazareth. “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”(Lk. 4:21), he says. And indeed, this was how Jesus went about his ministry on earth: Preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, liberating the possessed, opening the eyes of the blind, and last of all, dying and rising from the dead in order to give all mankind an opportunity to become reconciled with God. During the whole of his public ministry he showed a definite preference for the needy: he went first to the tax collectors and the sinners, to the lepers and the prostitutes, those whom normal people despised and tried to avoid contact with. The early church continues this ministry, sharing their possessions with the needy. (Acts 6) “Now listen you rich people” writes James, “weep and wail because the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and your silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have horded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.” (James 5:1-6). It would be very hard to make the case for social justice more strongly than God himself does through his Word. And the challenge to justice and righteousness is as strong in Asia today as it was when these words were spoken in Asia two to three thousand years ago.
Asia is just in the process of emerging from a five hundred year period of Western domination and exploitation.5 As a Christian from the north-western extension of the Asian continent, called Europe, I would like to use this opportunity first of all to apologize for dehumanization that hundreds of years of colonialism and later exploitation through unfair trade conditions has caused Asia. In spite of bearing the Christian name, much of the activity of our European fellow men has fallen very much short of the biblical standards of justice and righteousness. Today, however, we are seeing hopeful signs especially in the eastern parts of Asia, that Asia is finally emerging from these centuries of humiliation. This century has been widely heralded as the Asian century, the century when Asia will regain its rightful place on the world scene. The new rise of Japan after the Second World War has been followed by the rise of the four Tigers: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. And now Malaysia and Thailand are following suit. And most importantly of all: China is rising. The Middle Kingdom is back of its way to the middle of the world scene! The Asian economic crisis in 1997 was a set back on this way for much of the region, but for example China managed largely unaffected through that.
Asia is rising. The age of humiliation is over, especially in the east. But on the west and in the south there is still a longer way to go. The areas dominated by Islam have still not emerged from the age of economic deprivation to the same extent, with the exception of Malaysia and some of the oil based economies in the west. And the economic deprivation in these areas is combined with a strong sense of oppression by the West, during the Gulf war, the war in Afghanistan, and the renewed conflict over Iraq today. This is combined with inner tensions within the Muslim world between secular and religious elements as they gradually have started to develop towards industrialization and urbanization.6
India has experienced growing social inequality, increasing communalization, caste-ization and regionalization of its politics. Instead of finding solutions to the problems of mass unemployment, poverty and illiteracy, the present ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be channeling public frustration into Hindu nationalism and fundamentalism instead. As a result, India has been plagued by recurrent violent riots between Hindus and Muslims. During the last years Hindu fundamentalists have also started to persecute Christians.7
A crucial question here is of course how the rest of the world, instead of further antagonizing these regions in southern Asia can contribute to a fair and equal development within these societies. The gulf between the West and the East is still wide here. But also the gulf between the countries within Asia, even between those living side by side, is huge as I already mentioned in my introduction.
Also within the single countries
there are big inequalities. Hong Kong is doing very well comparatively, but
has still not managed to recover from the crisis in 1997. Out present administration
is primarily business oriented, and has a tendency to neglect the needs of
the common people. In order to try to decrease the huge government budget
deficit, the Hong Kong government this spring for example decided to add a
new extra 11% employers’ tax and correspondingly lower the monthly minimum
pay of the 240 000 Filipino, Indonesian, and Thai maids who already have the
lowest pay level in the territory. Also social security benefits for the most
needy in our society have been cut to the same degree, while cuts for highly
paid civil servants are cut only a fraction of this amount. This kind of policy
really brings to mind the passages from the Bible quoted above. I suppose
you could also find examples of similar kinds of unjust policies from your
own Thai context.
Also on a more local community level we can often observe similar phenomena
of social injustice. How do we as Christians realize our faith in God and
his justice in these kinds of situations? How do we help bridge tensions between
different social groups and create equality and justice in our societies?
The present encouraging economic development in parts of Asia also has its negative consequences. The Pearl Delta which Hong Kong is part of has been one of the fastest developing regions in the world for many years. But everything has its price. After 1997 Hong Kong has, as a result, experienced a rapidly deteriorating air quality. Now pollution levels are sometimes so high that people are recommended to stay indoors, especially those with heart disease and respiratory illnesses. As far as I know that Bangkok region has also been struggling with similar difficulties. And of course this is not just a question of air quality. It is as much a question of water pollution, deforestation and other forms of environmental exploitation that often goes along with economic development, and that affects large part of Asia. This is also one of the very big challenges in Asia at the outset of this third Millennium.
These kinds of problems bring our attention directly to God’s creation all around us, the natural environment, which we as human beings all are part of. According to Genesis 1, God when creating the heavens and the earth, the plants, and the animals of all the different kinds, at every new stage of the creation reviewed his work of creation. And every time the conclusion is the same: “And God saw that it was good” (Gen 1:9, 12, 18, 25) The Great Artist was at work and his work has a superb quality! Also when creating man, and finishing the whole creation the comment was the same: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen 1:31).
God placed the first human beings in the garden that he hade made for them “to work it and take care of it”. Humans were to work and cultivate the earth, but also to take good care of it. The earth still belongs to the Lord, as the Bible often reminds us. (cf. Lev. 25:23, Ps 24:1, 95:4-5). We are not its owners. We are only stewards of it and we are responsible for how we take care of it to God Father Almighty, the Creator of it all.
God’s creation was not something
long ago once and for all. God’s work of creation is still continuing through
his ongoing creation and care:
“You care for the land and water it.
You enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
to provide people with grain,
for so you have ordained it.
You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
You crown the year with your bounty,
and your carts overflow with abundance.
The grasslands of the desert overflow;
the hills are clothed with gladness.
The meadows are covered with flocks,
and the valleys are mantled with grain;
they shout for joy and sing”(Ps. 65:9-13)
The whole of creation is part of
the worship to God our Creator:
“Praise the Lord from the earth,
You great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
Lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
Stormy winds that do his bidding,
You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds”
(Ps. 148:7-10)
The creation is a witness of the Creator’s wisdom and glory. Through creation we get to see a glimpse of the Creator himself. But creation is not to be worshiped as such. The essence of sin is that humans start to worship the creation instead of its maker, the Creator. Worst of all it becomes when we start worshiping ourselves as humans and reserve the place of the divine for ourselves. Then we feel free to manipulate and exploit nature as much as we want in the name of development and short sighted economic gain. This is what happens in a materialistic society.
Here we as Christians really have an important task to put forth the stewardship perspective on Creation and defend God’s creation against human destruction and exploitation. By protecting God’s natural environment we are actually also protecting ourselves in the end, since we humans also are part of the same ecological system. Without the natural environment there will also be no human beings in the end. Therefore, let us always remember to preserve and protect the gift of the Asian natural environment. Let us cultivate and use it, but in a way that also coming generation may enjoy its beauty and benefit from its gifts!
In today’s lecture we have covered a wide range of important challenges to us as Christians and as Children of the Creator, in Asia. I know that challenges raised here are huge. Very huge compared to the actual size and strength of the Christian communities in many countries in Asia. It is not easy to make a difference when the Christian part of the population in most parts of Asia is only a few percent. How can we make a difference when it comes to challenges like being peace-makers, creating social justice and protecting the environment of Asia. I readily admit that it is often a very tall order. But on the other hand, we cannot neglect these challenges since they rise directly from the Scripture itself. We cannot make our vision narrower than the one in the Bible. We have to start fostering the right attitudes from the very beginning, although our numbers are not very large. We need an ecumenical world view from the very start. The word ‘oikoumene’ denotes the whole inhabited world. Our vision as children of God Father, the Almighty, needs to be as wide as the world he has created and which he has made us stewards of. And of course these are challenges, which Christians from different churches have in common and need to discuss together and find ways to meet together, as the present day use of the word ecumenical suggests. I have already quoted John Paul II’s Ecclesia in Asia. This is a document which in depth discusses a lot of the challenges to the church in Asia today, and I think we share most of those concerns and can cooperate with our Roman Catholic brothers in meeting them. Also the World Council of Churches, the World Evangelical Fellowship, and the Lausanne Movement promote this kind of cooperation between churches and Christians to meet the challenges before us.
Questions for discussion:
Which are the local challenges in your location concering interreligious relations? How should they be met?
Which are the must burning issues of social injustice in your local community? How should they be met?
Which are the concrete ecological challenges in your local community? How can your church contribute to meet them?
An Evangelical Christology
“I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead”
The creation is a witness about the Creator, but if we really are to get to know God, we need to get to know not only God’s general revelation of himself through creation, but also his specific revelation of himself in Jesus Christ. The creation, as we saw yesterday is far from what God intended it to be. It is a fallen creation, infected by injustice, exploitation, violence, and war. And the origin of it all according to the Bible is sin. We are part of a fallen humanity. As such sin is part of the very centre of our human being: “For out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” says Jesus, as he explains the source of human uncleanness (Matth. 15:19). Sin does not reside in the lack of outer rituals, but in the heart. Sin is not just our personal wrong-doings but it is part of humanity as a whole. We are all socialized into this fallen reality, and we cannot free ourselves from it. Because of the general revelation of God through creation, all men have a sense of longing for the something, a longing for meaning and truth. This is the longing that Augustine expresses in his famous words: “You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.”8 This explains why humans generally are religious beings. The different religions are an expression of this. This kind of religious longing can also act as a preparation for the gospel.
But besides the general revelation God has also come to us in a particular revelation, through incarnation in his Son, Jesus. The God of creation and of the law is still described as the hidden God, Deus absconditus, according to Luther. But in the incarnation he becomes the revealed God, Deus revelatus. It in only through God revealed in Jesus Christ that we gain true and proper knowledge of God. Through his death and resurrection God has communicated his reconciling love to the world he created. It is only through faith (sola fide) in him can we be made right with God. It is only through Christ (solus Christus), that salvation is offered to us. Outside Christ there is no salvation. And this salvation is offered to mankind through the means of grace, the Word and the sacraments in the power of the Holy Spirit.9
The Christian emphasis on mission is a natural consequence of this Christology. Since Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation for mankind, this has to be shared with all mankind. Mission is our natural response to the gift of grace, which we have received through him. We want everybody to be able to hear the gospel about Jesus Christ and through the salvation, which he offers be made right with God and become his children. We are the followers of Jesus first disciples, proclaiming to the world: “Salvation is found in no other name under heaven given to men by which we may be saved” (Acts 4:12)
What does this mean in our Asian context, which is dominated by the other big world religions? Well, it is certainly a continuing big challenge for us as Christians in Asia to keep our theological focus clear. One of our important tasks is, as we already affirmed yesterday, to love our fellow Asians, irrespective of religious background and through dialogue to create mutual understanding in peace between the religious communities. But it does not mean that we retreat from the claims of the uniqueness of the incarnation of God in Jesus. It does not mean that we give up the most essential part of our faith, the gospel of salvation and the eternal life which we receive only through him. Instead it means that we at the same time as we strive to work for peace, justice, and wholeness of God’s creation in our Asian context keep our focus on our Heavenly Father, with whom we have been reconciled with in Jesus Christ, and remember that he “wants all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men” (1 Tim 2:4-6a).
This means that we have an enormous
challenge in Asia before us as Christians at the outset of this third millennium.
Europe, Northern America, Latin America and Oceania are already between three
fourths and 90% Christian. African is rapidly approaching the 50% mark. But
Asia, the continent where God became incarnate among us, is only 8.5% Christian
according to the somewhat optimistic statistics of David Barrett. From this
we can conclude that the third millennium is also Asia’s millennium in Christian
mission. Asia is the big remaining missionary challenge to the Christian church.
Of course there will continue to be challenges also in all the other continents,
including Europe where secularization is making the continent more and more
of a mission field again right now. But the big challenge is here in Asia.
As I mentioned, Asia is also the continent with the majority of the world
population and the strongest presence of the other world religions. About
85% of all unevangelized people in the world live in Asia. One fact that complicates
the situation further is that the 8.5% Christians are very unevenly distributed
across Asia. The list over countries with the highest proportion of Christians
is topped by the Philippines with 89.7%, followed by South Korea with 40.8%,
Indonesia with 13.1% and Singapore with 12.3%. The two most major nations
in Asia are a little slightly under the average: China with 7,1% and India
with 6.2%. The lowest proportions we find in countries like Afghanistan with
0%, the Maldives with 0.1, Iran and Bhutan with 0.5%, and Turkey with 0.6%.
Iraq which is now being attacked has 3.2% Christian or 740 778. Maybe we should
remember our brothers and sisters there in prayer these days! Thailand and
some of your closest neighbours here belong to the countries with the smallest
proportion of Christians: Thailand 2.2%, Laos 2.1%, and Cambodia 1.1%. Vietnam
and Myanmar are both somewhat ahead, both at 8.3 %.10
The actual missionary challenges facing Christians in different countries
depend on the size and composition of the Christian populations in these different
countries and the religious and political conditions, under which they are
working. The Philippines and Afghanistan are obviously very different from
each other. A Filipino pastor, whom I asked about the situation there, pointed
to the cooperation between churches as the biggest challenge there. In Afghanistan
there are no churches, at least not working openly. One of my fellow Lutheran
missionaries from Finland working in Kabul for many years has been involved
Christian witness through humanitarian and medical work. Open Christian witness
has been very difficult, not to speak of organizing churches. One of our Vietnamese
students pointed to the pressure from the Communist regime and the Buddhist
communities on those who want to become Christian in Vietnam as the biggest
challenge there. In India the Christian churches have been woken up from their
complacency by the increased pressure and are now coming together and cooperating
in a new way. Also between the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches and
are starting to reach out in new ways. Evangelism cannot be done as publicly
as before but there are other more informal avenues for the gospel that may
be used even more effectively according to one of our Indian students. In
China, the blood of the martyrs has proved to be the seed for a new dynamic
Church with Chinese characteristics emerging after the Cultural Revolution.
Its biggest challenges according to Cao Shengjie, President of the Standing
Committee of the China Christian Council, is to raise the spiritual quality
of its members through Christian nurture in order to prevent the proliferation
of cults and finding new ways to continue to communicate the Gospel.11 In
Hong Kong, I think materialism is a much bigger challenge than any other.
People are too busy to think about the meaning of life. So far we have not
had any real challenge from the post 1997 government. In the countries with
a Muslim majority, the most urgent present challenge is cope with the increased
pressure from Muslim fundamentalist elements that are been stirred up by the
war in Iraq. You yourselves know better that me what are the biggest challenges
to the churches in Thailand.
Since most of the Christian communities in Asia are minority groups they would live under certain pressures from the majority religious communities or secular political ideologies. These kinds of pressures are a continuing challenge to Christians at the outset of the third Millennium in Asia. When the pressure is very strong like in some of the Muslim countries where a Muslim becoming a Christian would have to fear for his or her life, a very strong conviction is needed to overcome such a challenge. Church planting among Muslims is still very difficult, and the present war makes it even harder. But otherwise moderate opposition and pressures from the majority is not necessarily a hindrance to church growth. According to sociology a certain tension with the environment is even necessary for a religious movement to develop and grow. 12 In this respect Asia offers a lot of incentive to the Christian churches. But actually, as my own research Hong Kong shows, the effect of felt pressure would work in different ways in different churches: The churches with sufficient commitment to stand up and defy the pressure in the run-up to 1997 were able not only to overcome it but also to get positive momentum from it and work even harder on evangelism and church planting. For others who did not have the same commitment level to start with, the pressure felt would work the opposite way. They became more reserved, resulting in decreasing efforts to reach out through church planting.13 We can therefore conclude that the future development of the Christian churches in Asia is much dependent on the Christian commitment level in the different church bodies and congregrations. The pressures from outside are not necessarily a hindrance in themselves, if the churches and their leaders stay faithful to Christ in spite of outer difficulties.
In his recent book “The Future of Christianity” Alister McGrath predicts that the mainline Protestant denominations in the West probably will not survive this century, because of their rapid decline during the last decades. The only parts of them that are showing signs of life, according to McGrath, are those affected by the Evangelical and Charismatic renewals. McGrath makes an exception for Asia, Latin America and Africa, where more dynamic forms of them have developed. Here, he thinks a different scenario may develop.14 I agree with McGrath concerning the worrying trends among the mainline denominations in the West. I very much hope history will prove him wrong and that the present rapid decline may be broken. But we certainly have to take the situation very seriously. He is also right concerning Asia. There is no corresponding crisis among the mainline churches here. According to Barrett there is a positive growth among all Christian groups here. But also here there is a noticeable difference in growth rate between the different kinds of churches. The independent churches are the fastest growing group in Asia as a whole, followed by the Charismatic and Pentecostal groups, the Evangelicals and the Roman Catholics. Protestants in general, while growing are still lagging behind the others also here. Those of us who represent the mainline Protestant denominations, therefore should seriously evaluate our situation also here in Asia, before we end up in the same boat as our sister denominations in the West.15 In my own research in Hong Kong, while not being occupied with comparative denominational growth specifically, I still observed a much higher church planting activity in the Evangelical denominations than in the mainline ones. One of the reasons for this, I concluded, may have been the relatively higher levels of membership commitment and participation in the Evangelical churches. Also the strong emphasis on outreach in these churches has contributed to this.16 I think that it crucial also in Asia that we as mainline churches start to learn from the independent, Evangelical and Charismatic sister churches. Many of us mainline churches actually have the same missionary zeal and commitment as a part of our tradition as the Evangelical churches. Many of us have also been affected by the Charismatic revival. The big asset of many of the local independent churches is that they may have been able to contextualize the Christian message in ways that mainline churches, more strongly bound by their own western denominational traditions, have done. Here it is of course crucial to have an open mind and learn from each other.17 By affirming and drawing on the elements that are contributing to the development of our sister churches we, by the grace of God, may be able to avoid the downward spiral of our mainline mother churches in the West.
I have headlined this section “An Evangelical Christology” in order to emphasize the importance of a strong evangelical understanding of Christ and the redemption he is offering to Asia. It is crucial that we have a solid foundation in the Scripture and in our own Evangelical Reformation tradition here. These emphases we also have in common with the present day Evangelical theology. Also in light of the present day trends mentioned here it is also very important that we can preserve this solid foundation, if we are to continue our Christian witness in Asia during the third millennium.
Questions for discussion:
“Salvation is found in no other
name under heaven given to men by which we may be saved” (Acts 4:12)
What does this mean in your context?
What are the biggest challenges facing the churches in Asia in their outreach with the gospel right now?
What can the mainline churches learn from their Evangelical sister churches?
What can the mainline churches learn from their independent sister churches?
A Charismatic Spirituality
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the
holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the
resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.”
According to Luther the Holy Spirit sanctifies us through the communion of
saints, which is the church, through the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection
of the body, and through the everlasting life. The Church, which is a community
of the Spirit in the world, is the mother of every Christian through the Word
of God. Sanctification is an ongoing process. “Now we are only halfway pure
and holy. The Holy Spirit must continue to work in us through the Word, daily
granting forgiveness until we attain to that life, where there will be no
more forgiveness. In that life are only perfectly pure and holy people, full
of goodness and righteousness, completely freed from sin, death, and all evil,
living in new, immortal, and glorified bodies.”18
The Holy Spirit, as the Scripture witnesses about, also equips the church with spiritual gifts.“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers , to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues, and still to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.”(1 Cor 12:4-11).
This aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit which was prominent in the first churches during the New Testament times has received a renewed emphasis during the last hundred years through the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements.
On April 9, 1906 a group of black people were gathered for prayer in a wooden bungalow in Los Angeles, under the leadership of a black preacher, William J. Seymour, who for weeks had assured them that if they kept praying earnestly, God would send them a new Pentecost. On that day it finally happened. People that heard about it came and joined in and on nearby Azusa Street they rented a small abandoned church. The meetings there continued daily for three years. The people that came were mostly marginalized grass root people, black as well as white. The fact that they from the outset were able to overcome the racial divide was remarkable in a time of strong racial tensions.19 The movement continued to appeal to the marginalized. The form of worship favoured is strongly experiential, with an emphasis on prophecy and healing. Because of its worship style and lack of intellectual sophistication it was initially scorned by the by the intellectuals and the mainline churches. But in 1960 an Episcopalian minister in California, Dennis Bennett, also experienced being filled by the Spirit and speaking in tongues. The Charismatic renewal commencing from this, now started to spread also through the mainline Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches, and in the Roman Catholic church.20 As a whole the movement has become one of the most rapidly growing movements within Christianity, which according to Barrett was already well past the half billion mark in 2000 and is rapidly continuing its growth.21 In Asia it has had the strongest impact on Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Myanmar and India. Also here in Asia is has had its strongest appeal among the grass roots. Its experience-focused spirituality has also resonated well with some dominant religious traditions in Asia, which emphasize the authentic experience of the divine.22
I suggest that also mainline churches also should continue to learn from the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements as we continue to search of relevant expressions of Christian spirituality in our Asian context. Especially its ability to formulate our faith experientally and to reach out and reach across dividing lines between different ethnic groups and social classes are essential in developing our outreach.
Traditionally Lutherans did not put any strong emphasis on spiritual gifts, but the Charismatic movement within our Lutheran traditions has clearly shown that this emphasis theologically may work well also in a Lutheran setting.23
A further exploration of Charismatic spirituality should of course not lead to the neglect of other forms of spirituality. Also the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox spiritual traditions are very rich and dynamic at the outset of the Third Millennium and deserve our attention. They also have long roots back that present Charismatic spirituality sometimes is lacking. I would recommend a synthetic method of contextualization,24 which besides takes the present developments seriously and reflects on them in the light of the Gospel and the Christian tradition.
One very essential ingredient in the contextualization process is also to see how it all fits in with the local Asian culture and the present social change in our societies here. How can our Christian spirituality become a truly Asian spirituality again? This is one of the greatest challenges for Christianity in Asia during this third Millennium in Asia. Christianity has made a detour through European and the West and has now returned back to Asia and needs to be recontextualized in its own soil again. And since the Asian contexts are so diverse, this is a challenge that has to be answered on the local level by local people. Only they who are fully immersed in their own culture may in the end know how to express their Christian faith in a way that resonates with the local people. And only when Christianity again is fully conceived as a local Asian religion, will it really gain the hearts and minds of the people on a large scale.
Still outside missionary presence will probably be called on in Asia for a long time ahead, because of the very small proportion of Christians in many of the local Asian contexts. Due caution and sensitivity to the local contexts should, however, always be exercised. Local leaders should be nurtured to carry on the work as soon as possible in every context. Local self reliance should also be encouraged as soon as possible in order to avoid unhealthy long term dependence on a mission agency, which may stifle the local initiative. Development of institutions should rather be done with local means, in order to avoid long term maintenance costs that place a too heavy burden on the local church.25
In conclusion I want to emphasize the importance of a holistic missionary vision to notice and to meet the challenges to Christianity during this third millennium in Asia. We need an ecumenical world vision, an evangelical Christology, and a Charismatic spirituality in local Asian clothes in order to forge ahead. Neglect of any of these three perspectives may seriously cripple the church in Asia and make us retreat before the challenges ahead. But with a well balanced Trinitarian missionary vision I am confident that our Lord can use us to build his church also in Asia. Let us move ahead on his word: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt. 28:18-20)
Questions for discussion:
What can the mainline churches in Asia learn from their Charismatic sister churches?
How can our Christian spirituality become a truly Asian spirituality?
How can we improve our church-mission
relationships?
References
Ahmed, Nafeez Mosaddeq
2002 “State-Sponsored Terrorism in the Republic of India:
Communal Violence and the Institutionalization of Religious Discrimination”
Media Monitors Network, March 10, 2002. http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq31.html
Antola, Markku
1998 The Experience of Christ’s Real Presence in Faith: An Analysis of the
Christ-Presence-Motif in the Lutheran Charismatic Revival. Helsinki: Luther-Agricola-Society
Augustine
1991 Confessions. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Barrett, David B. and others
2001 World Christian Encyclopedia: A comparative survey of Churches and Religions
in the Modern World. Vol. 1, 2nd ed., New York: Oxford University Press.
Bevans, Stephen B.
1992 Models of Contextual Theology. New York: Orbis Books.
Braaten, Carl
1992 No Other Gospel! Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress
Carino, Feliciano V.
2002 Emerging Issues and Challenges to the Ecumenical
Movement in Asia. (Unpublished)
Cao Shengjie
2002 “The Current Situation in the Chinese Church.” Chinese Theological Review
Vol 16, 2002:54-62.
Garrison, David
1999 Church Planting Movements Richmond: International Mission Board, SBC,
http://www.imb.org/CPM/default.htm
Hunter, Shireen T.
1998 The Future of Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations or Peaceful
Coexistence? Praeger:Westport
John Paul II
1999 Ecclesia in Asia http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_06111999_ecclesia-in-asia_en.html
Granberg, H?kan
2000 Church Planting Commitment: New Church Development in Hong Kong during
the Run-Up to 1997. ?bo: ?bo Akademi University Press.
Luther, Martin
1959 “The Large Catechism.” The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press
Ma Jungja
1999 “Pentecostal Cahllenges in East and South-East Asia” The Globalization
of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel. Eds. Murray W. Dempster etc.,
Oxfordshire: Regnum 1999:183-202
McGrath, Alister
1996 A Passion for Truth: The Intellectual Coherence of Evangelicalism. Apollos:
Leicester
2002 The Future of Christianity. Oxford: Blackwell.
M?kel?, Jaakko
2000 Khrischak Issara: The Independent Churches in Thailand, Their Historical
Background, Contextual Setting, and Theological Thinking. ?bo: ?bo Akademi
University Press.
Orbach, Benjamin
2001 “Usama Bin Laden and Al-Qa’ida: Origins and Doctrines”, Middle East Review
of International Affairs, Vol. 5, No. 4.
Satyavrata, Ivan M.
1999 “Contextual Perspective on Pentecostalism as a Global Culture: A South
Asian View.” The Globalization of Pentecostalism: A Religion Made to Travel.
Eds. Murray W. Dempster etc., Oxfordshire: Regnum 1999:203-221.
Stark, Rodney
1996 “Why Religious Movements Succeed or Fail: A Revised General Model.” Journal
of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1996:133-146.
Bible quotations from the New International Version (NIV).
1 Barrett and others 2001:4, 13, 191, 360.
2 Orbach 2001:57-66
3 CSW newletter March 21, 2003.
4John Paul II 1999
5 Carino 2002:6
6 Hunter 1998:166
7 Ahmed 2002
8 Augustine 1991:3.
9 Braaten 1992:67-78, McGrath 1996:220-225.
10 Barrett and others 2001:13-15, 49, 117, 163, 191, 372, 379, 383, 439, 479,
474, 518, 594, 661, 682, 734, 752, 803.
11 Cao 2002:55.
12 Stark 1996:143
13 Granberg 2000:237-246.
14 McGrath 2002:99-101.
15 Barrett and others 2001:13.
16 Granberg 2000:200-202.
17According to Jaakko M?kel? for example the Wan Phetchsongkram of the Romklao
Church and Nantachai and Ubolwan of the Muang Thai Church have made important
developments of contextual theology in Thailand, such as the importance of
the concept of meekness as a way of Christian living and witness. M?kel? 2000:211.
18 Luther 1959:415-418.
19 Cox 1996:45-58.
20 McGrath 2002:106-108, Cox 1996:106-110.
21 Barrett and others 2001:4.
22Barrett and others 2001:360, Ma 1999:184, Satyavrata 1999:210-211.
23 Antola 1998:162-167.
24 Bevans 1992:81-88.
25 Garrison 1999:34, 46, 50-51.
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