The perception I get from the conversations I have with some of the Kmer people, is that America is the “land of opportunity” still. It seems as though they gaze upon me similar to how I gaze upon an iPhone. I guess this is what it means to covet. But my goal here is not to convict the Kmer people of coveting, but to express the tension between a person’s desire for gospel against their desire for a western lifestyle. This tension is worth our time because it has implications for how we are missionaries to foreign countries.
I am not one to judge another’s salvation, but I feel it is wrong to ignore the implications of my citizenship upon people and the gospel. when a group of white middle class Americans decide to join forces and inhabit a country, similar to Cambodia’s conditions, for the sake of planting churches and spreading the gospel, I question whether the native people become Christians for the kingdom of God or the empire of western civilization. Thus, their commitment to Christianity is merely a means to becoming American.
My problem with being American is from a global context. We are one of the most feared and powerful nations. As far as land size and resources, we are an extremely blessed country, but extremely under populated for how much land we have and how much resources we consume (waste). In a global context, I think America are the rich who are getting richer, and countries like Cambodia are the poor who are getting poorer. And we all know what it feels like to be poor (even when we are not) we gaze upon the rich as though they have found life. At the same time we all know what it is like to be rich. We all have those possessions that we want only for ourselves and we will do anything to make sure it stays that way. We develop individual defense programs.
I began to soften my blow toward American by comparing westernization with ancient Israel’s invasions when they were moving into the land of Canon, the Promise Land. I thought about God’s missional prerogative to reveal himself as the God of gods through the language of war. I remembered Rehab’s faith and commitment to Israel and their God because she heard not what Israel did to the other nations, but what Israel’s God did to the other nations; the other gods.
I began to think that maybe God has a missional prerogative with westernization. While people might become christian to be more western, God can easily change our means to achieve personal glory to become his means for his glory. In other words, God is not too small to transform the desire for the people to be western into people of his kingdom.
After this epiphany, I still felt uncomfortable with my citizenship. I also realized that the western movement is not a good comparison with Israel’s entrance into the Promise Land because Israel was a nation of slaves, nomads, refugees, they were a bunch of no-namers shaming the strong, wealthy, and proud. So,I have decided that it is impossible to be an American Christian (or whatever you want to call someone who follows and has faith in Jesus). The problem is whatever I do it is still from an American perspective.
In the midst of this tension where I think the beauty and mystery of the kingdom of God resides. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said you cannot see the kingdom. The kingdom is within. When Jesus prayed that his disciples would be in the world, but not of it – I think it might have been this issue.
Since I belong to Christ and am part of his kingdom. God’s kingdom allows me to observe my context from a distance in order to engage it with gospel in a language that resonates with my neighbor. I am of Christ, but in America. I am of the kingdom of God, but in Baltimore MD.
