The General Assembly reminded me of three important things that I want to share; things we should all be aware of, pray about, and respond to. The first is that money follows mission. This idea affirms that when people are committed to and excited by God’s mission, the money will come. This is distinct from a planning style which “cuts the coat according to the cloth,” which means we see how much people have contributed in the past and make our plans according to the money we expect to receive. Some people claim this is the only responsible way to do church business while others argue that we can’t expect God to bless us if we don’t step out in faith. As a church, our actions say we don’t believe strongly that money follows mission; or perhaps it is simply that we can’t agree on what our mission is (or should be) and so we don’t expect to be receiving more vision – inspired funds. The result must then be the default one, which is business as usual. It isn’t that we don’t agree on anything as Presbyterians. Some things, like Presbyterian World Service and Development, for the most part, have gained respect and financial support from the church. Presbyterians have shown themselves generous in responding to both crisis needs and development needs. Presbyterians contributed $1.63 million to the Haiti earthquake crisis alone!
The second thing was evident by the way we dealt with a position paper on our relationship with the Jews. On the one hand, the Church Doctrine Committee tells us we should believe “in the uniqueness, finality and unsurpassability of Jesus Christ, the sole mediator of the one covenant of grace and acknowledge our commission to bear witness to our Lord to all peoples without distinction.” But the Ecumenical and Inter – Faith Relations Committee tells us we shouldn’t admit it when we are speaking to those of other faiths. Again we need to come to an agreement about who we are and what we believe, and we need to be transparent both to our members and to those of other faiths. There seems to be an idea that we need to apologize for what we believe.
I suggest a radical approach to ecumenical dialogue. Let’s tell the whole truth. Let’s say we believe God loves those of other faiths and we love them because we are all created in God’s image. Let’s say in authentic humility that we know we don’t know everything but we want to share what we believe God has revealed to us. Let us say we also want to hear what they believe is of essential importance, and what God has shown them. Let’s acknowledge that we believe in the authority of the scriptures as divine revelation and the final authority in matters of faith and life. Let’s celebrate with them the things of importance we hold in common and acknowledge things that still separate us. Let’s dialogue about things we both want, and discover how best to work together to achieve those goals in a shared community. Until we are willing to be transparent to all about who we really are, we shall never see the power of God forcefully at work in us. That requires that we are willing to make a commitment about who we believe God wants us to be.
Third: Canada is now more of a mission field than ever. Rev. Augustus Oku of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria addressed the assembly as an ecumenical guest. He was recently educated at Knox College, Toronto, and was influenced in his faith by some of our missionaries to Nigeria. He shared how he had taken leave of his ministry responsibilities in Nigeria in order to help plant a Nigerian church in Toronto. He is the first missionary to be appointed by the PCN to serve with the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Rev. Oku is a reminder that God in His providence used us to plant the gospel among many nations and now they are coming to us to renew the gospel in our midst. Some come to minister primarily to ethnic immigrants we have not been equipped to serve effectively. But increasing numbers are used to plant new works or revive our weakened congregations as pastors and leaders. How blessed we are to have these new missionaries come and bless us with their presence, their faithfulness to the gospel, and their new insights. How privileged we are to work with them and learn from them. Just when many congregations are tempted to give up, God sends us new co – workers to encourage us with faith and hope and love.
