The Connected Ecclesia
August 6, 2009
Dear Friends,
The poet John Donne famously wrote,
No man is an island, entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the mainWhen we talk about the body of Christ, this is also true of individuals and ecclesias.
This past week I received an email from a brother in India informing me that the sister of two Iranian brethren lived in my town. She was interested in coming to a Bible class. Her two brothers had learned God’s Truth from a sister who lived in Pakistan. One of the brothers was still in Iran while the other had fled to Turkey recently in the midst of persecution. At the request of the young woman, I was able to offer assistance to the brother in Turkey by contacting a brother in England who visits Turkey with some frequency for the CBM. I was also able to connect her brother in Turkey with two brethren in Canada -one a former refugee who lived in Turkey for several years and another brother who had contacts in the United Nations and Canadian embassy in Ankara. We have also initiated communications with her fiancé who lives in the Philippines and has expressed interest in the Bible.
This story may not be typical, but it is not extraordinary either. We live in a new era. The age of the “island ecclesia” is waning. The “island ecclesia” is the ecclesia which lives isolated from the rest and whose interaction is limited mostly to Bible schools or gatherings.
We are entering the era of the new connected ecclesia. We are now in the age of Facebook and international travel. The interconnectedness of brethren from every country is felt more keenly now than ever before. The beauty of this new era is that we can all benefit from our relative strengths and help each other in our relative weaknesses. Perhaps as in no time since the first century can we really appreciate the words of the Apostle Paul when he says,
There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.(1 Cor. 12:25- 26)
When something great happens like the birth of a child, you can expect congratulations from around the globe. When something tragic happens, you can expect to have the sympathy of hundreds or thousands of people around the globe. We also now experience connectedness in other ways. Like the first century, we experience the symbiotic relationship that the poorer Jerusalem ecclesia had with some of the richer gentile ecclesias. Those of us in wealthy countries receive spiritual sustenance in the testimonies of endurance from persecution, poverty and disease from those in poorer countries. Those in poorer countries receive natural gifts from us in the financial support we provide them for food, medical care and housing. I have come to believe that every brother and sister who lives in a first world country should strongly be encouraged to do some foreign missionary work. It helps to shake off the barnacles of materialism, complaints, pettiness and selfishness in ways that few other things can. It also helps us see how connected we all are.
This very email is an example of the new connected ecclesia. Brethren around the globe are now aware, by reading this email, that we have a young, twenty- year old brother in Turkey who has had to flee for his life. Not only is this exhortational for us who live in the comforts of a free society to appreciate the religious freedom that we have, but it also should cause us to drop to our knees in prayer for a young man willing put his life in danger for Christ. It is one thing to read of the faithful of ancient history like Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, it is quite another to connect to those of like precious faith today and share in their sufferings.
For the Luddites among us, we might want to moan the advent of the internet, Skype and email. There are downsides to be sure. However, the latest technology is no more sinister than the advent of the printing press. It can be used for good or it can be used for evil and undoubtedly will be used for both. If we use the new technology to experience more fully the One Body and to aid those in spiritual or material need, perhaps we can mitigate in some way those negatives.
Have a great week,
Comments»
No comments yet.