It is easy to question things we don’t understand. It may be a tradition in our family or community that seems very strange to us. Or it might be a new idea that our friends are talking about. Whatever the idea, it is easier to question it than to do the hard work of thinking it through and understanding the issue.
In the Church around the world, this happens as well. We question tradition, new ideas, and different perspectives as a way to shut out those things so that we don’t have to do the hard work of trying to understand them.
One of the best parts about the Lausanne Global Conversation is that it is forcing so many of the participants to drop their skepticism and really engage on issues that might be frightening or new to them.
Sometimes it isn’t an issue of being scary or novel but instead it is an issue of being assumed. This is the case with the wonderful blog post that one of our Lausanne Blogger Network members, Cody Lorance, wrote about the theme of partnership.
He starts out by questioning the assumption that partnership is as critical as the huge emphasis that the global Church has placed on it would seem to indicate. But he doesn’t stop there. Instead he dives into Scripture and begins to lay out an intricate and powerful case for why incarnational partnerships are Biblical and desperately needed.
He sums it up well when he says, “the active pursuit of ever-deepening global partnerships by local bodies of Christians enables those communities to better (and increasingly so) comprehend and know God’s love which results in dramatic spiritual transformation and growth.”
Engage: Commit to God that you will dive into that issue over the next 2-3 months and then share your findings in the Global Conversation.
Own: The next time that you see someone else question or avoid a key tradition or new idea in the Church, challenge them about their motives and lovingly hold them accountable to go deeper.