Sojourners: An Open Letter to Missionaries

Cindy Brandt has a piece up at Sojourners that you should take a minute to read. In it, she challenges us all to consider the role that culture plays in the way we see faith and how we are formed by what we call sacred and authoritative. For American Christians, this is an important task not only because our culture has an impact internationally like Cindy mentions in her piece, but also because we often find it incredibly difficult to separate our civic culture from our faith in meaningful and necessary ways. Take a look at this section:

Sometimes I feel you take for granted the immense power and influence your country and culture has on the rest of the world. Your military presence holds a solid threat in international conflict; your economic policies reverberate throughout the world; your pop culture is consumed in our theaters, on our computers, and in our earbuds. When you speak, we listen, because your voice is strong, your resources are abundant, your presence is loud. Perhaps this is why you sometimes miss the softer cries of our hearts.

And this is the cry of our hearts: to tell the story of Jesus from our own lips, to worship God in our own language, and to pray the concerns of our own hearts.

Now, don’t you want to read the rest? Head on over to Sojourners and check it out: http://www.sojo.net/blogs/2014/11/03/open-letter-missionaries