August 13, 2004
Losing the Saved
I debated about what to title this. It could also be "Invasion of the Faith Snatchers" or "Preaching to the Choir" or "What a Friend We Have YWAM".
Yes, folks it's that time again. Thanks to Serge for reminding me that the next fortnight will see a new invasion of Evangelicals into an Orthodox land.
Now I don't want anyone to think that just because I am complaining about the actions of a few Evangelicals that I am against Evangelicals altogether. I value my Evangelical background. (Most Ex-Ev Orthodox do.) I like Evangelicals. Some of my best friends are Evangelicals.
However, because one of the key symptoms of evangelicalism is historical short-sightedness, they often fail to realise that the first Christians weren't an off-shoot of an off-shoot of an off-shoot of the Protestant Reformation. The early Church would find their theology incomprehensible. So do cradle Orthodox.
One of the groups going to Athens to evangelise is Youth With A Mission (YWAM). On their website they say:
Recently, Greek believers asked Youth With A Mission to come and help them bring a witness to the world and to Greece at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. They requested that YWAM play a leading role in mobilizing international believers and locals and to help strategize a national evangelism campaign.
The spiritual state of Greece is poor. Probably worse that the YWAMers know. The problem is that they don't have the solution. The solution isn't to turn them into evangelical Protestants.
In their downloadable PowerPoint strategy presentation, they use phrases like, "Not a conversion but a relationship", and "Come as fellow Christians promoting commitment". Is this a ploy? Are they promoting committment to Jesus within an Orthodox context? Unlikely.
As Joshua notes on his blog (and I'm paraphrasing), will they be encouraging the Jesus Prayer or "quiet time", Divine Liturgy or American praise pop, the Sacraments and the Real Presence of Christ or a "personal relationship with Jesus"?
It is also our dream for the land of Greece to be re-awakened and revived from the spirit of religiosity that it is bound in. The problem is that Greece lacks "religiosity". If Greece is "re-awakened" and revives to the true religion it once had, it won't look anything like American charismatiosity, if I can coin a term.
Coin... It reminds me of how a small child will trade a small coin for a large one. Both are of value. Both are real money. But one is a tuppence and the other a pound. The Greeks don't need to bother with the tuppences they are offered - they just need to find the pound already in their pocket.
Did you see one of the generic religious programs on Sunday afternoon , which showed the preps for the Olympics ? They were talking to an Anglican priest in Athens and a Greek (!) Baptist minister in his church, about bringing souls to Jesus.
I was speechless ( a rare event, I assure you)and very very sad to see a native Greek who had given up on the Faith.
Of course there are nominal Orthodox in Greece, but think of all those yia-yias, zealousy preserving the faith and praying for people....I ma willing to bet they have far more of a "personal relationship with Christ" than many Protestant Evangelists.
Why don`t they see the need for their "essential missionary work " in their own back yards at home ? I am sure there are many folk in their own countries who know nothing of Christ....surely they should be looking to save souls at home first, rather than proselytising from established churches.
Rant over
I blogged about this last year and it generated some good discussion.
Posted by: Karl Thienes at August 13, 2004 06:30 PMKarl,
I moved your link to another post, so it could be hyperlinked.
Posted by: Dave at August 14, 2004 12:33 AM/begin rant
Interesting post and a great blog all around. Just thought you might like to hear on this from someone living in Greece.
I noticed a weird couple the other day talking to some kids on the metro. The guy was very animated. Talking about how Jesus saves etc.
Anyway it was fun to hear him talk with such conviction. We are not very fervent in our beliefs here, most Greeks seeing church as a social function and a chance to see relatives and chat.
A factor in that has probably been the Constitution, declaring it illegal for other religions to engage in prosyletization activities.
My view is that this has had a sheltering effect, not letting us see what is special or particular about the Orthodox faith.
We are taught religion in school, but it is (generally) dry, boring and we do little on comparative religion.
Exposure to Western views came only when I studied in England. I think exposure to the views of others is healthy. If we are wrong we can adopt what the others do better. If we are right, we have confirmation of this and can thus be more sure of our belief.
Thus it would IMO be good for some exposure to occur.That is my two cents.
As for the missionary, he got off on the next stop, so I'll never know how the conversation ended. I don't see them having a lot of luck though. We could care less for our religion, selling us his seems like a bit of an upward struggle. My hope is that exposure to "xeni" beliefs will help us better appreciater our own, and hopefully bring our clergy to the 21st century by adopting some of the practices and mindset of their more civilised colleagues in the West.
Best Regards
/rant over
Yiannis, Athens,Greece
Posted by: Yiannis at August 26, 2004 10:53 AMYiannis,
Thank you very much for your comments and sharing your valuable perspective!
Dave
Posted by: Dave at August 26, 2004 12:48 PM