A Mission Worth Dying For

Two weeks ago I stood in a room. Not just any room. It was in a dorm, in a school, in an impoverished village in Burundi, the second poorest country in the world. A room designed for 15 young women who would live there for five years as they studied in secondary school.  Not a big room and not a big dorm. The building seemed pretty packed for the 80 young women who would stay there. That is until we found out that they would actually be cramming 50 in that one room. 320 in that building. 4 to a bunk. 100 to a classroom. 5 to a desk. It sickened me.

The night before, some friends and I from Wellspring shared a meal with Josh and Nadine, a young married couple from Edmonton building a medical clinic for the desperately poor in a town nearby. They didn’t have much, yet it was one of the richest meals I have had for a long time. They loved God with all their heart, mind and soul and were living on the edge of existence in order to serve the poor.

Why would they do that? And why should we care about 320 girls crammed into a place that could easily become hell on earth for them?

Why?

Because Jesus tells us to. And because a generation in Canada innately knows that. For too long the church has focused on righteousness and being right. We have talked of personal salvation and holiness, of purity and forgiveness. And that’s okay as far as it goes. But it’s not enough.  One of the key messages of the Haemorrhaging Faith research is that we have alienated a generation that sees us as argumentative and hypocritical, inward looking and judgemental. Instead, they want to see our words in action. It’s the me to we generation and they want to see a church that cares for those outside its doors.

To be relevant again, the church must engage with the cause of justice that the Bible talks so powerfully about. Yes, tell people about the healing Jesus provides and the way to forgiveness that we all need. But understand that’s only one dimension of who He is. It’s righteousness and justice, and we fall into the trap of self-centeredness when we forget that Jesus calls us outwards not inwards. To the homeless in our cities, to the single mums on welfare, to the girl about to be abused in a hellhole of a dorm and to the sick who have no one to heal them.

Transformation occurs as we journey alongside each other and realise our own poverty of spirit, working together to help overcome poverty in all its forms. That’s why the way forward to reaching youth and young adults in Canada is not to shout louder and judge more. They have spoken on that and are voting with their feet. Instead, it’s to listen and to engage them in Gods heart for the redemption of all creation.

It’s a mission worth dying for. And that’s not a marketing gimmick. It’s eternal truth. 

Andy Harrington is the CEO of the Wellspring Foundation for Education, working to empower a new generation in Africa.