American evangelicals stand accused of being captives of culture—selfish, materialistic, unconcerned about the world.
If we're honest, sometimes we have to plead guilty as charged.
Christian pollster George Barna frequently supplies the evidence to convict us. His research measures the canyon-width distance between what Christians claim to believe and how we act.
“Americans are willing to expend some energy in religious activities such as attending church and reading the Bible, and they're willing to throw some money in the offering basket,” Barna recently observed. “But when it comes time to truly establishing their priorities and making a tangible commitment to knowing and loving God, and to allowing him to change their character and lifestyle, most people stop short.”
Jacob Loewen, author of The Bible in Cross-Cultural Perspective, writes that Third-World Christians who have lived in America “perceive that wealth is the organizing principle in secularized Western culture, including Western Christianity.” They see us bowing to the idols of materialism and technology, and they wonder if we have abandoned biblical faith without realizing it.
“People of other cultures sometimes need to see their idols through our eyes, and sometimes we need to see ours through theirs,” Loewen recommends.
Good advice. But we also need to celebrate—and imitate—the believers among us who have their priorities straight. If the $137.9 million given to the 2005 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions is an indication, they include quite a few Southern Baptists.
Thousands upon thousands of members in churches of all sizes gave to reach that total, the largest in the offering's 117-year history. The money will support more than 5,100 Southern Baptist missionaries as they work to reach the lost peoples of the world.
Most of the givers aren't wealthy, at least by U.S. standards. Many are struggling to make ends meet these days. Yet they gave generously during a year of economic uncertainty, rising prices and natural disasters.
Their kids did, too.
At Calvary Baptist Church in Tupelo, Miss., more than 100 children participated in a drive to collect and recycle old cell phones for cash to give to the Lottie Moon offering. Mae-Emlyn Currie, age 10, collected three of the phones herself. She also helped present the $217.75 the campaign netted to Calvary's pastor, Bryant Barnes, as a way to kick off the church's drive to meet a $75,000 Lottie Moon goal.
“Lottie Moon went to China, and I am from China,” said Mae-Emlyn, who was adopted as a baby.
Her mom, Vicki Currie, is a Girls in Action mission organization leader at the church. “To me it's important that the children understand the world doesn't revolve around them,” she said. “I try to teach from the perspective, ‘What can you do to make a difference?' ”
Heywood Washburn, 75, is the Calvary member who came up with the cell phone recycling idea. He believes giving teaches something fundamental to all ages in the church.
“We don't stress giving as an act of worship anymore,” he said. “If we don't keep missions in the forefront, it's too easy to spend money on ourselves.”
But if we do keep missions—as an act of worship—front and center, we transcend our materialistic culture rather than being held captive by it.
Heywood Washburn knows that. Mae-Emlyn is learning fast.