Indigenous-ness

Pretty sure that's not a proper word, but it nonetheless encapsulates a new realization for me. I am reading Steve Saint’s book “The Great Omission”, which presents a challenging and honest re-evaluation of m-work. My response and thoughts are still in progress, but I can say this much – I have never before recognized myself as an indigenous person. Never before pondered that as one who is indigenous to North America, I am thereby the most natural to reach my fellow North Americans. The Father already has my “yes” to anywhere He wants me to be, even with my wider-open eyes of how hard it would be in certain places, so this is not a cop-out that would allow me to stay in my cozy home in America. It’s truly a brand-new thought for me – I am uniquely equipped to reach someone across a Starbucks table … I’d just never seen it that way before.

What follows is nothing more and nothing less than a stream of consciousness that my reading and experiences have recently generated (by the way, I haven’t finished Steve’s book, but do recommend it).

Somehow, our faith has become seen as a “western” religion. But in fact we are among those who were once un-reached and now are, are we not? I wonder if forgetting this has not allowed for a bit of arrogance (did the chicken or the egg come first?) in how the American Ch approaches “reaching the un-reached”. How is “un-reached” even determined? I don’t know the answer to this. Does it mean we have no recorded proof that the Good News was delivered to that region? People? Isn’t even that a bit arrogant to think that if we don’t know whether they’ve ever been reached, then for sure it means they have not? He said His Word WILL be taught to all nations. What is a nation? And does He mean all at the same time period in history? And what about the knowledge that so many will hear and yet reject? Are the places and people I now consider un-reached actually people who have heard and already rejected? For those who truly never have heard the Good News, how best can that be delivered? Is it through the models I’ve been accustomed to? And as a result of Paul’s journeys to the Gentiles (is that not what the American Ch ultimately is?), what advice would he now offer us if he were to pen the book of “Americans”? I expect I will step on a lot of toes with these ramblings, but mine are getting the first bruises. The Father’s heart for the lost is unquestionable, and as His child, there is no question of IF, but HOW to then seek ways to bring His Truth and Relationship to this world. So chime in …