What can we learn from Christians of the Majority World?

An unstated assumption among many Western Christians is that the church in the West, being strong and established, has much to give and little to receive—particularly from those outside of the West.

In other words, we often think that the Western church is the standard bearer of Christianity and has no need to depend upon churches elsewhere. According to David Bosch, “We … operate within the framework of a mentality of being independent, of being able to go it alone and disregard others.… Deep down in our hearts we believe we have enough and to spare, not only financially but also spiritually. We think … that we are, in the last analysis, independent of them.”

This assumption is incorrect in at least two ways. First, one can hardly claim that the Western church today remains in a position of strength. Long gone are the days in which the church was a numerical and cultural force in society. Lesslie Newbigin highlights this reality, arguing that the West now stands in need of a missionary encounter with the gospel, akin to how the gospel encountered people and societies across the world through the Christian missionary movement. He explains, “If one looks at the world scene from a mis­sionary point of view, surely the most striking fact is that, while in great areas of Asia and Africa the church is growing, often growing rapidly, in the lands which were once called Christen­dom it is in decline.” This decline has not escaped the notice of non-Western Christians, who often lament the fact that a church that was once vibrant in its life and missionary outreach has, to a significant degree, succumbed to the rising tide of secularism.

Second, the Western church has, in fact, much to gain from Christians of the Majority World. Here are a few areas in which Christians of the West can learn from the church throughout the rest of the World.

1. Living as a religious minority. Most believers outside the West live as religious minorities. That is, their faith in Christ isn’t shared by the masses of people around them. As a result, churches have had to learn how to exist not as a dominant cultural force, but as a prophetic community in the face of opposition and persecution… With the decline of Christianity in Europe and America, the Western church is rapidly becoming a religious minority. We would do well then to learn from our sister churches elsewhere what it looks like to live and thrive in environments of hostility and opposition.
2. Confronting materialism. Most Christians throughout the world have very few material possessions. They have learned to walk by faith (that the Lord will provide for their needs) and with great joy (in light of God’s redeeming work in their lives). Western Christians, by comparison, are immensely wealthy. Residing in a sea of material possessions, we often live according to the idol of materialism, rather than living modestly, generously and by faith. Thus, we stand to learn much from Christians throughout the world concerning the real nature of material wealth and the danger it can pose to Christian faithfulness.
3. Understanding life holistically. Western Christianity is often dualistic in its orientation. That is, many Christians understand life as separated into two distinct spheres—which we can categorize either as secular and sacred, physical and spiritual, or natural and supernatural. For Christians in the West, faith and spirituality belong to the sacred, supernatural realm. As a result, their faith has little bearing on the social environment around them, since it remains compartmentalized within the spiritual realm. It is not hard then to understand why many Christians have often had a difficult time dealing with societal injustices. For to them, the fruit of their faith lies more in the future heavenly kingdom than on this earth. Conversely, most Majority World Christians understand life holistically. To them, there is no distinction between the sacred and the secular. There is no compartmentalizing of faith. Rather, they understand their faith commitment as a total life commitment in the here-and-now. In other words, their faith has actual consequences for how they live in society. We in the West can certainly learn from this (biblical) precedent.
4. Perseverance in prayer. Many Christians throughout the world demonstrate a great commitment to prayer, adamantly believing that the Lord answers their requests. They fast regularly and spend much time in prayer. Being around such believers can quickly help us realize how weak our prayer lives often are.
5. Missional Living. Being religious minorities, Majority World Christians can readily perceive the missional task before them. Most of them have neighbors, friends and relatives who actively adhere to other religions. There is no “cultural Christianity.” So if the church is to grow, it must do so through the missional witness of local churches and believers. In the West, where cultural Christianity is on the decline and biblical illiteracy on the rise, we can learn from our brothers and sisters overseas what it looks like to live missionally in the midst of non-Christian people.
6. Understanding ultimate allegiances. Many Majority World Christians live under governments that are unfriendly—if not hostile—to Christianity. They thus readily understand that their ultimate allegiance lies with the Kingdom of God. This is an important point of emphasis for those of us from the West. We often think of America as God’s promised land and chosen people, wrongly conflating the Bible’s redemptive history with American exceptionalism. As a result, we tend to grant a level of allegiance to our country that should be reserved for God’s Kingdom. We certainly shouldn’t dismiss or treat lightly the freedoms that we enjoy in our country. Those are things for which we should be abundantly grateful. Yet we should always and ultimately grant our full allegiance to Christ and his kingdom.

These are but a few things that we in the West can learn from our brothers and sisters throughout the world. They underscore the reality that we need a humble and teachable spirit in relation to them. As Newbigin claims, we “need to listen to the witness of Christians from other cultures. The great new asset which we have for our missionary task is the presence among us of com­munities of Christians nourished in the cultures of Asia, Africa, and the West Indies. We need their eyes to see our culture afresh.” Further, our interaction with them will help us to see the blind spots in our own life and theology.

So let us not close ourselves off, either in practice or perception. Rather, let us remain continually open to receive encouragement and instruction from churches and believers of other cultures.

Further, only in such openness can we cultivate true mutuality and love within the larger body of Christ. As Bosch notes, “We have often been told that true love consists in giving ourselves to others. That is not entirely correct. In fact, that kind of self-giving may lead to others feeling inferior and worthless. True love is, much rather, accepting that you are dependent on the other, expecting something from him. The best I can give somebody is not myself but enabling him to become a giver.”