Defining Christianity…

Torch ceremony.

First and Last bike ride to town.

The graduates. Interesting, huh?

‘Tell me the story of Jesus… write on my heart every word’

Orange picking.

Graduates

Getting pinned at the torch ceremony.

Torch celebration.

…and choosing to follow.

Honoring the graduates.

Counting the cost..

Friends

This last month has brought about many new experiences, including my first Tanzanian graduation ceremony, which lasted seven hours, my first national torch celebration, my first time seeing two guys feed each other cake, my first (and last) time taking a bike into town, my first time causing an uproar in front of our house between the thief who was apparently about to mug me and every gate keeper on our street, and my first time being the one selected to go to the very top of the tree to gather oranges.

Not only has God been faithful in his work here in Tanga, he has also been faithful in the internal work he’s been doing in me over the last 27 years.  I was quite stumped after having had a conversation with a young man who professed to have recently converted from Catholicism to Islam.  I talked with him for quite some time trying to seek answers as to why the conversion.  I was thrown into even greater confusion a few days later when I saw him.  He was no longer wearing the Muslim attire that they wear during this season of Ramadan.  I asked if he was still fasting and he said no.  He said he had now decided to become a Christian.  Ever since this encounter I’ve really been seeking to define the true definition of Christianity.  What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus Christ?

As absurd as this encounter seemed to be… I mean to think all you have to do is change garments and declare a new religion, I have been reminded that many of us in America are no different.  The definition of Christianity for many is little more than a statement followed by an occasional slight change in our outward garments.  If asked  “oh yeah ,I’m a Christian.”  We may even get our Sunday best out once a week, sit in a pew, and sacrificially throw in a few bucks when the offering plate passes by.  But I would dare say that Paul, the disciples, the apostles, and many of our brothers and sisters around the world who are enduring severe persecution this very day, may have a slightly different way of defining Christianity and what it means to truly be a follower of Jesus Christ.

For many of our fellow believers, to profess christianity comes at a great cost.  For them to answer yes to christianity very well may mean they’ve just forfeited their lives.  It’s been said “christianity is miles long but only inches deep. And some of the most shallow Christianly is rooted from the west.” Why?  Perhaps it’s because we’ve never had to go deep.  The shallow answers such as “yeah I’m a Christian,” have always sufficed.  But if that’s as far as we ever get with our faith, then I fear that we’ve missed the true definition of being a follower of Jesus Christ, and when the day of religious persecution comes to our home land our shallow faith will fail us.

My prayer is that God would grant me boldness and a willingness to follow whatever the cost.  God forbid I profess to be a follower of Christ if I’m not truly willing to lay my life down for his cause.  Please join with me in prayer for our dear brothers and sisters undergoing severe persecution all across this globe for the sake of truly defining christianity.

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