stillhaventfound.org

I’m often unsure what to say when people ask me what church I attend. Truth is, I’ve not been attending any church regularly for around 5 years now - since the time I left for my further studies abroad. Reason is because I’ve been searching.

I started moving away from conservative evangelicalism as I became more interested in social justice issues 5 years ago. During this time, I began to lose a lot of the certainty I had before about various Christian issues. That is, epistemologically, I gradually embraced a more moderate or soft form of Postmodernism (or Critical Realism). Conservative evangelicalism, which most of us (and virtually all Singaporean Christians) are born into upon becoming Christians, started to lose its grips on me.

As mentioned elsewhere, the movement or tradition of Christianity I’d identify most with is the Emerging Church movement. I can’t say I agree with everything in this movement, but I certainly identify with a lot in it. That’s the kind of Christianity I’m talking about when I talk about a Christianity that is progressive. That’s the kind of Christianity that I’m very sure Bono of U2 would identify with. And, needless to say, that’s the kind of Christianity I believe is closest to what the Bible advocates. The fact that I can’t find such a Christianity here in Singapore is the reason why I find it hard to settle down and serve in a church - as I think should be the ideal scenario for every Christian. I’d rather not be regularly attending any one particular church though still seeking God on my own, than to attend a church for the sake of attending (and for the sake of being in a community of believers, which I acknowledge is very important) and get discouraged by the kind of mediocre, compromised and self-absorbed Christianity I see being taught and practiced in most Churches nowadays.

However, I do hope to attend and serve in a church faithfully one day. Though, that would take time. For the moment, thinking Christians may wish read this excellent and balanced article about the Emerging Church movement in Christianity Today magazine. The author Scot McKnight, who blogs at Jesus Creed, lists five unique aspects of this movement:

1) Prophetic / provocative: “The emerging movement is consciously and deliberately provocative. Emerging Christians believe the church needs to change…”

2) Postmodernism: “While there are good as well as naughty consequences of opting for a postmodern stance (and not all in the emerging movement are as careful as they should be), evangelical Christians can rightfully embrace certain elements of postmodernity.”

3) Praxis-orientated: “At its core, the emerging movement is an attempt to fashion a new ecclesiology (doctrine of the church). Its distinctive emphases can be seen in its worship, its concern with orthopraxy, and its missional orientation.”

4) Post-evangelical: “The emerging movement is a protest against much of evangelicalism as currently practiced… This stream flows from the conviction that the church must always be reforming itself.”

5) Political: “I also lean left in politics. I tell my friends that I have voted Democrat for years for all the wrong reasons. I don’t think the Democratic Party is worth a hoot, but its historic commitment to the poor and to centralizing government for social justice is what I think government should do. I don’t support abortion—in fact, I think it is immoral. I believe in civil rights, but I don’t believe homosexuality is God’s design. And, like many in the emerging movement, I think the Religious Right doesn’t see what it is doing. Sometimes, however, when I look at emerging politics, I see Walter Rauschenbusch, the architect of the social gospel. Without trying to deny the spiritual gospel, he led his followers into the social gospel. The results were devastating for mainline Christianity’s ability to summon sinners to personal conversion. The results were also devastating for evangelical Christianity, which has itself struggled to maintain a proper balance.”

International Development:

1) Spiegel Magazine on the World Bank and its track record of saving the world.

2) Do carbon offsets live up to their promise?

3) Do eco-friendly and socially responsible practices actually help a company’s bottom line? See also Knowledge@Wharton on Corporate Philanthropy inspires trust: does it also prompt higher profits?

4) Is socially responsible investing a sham?

5) In keeping with the BOP principle in development, Chanel develops durable, low-cost perfume for Third World.

Politics & Economics:

6) Former left-wing author (turned dunno what!) Christopher Hitchens reviews What’s Left: How the Liberals Lost Their Way, a new book by Euston Manifesto signatory Nick Cohen on the failings of the modern left. The American Spectator reviews it here. Update: Tyee Books’ review here.

Progressive Christianity:

7) Evangelical: Can the ‘E-word’ be saved?

8) The Religious Left Speaking Nonsense to Power.

Others:

9) PopMatters on homosexuality in the animal kingdom.

10) Psychology Today on Love’s Loopy Logic.

My journey did not begin with a lifelong desire to be a missionary to Africa. The desire came when I began realizing there was more to life than the personal comfort in which I had surrounded myself—a graduate degree, a nice car, and a safe job.

I was moving to Africa for selfish and unselfish reasons. Selfishly, I hoped Africa would save me from a life of numbness, a life of seeking mere satisfaction—more money, more recognition, more whatever. I hoped to find it true that less is more.

Unselfishly, I wanted to help the one-sixth of humanity living without basic food, water, and shelter. My heart was touched from continents away.

(Cassandra Zinchini, Surprised by Friendship)

International Development:

1) Joseph Stiglitz on what’s gone wrong with globalization.

2) Why economists are still grasping for cure to global poverty.

3) What the World Bank knows, and what it only thinks it knows.

4) The false promise of financial liberalisation.

5) The problem with Made in China.

Politics & Economics:

6) Canada: really moving right?

7) Foreign policy divides the Democracts.

Progressive Christianity:

8) Exit Interviews: Why blacks are leaving evangelical ministries.

Others:

9) The 59 smartest non-profit organizations online.

10) Daniel Goldman and Social Intelligence.

Bono: I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity… the point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world… that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death… It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.

Michka: …Such great hope is wonderful, even though it’s close to lunacy in my view. Christ has his rank among the world’s great thinkers. But Son of God, isn’t that fanciful?

Bono: No, it’s not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammed, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn’t allow you that. He doesn’t let you off the hook. Christ says: ‘No. I’m not saying I’m a teacher, don’t’ call me teacher…I’m saying: I am God incarnate…’. So what you’re left with is: either Christ was who he said he was – the Messiah – or a complete nutcase… When I look at the cross of Christ, what I see up there is all my $#!+ and everybody else’s. So I ask myself a question a lot of people have asked: Who is this man? And was He who He said He was, or was He just a religious nut?

(U2 Tour Blog #3 - Is Bono a Christian?)

International Development:

1) The Los Angeles Times investigative reports on contradictions at the Gates Foundation: a) Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation b) Money Clashes with mission.

2) Check out the website of the latest book linking development and business: Make Poverty Business. SocialFunds.com has a review of the book.

3) Owen Barder tackles the difficult question of whether we should buy food from poor countries, which eventhough it helps farmers, also damages the environment.

4) Trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati argues it’s technology, not globalization, which is driving wages down.

5) The Centre for Global Development blog wonders why global development is good PR for celebrities but bad PR for politicians.

Politics & Economics:

6) Are our political stances a product solely of reason? Or also of our personality, education and fear of death?

7) Democracy journal on Corporate Social Irresponsibility.

Progressive Christianity:

8) N.T. Wright on presenting the gospel in a postmodern world.

9) An advertisement for a U2Charist in Auckland.

Others:

10) Studying online at M.I.T. for free.

International Development:

1) The global development agenda in 2007.

2) A pro-globalization view from The Washington Post.

3) Jeffry Frieden reviews Joseph Stiglitz’s Making Globalization Work in The New York Times.

4) From Dollars & Sense: seeing microcredit as affirming neoliberalism.

5) Dissent on pursuing a left-right alliance against the World Bank.

Politics & Economics:

6) Axess on Copenhagen and Amsterdam and the move from liberalism to nationalism.

7) The New Republic on how Canada became a conservative nation. Horror of horrors!

Progressive Christianity:

8) Andy Crouch on biblical counterculturalism.

Others:

9) The shift of educational strategy from Socratic method of dialogue to standardized testing.

10) Academic turns city into social experiment.

I dunno whether I’ll continue to write much here this year. I think it’s a sign that I’m living closer to my dreams if I read and write less! It’s about living the life after all, not just thinking about it.

No doubt, the mind is important. The two most important and fascinating intellectual pursuits over the past few years for me have been Theology and International Development. Interest in the former dates back at least 10 years when I truly became a Christian, while that of the latter started from around 2001.

I do have a great interest in going into the more academic arena. I love to read and do research, and I also love to teach. I love to reflect and think - and also to challenge people (especially youths) to do that.

Some people who know me well have encouraged me to further my studies and get my PhD. No doubt, that’s been a bit of a temptation, but never much. I’ve never really believed in furthering my studies. In a way, it goes against my principles. It’s too costly and time consuming and I don’t think it’s what the world needs.

I know people will say that your PhD and your certificates get you places. It gives you the credibility you need and allows your voice to be heard. No doubt that’s true. The world looks well upon such degrees. But that doesn’t mean we need to conform to what the world wants. I don’t think God gives a damn about whether you have a PhD or even whether you have a basic Bachelor degree. I don’t think God cares even 1% as much as we do about our titles, awards and certificates. These are all wordly concerns, things we easily put our trust in - to the detriment of our own faith in God.

(I’ve always believed that the greatest in the Kingdom of God aren’t those we hear about - be it that great theologian, that great pastor or that great leader. All the greatest have probably never been in the limelight. They probably don’t network as well or have as many friends as the leaders we know. The greatest are simply those who fear God - not man - the most, those who seek the praises of God first, not that of man.)

Make no mistake. I am all for thinking critically. I think Christians would practice their faith better if they were more critical (and holistic!) in their theological understanding. I think development practitioners and NGOs would better be able to help the poor if they were more critical in their understanding of development issues. Furthermore, as a Christian, Jesus also asked us to worship God with our minds. So using one’s mind is very important.

But having said that, I think we have too many people who only read, talk and write. Too many people who read too much, talk to much and write too much - and live too little. There’s just too little living of the life.

The Christian world doesn’t need more theologians, it needs more missionaries. It needs to de-emphasize the importance of academic requirements for entry into pastoral or missionary ministry. Since when in the early Church did missionaries or pastors need to go through theological training to qualify? The focus on all other matters but living needs to decrease. And I’m all for young Christians [in terms of both their spiritual or physical (age) maturity level] becoming a pastor or missionary.

I spent the last 6 months on a huge charity project, and as meaningful as that may be, it’s not something that truly satisfies me. In fact, it leaves me deeply unsatisfied - just like my life for as long as I can remember.

I don’t really care about my “career”. I am not interested in making as many friends as possible or networking widely to get places. I don’t really care about my reputation or name. People seek comfort in all these things. People take years to increase their stature in these areas. But to me, I’ve always wanted something different. None of these ultimately satisfies.

To me, the most important thing is to serve the poor and lost together with a person I can love and treasure. Even if that meant leaving blogging, leaving writing, leaving reading, leaving my family, leaving my friends, leaving the modern and developed world to start really living the life - that would still be more than satisfying.

There is no greater meaning or satisfaction than to serve the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ wholeheartedly - even if it means dying for Christ. Many in this world are lost and dying. Billions are in poverty. If only I could leave Singapore this year and serve Him wholeheartedly with someone I love. It’s not about whether one is ready. The time is always now…

That would be my new year’s wish…