Last week has been an action filled “missions” week. Not only did the
Morling College Chapel and the church bible study group talk about missions as topic of the week, but my friend who works for a mission school in Taiwan came by for a visit and Rev. Ross Paterson, a British missionary who’s very well known in Taiwan, being the
founder of the Antioch Missions and Chinese Church Support Ministry, also came
to Sydney to give a sermon!
I saw some very touching videos on missions in bible study, such as
the Tears of the Saints:
And saw a couple of articles on the aging population in first world
nations:
When I prayed with my visiting friend using a daily devotional
magazine, the topic is on Joshua 18:1-10, which describes how seven of the
tribes that have not yet received their inheritance become very passive,
wanting to remain in their comfort zones, and lost the passion to conquer the
promise land. It makes us reflect on how some very well-resourced churches and
Christians are becoming like this in modern days.
Ross gave a talk contrasting the church in Antioch which sends people out vs. the church in Jerusalem where people stay in their comfort zones (the talk is in Mandarin):
So I thought about many issues:
There’s such an uneven distribution of resources in the world!
Interestingly, in areas with rich resources, be it first world countries or
Mega churches, people seem to go into decline: For instance, the population
becomes infertile and faces the “aging population crisis”. And in the more
wealthy churches, some people might be quite busy in ministry keeping the
church running, but as numbers grow it can be plagued with infightings, with a
declining proportion of people being “sent out” into the community and places
of need.
In developed nations, the problems associated with human nature are
still present. Competition continues and the tendency of workaholism and
discrimination continues. So people continue to fight for a better life, eg.
equality in the work place, better work hours, psychological therapies to heal
mental woundedness, etc. These are all good things. However, whilst fighting
for a better and healthier life, the fertility rate is in rapid decline.
Policies and values might change for the better, but if there are hardly any young people left, there’s a
lack of inheritance of these values, and what is the value in this? The heavy
burden on the future generation will still be inevitable: People in developed
nations live in better environments and have a higher life expectancy. The high
life expectancy means a decline in mortality: since people are living longer,
there will be more and more elderly people in the population proportion. We
also see a decline in fertility in these nations, which means there will be
less and less young people in the population. The factors described will give
rise to an upside down pyramid. As the children and the elderly depend on
others, people of working age 15-64 carry the most burdens. As the numbers of
the elderly people increase, there will be more and more burden on the people
of the working age. Although the number of children may be declining, when the
people of the working age retires, there will be less people of the working age
to carry the burden because there are less children coming through. According
to Lawrence Kotlifoff (Economist Boston University), if the same disease
patterns of aging continue in the next 20 years, it will bankrupt the
healthcare system!!
And guess what populations are the most fertile today? The future
will inevitably lie in the hands of these people.
When people grow up in horrible environments of abuse, suffering,
and competition, what will happen to their hearts? All of their energies are
probably concentrated on survival…the survival of the fittest! People who had
to desensitise themselves from emotions in order to survive! Seeing others as potential competitors or oppressors and therefore hostile to those around them.
Interestingly, when excessive people gather in a zone of comfort,
problems also happen. People start worshiping their own feelings and still go
around complaining you don’t look after their feelings even when you’re already
trying your best. And then there is all these people problems, and people
refusing to work together as a team, etc. Just like the Israelites Moses had led! Competitions and hostility towards each other is still ever present.
Ross said he never regretted responding to the call to go to Taiwan
in 1969. He’s sure he would still have received blessings from God even if he
had stayed in the UK, but he felt he’s gotten even more out of responding to
the call to Asia. Ross says there would not have been a Paul if there was no
Barnabas. He believes some are called to the frontline of missions, and some are
called to the role of Barnabas, the nurturer of the future frontline workers.
"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Luke 10:2
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