Where Do We Go From Here

19 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? How interesting it is that, at Pentecost, God didn’t just make everyone able to understand Aramaic. It’s almost as if the Spirit of God was openly declaring that the kingdomwas no longer bound to one people group but was to become the natural home for all people and all nations and all languages. How sad that so much evangelism and mission work has reverted to cultural and linguistic imperialism, substituting God’s celebration of diversity for a type of monochrome Christianity that resembles the dominant culture of the visitor. A culture that, all too often, has been Caucasian and Western. Partnership is a word ABM has used for some time now. At the heart of partnership is an understanding that we have to learn the language of those we hope to serve and learn from, especially if we wish to share and learn more of the story of God together. This may prove to be time- consuming, frustrating and difficult – but it is a necessary act of love and respect. It is what God did for us in the full outworking of the incarnation. Consider this, Jesus never spoke a word of English. He learnt to speak the language of his young mother and brave father, through their patience and deep love for him. When he was older, he used this gift to shed the light of Gospel hope into the darkest places of his inherited culture and religion. He called people, in their own language, into repentance, renewal and new community. If we wish to love those who speak a different language, be that the language of our beautiful but incomprehensible grandchildren or of a remote village tribe on the other side of the world, may the Spirit of Pentecost guide us to learn before we teach and to recognise the relational power of addressing someone in their heart language.