Xenophobia

I have been wanting to write something for a while, but I really feel overwhelmed to write about a subject that is so much bigger and more complex than my understanding of it. But how can I blog missionally about the church and context in South Africa and not have anything to say about this? How should the church respond to this crisis? Here are my thoughts:

1. As the church we should not look to the government to fix the problem. They will hopefully do much to try to remedy the situation and deal with both the perpetrators and the underlying issues (some of which are real and genuine grievances). But they cannot deal with the real heart cause of the issues.

2. The root cause of racism and xenophobia the Bible tells us in the heart of each of each one of us. “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’. For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’.” Mark 7:20-23. So we ought to examine our own hearts before we are examine another’s actions

3. How should the church respond? Should we speak out publically? For sure, but we must do more than simply speak, we need to reach out in love, grace and mercy to those most affected. We need to be actively involved in protecting and speaking up for the rights of those affected. We need to be involved in feeding, clothing and housing those who have been forced to flee from their homes.

4. But we need to do more than simply give money or food or issue statements. We need to get personally involved. People need people at these times. Perhaps we need to get over our innate fears and reach out with the self-sacrificial love of Christ. Go visit those who have been forced to flee, listen to them, pray with them, just be with them… many have had to flee their home country and now are having to flee their homes here as well.

5. But perhaps we need to go even further. Perhaps we need to invite foreigners into our homes, take them home for a meal, meet them, build a relationship with them, reach out a hand of friendship to them at this time. What would Ephesians 2 require us to do? Are the dividing walls of hostility really being broken down or is that only good cerebral theology. When this story is over, what will the legacy of the evangelical church be? What will be people be saying about the church and Christians during this time?

6. During the time of apartheid many evangelical churches adopted an apolitical stance, choosing to “just teach the Bible” and not get involved in politics. By the time the TRC came around they had realised that were wrong. But now what will we do? Apartheid is gone but now there are more social ills to be dealt with. What will we do now? Will we be apologising later for our lack of action? Our lack of care? Our lack of kingdom vision? It is never enough to just teach the Bible. The aim of studying the Bible is to live it out, to live lives of hope, joy, mercy and peace, to live Kingdom-centred lives. We study the Bible for times just such as now, what will we do? What will be our legacy?

Also check out excellent Micheal Tinker’s post – you might see I get a mention

Just saw that the violence has spread to my city Cape Town, to areas right near to where I live, please pray for us as we try to respond to the crisis.

~ by John on May 23, 2008.