Ever since Martin Luther Christians have been calling for new reformations, with varied levels of seriousness. (In 1982 Robert Schuller published Self-Esteem: The New Reformation.) However, Chris Wright’s call on Saturday morning of the Cape Town 2010 congress had a note of unusual authenticity. His address was followed by Femi Adeleye’s take-no-prisoners talk on prosperity teaching, which he labeled “another gospel.” More to the point, much of Saturday was devoted to repentance and prayer, as participants were asked to reflect deeply on their lack of humility, integrity and simplicity.
Small world story. I just happened to sit next to Tim Stafford at last night’s closing ceremony here in Cape Town. I recognized his name… and asked if he was a writer for Christianity Today. He said he was.
So far nothing too extraordinary, right? But here’s where the amazing bit comes in… I grew up in northern New Jersey in the diocese of Newark under bishop Spong. The church I attended did not preach the Gospel clearly – it was more of a comfy “country club parish.” I came to Christ at age 11 through a Bible Club started by a school friend’s mom.
So… where does Tim Stafford come in? Well, when I was in high school 30 years ago, I was an avid reader of Campus Life magazine, which Tim Stafford wrote for. (He may also have been one of its editors, I forget…). That magazine was a key source of spiritual nurture & encouragement for me. And it was through Campus Life I got my first exposure to missions work. Tim Stafford left the magazine to serve overseas for a year. (I think it was in Kenya…) The ministry he was involved in as described in Campus Life magazine really excited me, so I became one of his supporters, sending I think it was $10 per month or something like that. At that point in my life I hardly knew ANYTHING about missions, let alone have any idea or interest of serving overseas myself.
So how amazing, some 30 years later to sit next to Tim Stafford through whom God first began to touch my heart about missions, and to share with him the opportunity and joy I’ve had to serve in W. Africa myself for the past 19 years… A wonderful God-orchestrated moment, and especially interesting in light of an article Tim Stafford wrote earlier in the week, about how one of the highlights and joys of the Lausanne conference was just discovering who was “sitting next to you”
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2010/10/seated_next_to.html#more
How true!!
Wow, praise God. Marvelous story, Karen. Thanks for sharing it.
Of course, with the moniker, NRA, I couldn’t agree more with Chris Wright that a major New Reformation is urgently necessary. And not just in Anglicanism.
David Handy+