Did you know that in 1900 there were over 380 million Christians in Europe and less than 10 million on the entire continent of Africa? But today there are over 367 million Christians in Africa, comprising one fifth of the entire Christian church. — (Timothy Tennent Theology in the Context of World Christianity.)

Now I don’t have the statistic for how many Christians are in Europe now, but none the less, this stat is staggering. It is amazing! But take a second to stop and ask yourself this… WHAT THE HELL IS OUR PROBLEM?!?! A good majority of one fifth of our adopted family is living without clean water, on maybe a dollar a day, in shanties for shelter with dirt as floors as they suffer under diseases that bring the entire continent to its knees. And we do what exactly? Sit behind our white picket fences, spend our time in the malls, waste our lives on pointless vapor? 

How the hell have we come to a place where our version of Christianity is right? How can we wake up and look at ourselves in the mirror every day, claim to be Christian, and then go and live out our lives as Americans? There is no place for the American Christian in God’s Kingdom. Just like there is no African Christian, Asian Christian, European Christian, etc. “The gospel is intrinsically for all people and does not belong to any particular language or culture.” — Tennent. 

There are only disciples of Jesus in the Kingdom of God.

So who are you? Are you a Christian? Because those are a dime a dozen. Or are you a disciple: a follower, a student, a warrior of Jesus Christ?

Jesus, most days I am pathetically a Christian. I wake up and live my life within the confines of the culture I was raised in. I don’t ever even bother to look outside of my bubble. Jesus teach me to be a disciple. Teach me how to go where you go. Teach me to stay where you stay. Teach me to love whom you love. Teach me to serve how you serve. Teach me Jesus, to see your Kingdom, and no longer be blinded by the confinement of my culture. 

I love you Jesus! Amen