By Lincoln Bruner - Editorial Director, ReachGlobal
After a recent trip to Lebanon and Jordan, I was thrilled to get word out to the greater EFCA community of God’s work there about Arab people.
My colleague, Jim, and I published stories about the Free Evangelical Church of Beirut, a Sudanese church planter and a free medical clinic serving Iraqi refugees. We wrote the stories, posted them on the ReachGlobal website, and then, well ...
The stories got read, but the numbers didn’t follow the attention riveted on the Middle East right now.
This may be partially our fault on the distribution end, but anemic readership of these articles underscored a sad fact: On the whole, brave as they are, Arab Christians in the Middle East remain forgotten by the Western Church.
Why? It seems that the plight of Christians in the birthplace of Christianity ought to draw close attention. But stereotypes are like block walls – easy to form, hard to break. And there are at least two stereotypes that I think might push the way we in conservative Christian America think about Arab Christianity.
The first is that the entire Arab world is Muslim. Even though 10 percent of Egyptians and 40 percent of Lebanese people are Christians, it’s too easy to watch world news and conclude that all Arabs are Christian-hating zealots. That’s not even true of most Muslims, let alone most Arabs, but the stereotype holds power over our thinking.
The second is that the descendants of Ishmael somehow deserve less status than the descendants of Isaac. The truth is that Christ died for all people. Aside from the fact that there are far more Arab Christians than Jewish Christians in the world, we would do well to remember that Christ obliterated the walls separating one people group from another. That should draw us closer in heart and deed to our Arab brothers and sisters.
Recent political events, now being called the Arab Spring, have opened up the Middle East in exciting ways. Those events also have left many Christians across the Middle East much more vulnerable to attacks because of the disruption in power structures.
Our Arab brothers and sisters need our prayers and help like never before. Will we dare to stand with them, or will we allow stereotypes to carry the day?
After a recent trip to Lebanon and Jordan, I was thrilled to get word out to the greater EFCA community of God’s work there about Arab people.
My colleague, Jim, and I published stories about the Free Evangelical Church of Beirut, a Sudanese church planter and a free medical clinic serving Iraqi refugees. We wrote the stories, posted them on the ReachGlobal website, and then, well ...
The stories got read, but the numbers didn’t follow the attention riveted on the Middle East right now.
This may be partially our fault on the distribution end, but anemic readership of these articles underscored a sad fact: On the whole, brave as they are, Arab Christians in the Middle East remain forgotten by the Western Church.
Why? It seems that the plight of Christians in the birthplace of Christianity ought to draw close attention. But stereotypes are like block walls – easy to form, hard to break. And there are at least two stereotypes that I think might push the way we in conservative Christian America think about Arab Christianity.
The first is that the entire Arab world is Muslim. Even though 10 percent of Egyptians and 40 percent of Lebanese people are Christians, it’s too easy to watch world news and conclude that all Arabs are Christian-hating zealots. That’s not even true of most Muslims, let alone most Arabs, but the stereotype holds power over our thinking.
The second is that the descendants of Ishmael somehow deserve less status than the descendants of Isaac. The truth is that Christ died for all people. Aside from the fact that there are far more Arab Christians than Jewish Christians in the world, we would do well to remember that Christ obliterated the walls separating one people group from another. That should draw us closer in heart and deed to our Arab brothers and sisters.
Recent political events, now being called the Arab Spring, have opened up the Middle East in exciting ways. Those events also have left many Christians across the Middle East much more vulnerable to attacks because of the disruption in power structures.
Our Arab brothers and sisters need our prayers and help like never before. Will we dare to stand with them, or will we allow stereotypes to carry the day?
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3 comments:
We have Joseph speaking at our church on Sunday, with an inviation to those interested in ministry to M's to meet with him at 5 that afternoon/ This follows up an emphasis on M ministry with our missions festival this spring. I'll be interested to see the turn out.
Well put, Lincoln. Thank you.
Diane
Thanks for the reminder.
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