International Churches and the Future of Ministry

Robert Hunt, Vienna

Before becoming pastor of the English Speaking United Methodist Church in Vienna, I was for 15 years a missionary and lecturer in Southeast Asia. It wasn't uncommon to hear the ministry of international churches mentioned with something of a sneer in missionary circles. The word "chaplaincy" was tossed out as a catchall description, and it wasn't intended as a compliment. It only shows that we missionaries were often ignorant of both the importance of chaplaincies to Christian mission, and the missionary nature of most international congregations.

In Southeast Asia chaplains of the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company were the first, and often only missionaries. While these companies dis-couraged conventional mission societies from entering their territory in the 17th and 18th centuries, chaplains had the freedom to move beyond their tiny European congregations and make contact with indigenous people. Chaplains were the first translators of scripture, creators of indigenous language evangelistic tracts and worship materials, and usually founders of the first indigenous congregations. The formal description of their ministry was no limitation, provided they had a vision for using a "chaplaincy" to do new and creative things in ministry. Moreover, it was the reports of these chaplains, and their encouragement, which often led to the first "real" missionaries being sent to foreign lands.

In the same way, the "American", "Swedish", "Finnish", and other churches built to serve expatriates in major cities around the world in the 19th and early 20th century quickly found that with visionary leadership, their name was no limit to the creativity of their ministry. War and its aftermath gave them the opportunity to minister to refugees and offer pastoral care to victims of violence. As their original constituents married indigenous men or women they became involved in cross cultural ministry and pastoral care. And as English became an international language, and Christians from outside the West became more involved in international trade and diplomacy, many became truly "International." They pioneered cross-cultural and ecumenical styles of worship and organization. They become, in a sense, missionaries to the emerging pluralist context that is only now beginning to manifest itself outside the old international centers and national capitals.

Mission to a Pluralist Culture

This missionary dimension, crossing into an emerging culture rather than one that is ethnically or linguistically distinct, is to me the greatest challenge of ministry in international churches. It requires that, like the first chaplains, we examine our context and shape our ministry to the possibilities that it holds. It also gives us the opportunity to encourage those who have not yet seen this emerging culture to recognize it, and to become open themselves to it.

The emerging pluralist culture in Vienna is one characterized by: 1) a socially diverse international community ranging from diplomats to business people to refugees, 2) an ethnically diverse community with English speaking persons from virtually every nation and continent, 3) a religiously diverse community in which persons of every religious background work together and socialize together, and 4) an indigenous population which is largely antagonistic or indifferent toward "national" forms of Christianity.

Ministering in this cultural setting makes the wedding of practical ministry and pastoral care the norm rather than the exception. The peculiar needs of persons who are culturally displaced remain a central pastoral issue. At the same time the presence of refugees and illegal immigrants gives pastoral care a distinctive political and economic dimension. Helping persons find employment, housing, and their way through the byzantine Austrian bureaucracy is matched by a public concern for changing the oppressive legal and cultural framework in which they find themselves. The pastoral care for victims of racism, and the political struggle against it, are equally necessary.

“We encourage [members] to become missionaries to the emerging pluralist context.”

Where the problem of accommodating different Christian traditions remains central to the life of the church, the emerging pluralist culture also demands that we consider the place of persons of other faiths in our congregational life. Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus who are in search of fellowship with persons from their home countries regularly visit our worship in Vienna. Memorial services and weddings frequently draw persons from two or different faiths. Sometimes the appropriate pastoral approach to these persons is evangelistic. More often it requires that we help persons of different faiths understand and appreciate one another, and beginning with worship learn to join in a common praise of God. Practical questions such as whether and how to perform inter-religious marriages, who should receive Holy Communion, and how to make preaching and worship comprehensible to people of other faiths demand that we let the experience of emerging churches in the non-Christian world teach us. It also forces us to be pioneers in implementing those lessons in a European context.

Finally the reality of a de-Christianized Europe, with the ubiquitous presence of national churches, demands an evangelistic enterprise of unique sensitivity. Simply re-presenting the gospel to baptized persons who had 10 years of religious instruction in school and rigorous catechism classes is largely futile. And despite the rather extravagant claims of some mission groups, this is proving to be a failure. If it worked the national churches would be overflowing. Regardless of the particular evangelistic vocation of the church or pastor, international congregations will have members who out of personal love and concern for their neighbors want them to have a living relationship with Jesus Christ. In Vienna we try to model open forms of worship and democratic leadership that offer a Christian alternative to the liturgical conservatism and deadening clericalism of the national churches.  We have also found that the cultural transition that is made when Austrians worship in English dispels many of the negative feelings about Christianity associated with their early experiences of the church. The use of a different language invites them into a new way of seeing an old faith. This is not a model of evangelism to suit everyone, but it is one which international churches are uniquely equipped to pursue.

These responses, and others, to the emerging pluralist context can make our ministry both missionary and unique. I don't think we should keep it to ourselves. After all, Christians everywhere seem to be moving in the direction we have already gone. Like those first chaplains we need to send reports "home" that alert churches to the challenges ahead. This can happen in part when those of us in international pastorates make an intentional effort to keep in touch with our colleagues, whether local or in our home countries.

More important to us in Vienna is that every member and constituent of the church be drawn actively into the ministry of the church.  We know that half or more will remain with us for only two or three years.  We try to make sure that in this time they learn first hand what it means to worship in new ways with leaders from many cultures. We give them the opportunity to teach Sunday school classes with children of different ethnic groups who speak different languages. We draw them into fellowship with people of very different social and cultural backgrounds. This is our ministry to them, and to the broader church. We encourage them to become missionaries to the emerging pluralist context for a time; in the hope that wherever they go, they will draw other congregations and ministries into that same mission.

AICEME 2001 Youth Gathering

“The Fourth Watch of the Night”

What?  A four-day retreat for high school students from Europe and the Middle East. This long weekend of fun, activities, food, and friends will feature Rick Mumford, the area director of Young Life in Paris, as well as awesome musical talent. Exciting people, exciting conversations and an exciting city will make for a great weekend together!

When?  November 15-18 (Thursday - Sunday)

Where?  Zurich, Switzerland

Why?  It‘s a wonderful way to meet other youth from international churches, get to know the youth from your own church better, and to grow in your Christian faith.

How to register?  Contact the host church to register or to ask any questions:  admin@ipc-zurich.org

Cost?  U.S. $120 or 132 Euro

Important!  Registrations are due by October 15. Space is limited, so get your registration sheet in today!!  

     An Encounter In Beit Jala

 Susan and Michael Thomas, Jerusalem

 

The sign by the gate of the Lutheran Church of the  Reformation in Beit Jala, West Bank, yesterday afternoon, August 28, was badly damaged. “Abraham’s House” it said in German.  The sign pointed the way to an unfinished guesthouse begun two years ago by this Palestinian Lutheran congregation.  It was to be a site for encounter among “the children of Abraham”—Jew, Christian, and Muslim—from this land and abroad.

The long nose of the Israeli tank parked at the entrance to the church had no doubt shattered the sign, as it had helped to shatter the dream it announced.

After hours of effort for our church delegation to be allowed into this closed, curfewed portion of Beit Jala, we stood together in the courtyard of the church premises.  We were Jews, Christians, and Muslims who were indeed “having an encounter.”  But the Jews standing with us were Israeli peace activists; the Muslims were local press and half of the children from the congregation’s orphanage; and the Christians were the other half of the boys and the staff from the boarding home along with the Lutheran Bishop Munib Younan, the pastor of Reformation church, Jadallah Shehada, international clergy including ourselves, Gustaf Ödquist from the Church of Sweden and Propst Karl-Heinz Ronecker of the EKD (Germany), the Lutheran World Federation Jerusalem representative Craig Kippels and his wife Lois, and Alain Epp Weaver, the country director of the Mennonite Central Committee.

 The encounter that we were having was with Israeli Jewish soldiers who had entered the church compound in the early hours of the morning as part of the action of the Israeli military occupation of Palestinian-controlled Beit Jala.  They had taken position in “Abraham’s House” and were using it as a site for their sharpshooters, since it overlooks the village center.  It may even have been from here, from the building that Pastor Shehada had planned for increasing interfaith understanding in this land, that Israeli sharpshooters earlier that morning shot a wounded a Palestinian when he tried to come near the church.  

We peered through the decorative openings in  the locked metal doors and, in the dark unfinished interior, could occasionally see soldiers ascending and descending the stairs. “What are you doing in there?  You should not be here!  This is a church!  Come out!  Go home!” several of us called to them.  Unlike other occasions where we have indeed been able to engage soldiers in conversation, these were not talking.

 The reason they were not talking was that they weren’t there.

 We knew they weren’t there because we’d been told they weren’t there. Bishop Munib Younan, who had been involved since the early morning in conversations with church staff trapped inside and was leading our efforts, had been assured by Israel’s military commander for the Bethlehem District that there were no soldiers on the church premises.   “If you see soldiers there,” the IDF commander had offered helpfully, “please let us know.”

 Bishop Younan let him know.  He also suggested that if the IDF commander really didn’t know his soldiers were there, then it would be wise to keep better tabs on them.  And he insisted that the soldiers must leave the church premises immediately.  Then the bishop gathered us to sing a hymn (“How Great Thou Art”) in Arabic and English, to pray, and to receive a blessing.

 Sometimes the symbolic irony in this land and this situation is not the least bit subtle.  It can turn us into cynics or humorists of the absurd, at least on the days it doesn’t break our hearts.  But yesterday—despite the irony and fear contained in it—was a day of inspiration and hope.  The Lutheran Church worldwide brought pressure on Israel via diplomatic channels; the diplomatic corps here and abroad who were told of this takeover of a church moved into action; and the U.S. State Department officially called for Israel to pull its occupying troops out of Beit Jala, mentioning it was particularly concerned about the Lutheran orphanage there. By 8:30 p.m. yesterday evening, the soldiers had left the church premises.  It was a small victory in a larger arena of defeats.

 Churches have historically served as sanctuaries.  The fifty boys who have come to the boarding section of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala are orphans or from broken homes.  They have already sought sanctuary once from their difficult lives.  Now they found that sanctuary invaded.  We took two of them, who had some family in Jerusalem, back with us, but the rest remained on the premises with the orphanage staff.  The question was understandably raised, “Why don’t you get the boys out of there?”

 The answer is simple but it may not be so easy to understand:  It is not the children who must leave.  This is their home, the only home they really have.  They have every right to stay.  Rather, it is the occupying force which must leave.  This was the principle which was important to uphold yesterday regarding who should stay and who should leave.  The children should stay.  The soldiers must leave.

 It is also the principle that is important to uphold regarding the town of Beit Jala itself which is now under Israeli military occupation and, for that matter, regarding all of the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. 

 The longer we are here and the more we observe, the more convinced we become that only when the illegal Israeli occupation ends will there even be hope for safe and secure places for all.  Only then can respected sanctuaries for children and adults alike be maintained on both sides.

 Until then, the sanctuaries in this land are really more like moments in time than they are places.  For even the seemingly safe places, such as Reformation Lutheran Church, can be invaded and transformed into battlegrounds.  Yesterday we were privileged, in the company of Bishop Younan and some of Abraham’s children, to enter one of those momentary sanctuaries and find a blessing.

Note from the Editor