Ravi Zacharias and Francis Chan addressed the question of whether it’s possible for American Christians — whose faith may be “dulled by affluence and comfort”— to experience God in a similar way to persecuted believers in other parts of the world.
During a Q&A session at the 2019 Church Leaders Conference, held at the Zacharias Institute in Alpharetta, Georiga, Zacharias first explained that in America and in other Western nations, comforts are more accessible and affordable than in other parts of the world.
“It’s easy to start climbing up the wrong tree and looking for the fruit on that tree and thinking you have all that you need,” he said.
At the same time, Zacharias pointed out that many parts of the world wouldn’t have heard the Gospel if it weren’t for the generosity of American Christians — and that’s often a “forgotten” reality.
“I’m one of those who was blessed by the giving in Canada and the United States,” he said. “I came to know the Lord in India, but there were missionaries from Canada and the United States there who reached my parents who reached us. And that’s because the people here have grown up with an attitude of giving as one of America’s greatest gifts.”
“In fact, sometimes a gift that’s almost abused. We don’t even think to what it is we are giving. We just see a need and start giving without demanding accountability at the same time.”
But now, the role of the American church, Zacharias said, “may be changing.”
“Our role may not be so much in a doing evangelism as enabling evangelism because there’s a fine crop of nationals and other possibilities,” he said. “So yes, it is possible for us to get too comfortable. But I also want to say a big thank you for the way this country has supported the cause of world missions all over the globe. And we cannot naysay that side of it.”
But the risk is “always there,” he said. “Whenever you have a plentiful in supply, we just have to take it as from the hand of God and not see it as a license to get free of any responsibility.”
Chan, the former teaching pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, and author of Crazy Love, acknowledged that the affluence and comfort Americans enjoy isn’t necessarily “our fault.”
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Leah MarieAnn Klett
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