Two weeks ago I returned from SE Asia with a truly broken heart. Throughout my four months in the region I was shouldered with more intimate knowledge of atrocities, befriended more refugees, and felt more helpless than I could have ever thought possible. At moments I felt as if I was completely unable to address the crises that my close friends were experiencing. Two Pakistani Christians whom I am very close were on the verge of being sent back into certain persecution in their home country. Concurrently, the Burmese Army was on an aggressive offensive against Kachin state. Several of my close friends had just left Kachin state months prior to this offensive. Both of these crises found their roots in the Western world. The conflict in Burma is the result of prior colonization by a Western power. Likewise, the fear instilled in the two Pakistani Christians was a direct result of selfish decisions made by their Western sponsor.

Fortunately the Church has tremendous ability to help the oppressed and the poor, especially the resource abundant American Church. It sickened me to experience the pain in SE Asia that the Western world is largely responsible for. Now, more than ever we need to unwaveringly embrace the American Church and inspire it to aggressively labor towards bringing about the Kingdom of God. We need to embrace being a Church that embodies that concept of being a Church created entirely for the purpose of God’s Kingdom. We need to embrace those on the fringes of our society and bring about Christ’s universal love for all. Every day that we do not instill Kingdom values in each other, we remain neutral in mitigating the atrocities elsewhere in the world. I believe that every American who embraces the values of God’s Kingdom, the Kingdom advances one step closer in America and all countries affected by the actions of American individuals. 

JP