Looking out of windows

Windows are great for focusing attention on what lies directly in view but they also block out a lot more. I once heard about an airforce base where half a wall was painted - the half the queen might see if she were to look out of the window during a visit she was making, the other half remained unpainted and unseen for years. For those of us engaged in Christian mission the "10-40 window" has, for some time now, focused our attention on that part of the world where most people have yet to gain any real exposure to the gospel of God's love in Jesus. Running from Morocco to China and Japan, and Turkey down to Sri Lanka, this window frames a particular approach to mission which is geographical, 'people group' focused, and strategic. Useful as this is, the danger however is that the longer we view the world out of this particular window the more likely we are to forget what we cannot see - the unpainted wall.

Recently I have been introduced to another window - totally non-geographic - the "4-14 nwindow" which frames our mission focus on the 40% of the world's population who are often unseen and unheard because they are children and young people. In a year which is focusing on the rights of the child , Christians do well to view our world through this child-view window. This window does not face the future ("children are our future") but rather gives us a unique view of the real world in which we live today, a world in which children take decisions, share faith, and shape our environment.

Windows can also look into each other. For an intersting "4-14" look into the "10-40" window see Windowkids.

Chosen vulnerability

Today I have been facilitating a small group of international missiologist. We are working on a contribution for the Edinburgh 2010 Study process and have participants from South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Indonesia, India, Korea, Norway, Belarus and the UK. A great group to work with! Our Indian colleague, Monica Melanchthon (right), was unable to join us so I ended up reading her paper to the group and was so struck by one short passage that I want to repeat it here. She writes:

When someone who has no need to be vulnerable becomes vulnerable in order to identify with those that are, and together with them struggles to be resilient against all death dealing forces, structures and systems, and thus together with them moves towards a society transformed—of justice, and communion , then he or she participates in the vulnerable mission of God. The kind of mission that is required here is not of contemplative theologizing but liberative action in solidarity with the oppressed. It is a solidarity that is built on a relationship of complete vulnerability and identification with the oppressed community; sustained by a process of mutual giving and receiving, and nurtured by seeing in the other the ethical demand of responsibility.

Thanks Monica