St. Augustine, in his book City of God, talks of Rome's demise... and how the City of God endures even while the cultural and political city of Rome is forever changed.
This has fascinating parallels to today's churches. The political and cultural garnishing of the Church are becoming less relevent and many staunch traditionalists mourn this. But the truth is that the banner is carried forward by believers in China, India, Africa, Latin America, and a new sort of believer here in America. And that, to loosely quote CS Lewis, is the deepest tradition.
Agnes Matende of Kenya just penned the following in the Four Souls online guestbook about just this same thing:
This has fascinating parallels to today's churches. The political and cultural garnishing of the Church are becoming less relevent and many staunch traditionalists mourn this. But the truth is that the banner is carried forward by believers in China, India, Africa, Latin America, and a new sort of believer here in America. And that, to loosely quote CS Lewis, is the deepest tradition.
Agnes Matende of Kenya just penned the following in the Four Souls online guestbook about just this same thing:
"About what was said somewhere in the book about how Christianity has moved full circle with the 'barbarians' sometimes bringing about fresh moves of God. I have to comment that something is happening in Africa spreading outwards that will change the world-you know the scripture of the valleys being raised and the mountains brought low our hour is here too."Here's what my co-author, Matt Kronberg, actually penned in this part of Four Souls:
Matt's Reflections, April 19th
Americans are often surprised when we learn that Westerners are not the only ones sending out missionaries. God’s church, though, is vibrant in many countries throughout the world, maybe much more so than in the United States.
In some ways it makes me sad to see America losing its place as the center of world Christianity. At the same time, it is also exciting. The situation seems a bit like what happened in the fourth century. At that time, Rome was the center of world Christianity, but it was falling to barbarian raiders. Many thought Christianity would disappear, but St. Augustine knew that God would keep His church alive and well no matter what happened to the “Christian” Roman Empire. Sure enough, the barbarians became the settled people of Europe and for countless centuries served as the new center of world Christianity. As Europe’s torch flickered, America picked it up, and now it seems that we may be passing it on to nations some might consider the “barbarians” of our day.
Through it all, the Church lives on . . .
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