Learning discipleship

We must help our people to be immersed in the story of Jesus and allow that story to transform how one sees the world -- e.g., politics, economics, war, justice, at risk people-groups, the environment, ethnic cleansing, and poverty. We must come clean on our prejudicial readings that only reinforce our white, affluent, consumer, nationalistic, market-driven, cultural bias, and learn how to read Scripture through the lens of first century realities. For the most part, Scripture is the product of people who were exiled, enslaved, marginalized, poor, and largely excluded from the ranks of the powerful and the cultural elite. The Bible is one of those rare documents that tells its story from the vantage point of those at the bottom rather than the spin of those with social clout and status. That may be why the faith resonates so powerfully in third world countries.

- Larry Chouinard