Lausanne World Pulse – WORLD PERSPECTIVES – Will I Go to Heaven When I Die, Too?
By David Sills
Fortunata is a precious believer who sincerely wants to follow the Lord Jesus. A small church meets in her humble home, and just like many others, it labors along without proper teaching. Even one of the most prolific evangelical denominations in Peru does not have pastors for ninety percent of its churches. Some of the brothers told me that, overall, only half of the evangelical churches have pastors and many of them do not have pastoral preparation or theological training. They mean well and are sincere but have been untaught or wrongly taught, if taught at all.
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Countless Christians around the world need solid theological training in order to witness effectively and grow in their own faith. |
I teach in one of the best theological seminaries in the world. I rub shoulders on a daily basis with some of the most brilliant professors and students in the world. I can walk from my office and in two minutes be in one of the best theological libraries in the world.
Spending my days in this environment makes it easy for me to slip into a mode that assumes far too much. How it grieves my heart when I find humble believers and Christian workers like this precious sister who struggles on with no books, no formal training and the constant attack of false teaching.
When I walk through the door in my stateside classroom or in my church, people often greet me with smiles, pats on the back and requests for my time or opinion. It feeds the flesh and makes me feel useful. When I have the opportunity to meet with these humble Bible-hungry believers in other nations, I find it hard to leave. And when I do leave and return to my highly academic comfort zone, it seems a little like taking a seat on a lifeboat and deserting those going down on the Titanic. I sometimes wonder about the greeting I will get when I walk through the door to heaven. I know I will see the Fortunatas and that they will forgive me, but I wonder about those who never heard at all.
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David Sills is associate professor of Christian missions and cultural anthropology and director of the Great Commission Center at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He is also director of the International Orality Network’s Theological Education Task Force. |