Yeah, good to be here. I think this might be
my probably third or fourth time I've been here.
So Oak Hill is becoming my second family home.
And anytime I come here, we have healthy conversation
with James and I can see Chris up there and seeing
what God is doing over here. And I think that
looking at how London is and London is changing
and UK and our world is changing being trained
in a theological institution like this should
be taken very seriously so that we can be well
positioned to go in and resource the church and
also be a blessing to our world and so when I
was asked to come and share. I was thinking,
what should I talk about? But I think with some
time of prayer, I felt it's very important to
talk about being prepared for the global world
and church. I'm sure you are not new to this.
You know, our world is changing. It's becoming
more global. The church is more getting diverse.
Even here, I mean, when I look at the band guys
on the stage, it shows diversity. So it reflects
the world we live in. And so I just thought it
would be good to share that. But before that,
I go into what I'm going to talk about today.
Last Sunday, I was in a church in Hurston, in
Hunslow, and I was having a chat with James,
and I told him I had an experience. That more
or less confirmed the calling on my life. I went
to this church, which is predominantly, I would
say, African. But it's got some Caribbeans and
a couple of Irish guys there and then a few other
cultures. But they are situated in a heavily
Asian demographic. About 61 % were Asian. And
so the service, when I went in there, they were
having a worship and all that. I was part of
the worship, but... They were using a kind of
song and singing a song, and I would say the
drumming and everything, which more akin to the
African or Ghanaian type of music. But I saw
they were jubilating, they were happy, praising
God, and most of them were first -generation,
I would say, Ghanaians. But I felt a sense of
overwhelming emotion. that I started having tears
down my face, and I was wondering what's going
on. And so I had to just sit down and get a tissue
to wipe the tears. But it became intense, very,
very intense, the way she was going on. So the
impression I had was that it's more or less the
Lord confirming his call on my life and saying
that this is what I've called you for. Meaning
that I've called you to bridge the gap between
Christianity expressed in the majority world,
particularly Africa and that of the West. And
so when you die and you are laid in state, you
should be known or seen as somebody who tried
to bridge that gap, that theological tension.
that diverse Christian expression. So when I
was invited to go and preach, I was just going
on with the message and this emotion came again.
Very strong that I had to pause. I was making
a very strong point and I had to pause. And I
left the service last Sunday knowing that that
is one of my main calling. is to help Christians,
help believers, and even non -believers to understand
that we are called as God's people, but we are
one. We may have different theological positions.
We may come from different cultures, but we live
in a world that is totally different. And can
I just give you the next slide? If we look at
the world that we live in now, There's a global
shift of Christianity from the west to the global
south, what is known as the majority world. And
then majority of Christians now live in Africa,
Asia, and Latin America. The church is no longer
western, it's a bit global, and more or less
in the global south. In 1900, the population
of Christians within the Western space was 80%.
Now it's about, it's around 30%. That means about
70 % of Christians, around 65 to 70 % of Christians
now live in a global South. So the demographic
is changing rapidly. Let me just give you a breakdown.
In Africa alone, we are about 30 % Christians.
In Latin America, 25%. And then Asia, 17%. And
Europe, about 22%. And then even North America,
10%. So Christianity has not declined. It has
relocated to other parts of the world. So there's
Christianity in the UK, in England, in Europe,
in North America. But majority of Christians
are in other parts of the world. And some of
you here might be preparing yourself to do missions
in that part of the world. But we also have to
understand that the nations are now here. All
right. So on this background or backdrop, I would
like us to read again, I think. The mission of
call of the church in Antioch. And if you look
at the church in Antioch, it consisted of that
diverse team. A team that wasn't from one ethnic
background. And it was a worshiping community
of a church where they prayed. The Bible says
that they prayed, they fasted. And then the Spirit
can send Paul and Barnabas or Saul and Barnabas
to the mission field. So the Antioch church,
next slide, please. The Antioch church was a
multicultural leadership. Yeah, the next slide.
It wasn't a monocultural leadership. It was a
multicultural leadership. It was also a spiritual
worshiping community. It was an ascending church,
and it reflected a global church that we have
today. And I think that this environment, or
the Antioch Church environment, looks like even
what we're trying to do here at Hokio, bringing
people from different backgrounds, training them,
shaping them. Having a time of fellowship and
worshiping and then being sent out to other parts
of the world. And this is very, very important
in our world, particularly if we are trainers,
as theologians and as pastors, that we understand
that we are not living in a world that is monocultural.
We live in a very diverse world. a diverse city,
and we have to have that mindset, that preparation
in order to do that. If you look at even the
leadership of the Antioch Church, we have saw
who is by heritage is Jewish, but by birth is
a Roman. And so he came from a very diverse background,
and God called him into the Gentiles to do the
missionary work. If you look at a gentleman called
Lucius of Cyrene, he was from what is known as
Libya or North Africa. Manion was connected to
the Herodian royal household, so he came from
a more elite background. And you have Simeon
of Niger. It is likely he came from African descent
because the word Niger, the name Niger, from
a Latin means black or dark. So there's a likelihood.
So you see a very diverse team. And I think that
if you are being prepared for ministry, if it's
in London, which is very diverse, or any part
of the UK, or any world, city, major city, you
must be prepared that you are going to meet people
who are different from you. You must have that
at the back of your mind. Because in the past,
people have gone to study theology or been trained
theologically and gone out there and did not
know what to do with the cultures that God brought
to them. Or you may even be in the church at
the moment that you are seeing people who are
coming from different backgrounds into the church
and have no idea what to do. What do we do with
them? That's the expression. What do we do with
them? They are our brothers and sisters. And
we must find ways of engaging. So I want to talk
about six critical pointers that we should consider.
The first one is that UK or London or most major
cities of the world are mission field. So UK
is now, or London is now a mission field. Why?
Because the nations are here. The days where
people have to study cultural mission and communication
and learn other cultures, to travel far, they
are still relevant, but the nations are here.
God has brought them to our doorstep. So we might
be ready to engage. And we must also be culturally
intelligent. I'm going to talk about that and
unpack that. We must also be religiously aware.
What do I mean by that? We must know that people
who have different faith around us. And then
we must also have a level of understanding of
diaspora communities. Those people are coming
from other parts of the world. We need to know
them. And then fifthly, we must be ecclesiastically
aware. We may have come from different traditions.
We have to find a way of knowing other people
who may not profess or hold the tradition that
you hold. And then we must have an understanding
of intergenerational formation engagement. Because
we live in days where we have different people
in our churches, and particularly young people.
And we have to find a way of engaging them. So
first of all, let me look at the first one that
UK, Well, London is a mission field. And Matthew
9, 37, 38 says, Then he said to his disciples,
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are
few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,
to send out workers into his harvest field. UK
used to send a lot of missionaries to other parts
of the world, particularly in Africa and other
global south countries. But now, UK is a mission
field. And we must be prepared to reach out to
those who the Lord has brought to us. There are
people who come from other parts of the world
who are not Christians at all. And we must be
ready to share the faith with them. So UK is
no longer a place where has a huge number of
missionaries being sent to other parts of the
world. It's rather the other non -Western countries
who are doing so. So we must move from maintenance
to mission. What do I mean by that? It shouldn't
be church as usual. We shouldn't go to church
and just warm the pews and just maintain the
church and see the same old faces. We must trust
God to reach out and be intentional about mission
and go out there and talk to people who are not
Christians. And we shouldn't see the decline.
Normally, the research shows that, I'm going
to talk about the choir revival research today,
shows that, you know, it's been said that Christianity
is in a decline in the West or in the UK. And
let's see this idea of decline as opportunity,
not as something that we will despair. When there's
a decline, it means that we must go out there
and reach out to people. And then we must be
intentional about evangelism. There's a need
for us to be very intentional about evangelism
in terms of how we reach out to people. It's
not just talking to people and organizing events.
Any event or anything we do in our churches must
have the purpose to it in terms of trusting that
the Lord will open opportunity for others to
be saved. So we must do that. We must build relationships
with other people and also be praying for people
to be saved. The church in Antioch was a praying
church. You cannot do mission now without prayer.
I'm not talking about prayer now. I'm from Africa,
and so I understand what prayer is. But prayer
must underget even our theological formation
so that it's not about getting information and
having a lot of knowledge. but it is bathed in
prayer. And that sharpens your theological understanding.
So we must understand that the UK is now a mission
field and God is calling us to reach out to the
lost. The second point I want us to look at is
that we must be culturally aware or intelligent,
what I call cultural intelligence. 1 Corinthians
9 .22, Paul says that to the weak I became weak,
to win the weak. And he said, I have become all
things to all people so that by all possible
means I might save them. Paul wasn't compromising
the gospel, but he wanted to make sure that he
understood people. The gospel word is unchanging,
but the world we live in is changing. The unchanging
word. God must be proclaiming a way that the
changing world we live in, I do understand. And
it means that we must understand cultures deeply.
You can have a superficial understanding of a
culture without going deeper to know why they
do what they do. Some of you here are from different
backgrounds. The question is how deep do you
know one another? in terms of their cultures.
Are you more interested in the food the person
eats? Are you interested in their background?
You sit down with them to ask them questions.
Why do you do what you do? Because sometimes
we may have blind spots without knowing that.
Some people may see cultures through their own
cultural lens, what we call ethnocentrism. So
everything must be fitted to their lens. If you
don't do things the way Ghanaians do, then you
are not doing right. If you don't do the way
English do things, then you are not doing right.
As I always say, culture is not sacrosanct. Culture
is espoused by people and it's fallible. Women
espouse culture. We form culture and we are fallible.
We are fallen. Only God's word is infallible.
So we must learn to know people and listen before
speaking. We are quick to speak. I like to talk.
And sometimes I'm at fault, not listening well.
I quickly want to, once you finish a sentence,
I come out with something else. Sometimes you
just have to be quiet and listen to what the
other is saying. to properly understand where
the person is coming from. And then we must adapt
without compromising the truth. As I said earlier
on, I'm not talking about compromising the gospel.
The gospel, God's word is unchanging, but we
live in a changing world. So we must learn to
adapt and know other people by being faithful
to the gospel. Being faithful to that is very,
very important so that we can be able to engage
meaningfully. I was talking to James and I said
earlier, I was saying that you just, we must
go beyond how you're doing and how are things
and sit down with people and get to know them
better. Invite them to come and eat. Don't say
that the African or the Asian culture is communal.
I think all cultures, if you want to be communal,
you can be communal. Yes, build trust with people
and invite them to come and eat at home and share
fellowship. When you do that, you get to know
people more. It's not enough to say hi to people
and that is it. If you really care about them,
you want to know more. The next point I want
us to consider is we might be religiously aware.
Acts chapter 17, 22 to 23, when Paul was an Areopagus,
he realized that the guys were very religious.
I like the expression that all they did was to
just sit around and try and talk about new ideas,
new philosophies. But Paul used their religiosity.
to engage them. And the UK is religiously diverse.
We have Hinduism, we have Islam, Sikhism, and
secularism, and people who don't even want to
belong to any faith in a way. So the UK is diverse.
Your next door neighbor might not be Christian.
Your next door neighbor might be somebody from
the Islamic faith. And so you must find a way
of being aware of them and we must engage other
faith wisely you know sometimes you can be very
you know antagonistic when it comes to engaging
other faith you know the gospel Christ is the
only way and that's it and sometimes people can
be very you know too hard to the point that they
don't want to even hear other people and listen
to where they're coming from You don't compromise
your Christian values and faith by listening
to somebody who might not share your faith so
that you can find a way of engaging the person.
And the God Spirit might use that to get a person
saved. So let us not be dismissive of other people
who may not share our faith, but find a way of
engaging them. I'm not saying compromise your
faith. I'm not saying just about dialogue and
nothing else. Oh, we are all the same, going
on the same. place. That's not what I'm talking
about. Sometimes when people talk about dialogue,
it's like, oh, I just want to know a bit about
your faith and you know mine, and that's all.
That's not what I'm talking about. Yeah, know
a bit about them, but trust that the Lord can
use you to reach out to them. And then we must
speak truth with humility. Sometimes we can come
across as arrogant, even when you are sharing
your faith. It takes humility for somebody to
even listen to you. You can have the truth, but
the way you communicate it can push somebody
off. I'm not saying that the gospel is not offensive.
It is. But sometimes the way, the posture that
we may carry can cause somebody to just be defensive
and not ready to listen to you. So we must ask
the Lord to always help us to have some level
of humility when we are speaking to people, particularly
those of other faith. And then the very important
point I want us to look at is diaspora engagement.
The nations are here among us. As I said earlier
on. You can still prepare and go to Ghana and
do missions in Ghana, but Ghana is one of the
growing Christian nations in the world. Most
Ghanaians are now here with the gospel. So the
nations are here, and some come without their
faith. They come without any Christian faith
at all. So we must learn to also engage them.
But some of them also come here with their faith.
It has been said that the African is notoriously
religious, or I would say persistently, or, I
mean, ardently religious. It means that the African
doesn't mean words with his or her faith. Everywhere
they go, they carry their faith. And most Africans
are... come from the Christian background, or
I would say Ghanaians. And they are here in this
country. Some of our planted churches in London.
When you go out to this place and maybe travel
a few miles from here, you'll find a church that
belongs to somebody from Africa or Ghana. And
the planted church is here. So we must know that
the nations are here. And we must welcome and
also learn from them. Learn from them. The church
I went to over the weekend, The way they praise
God, they praise God with some vibrancy energy.
Maybe your tradition is not like that. It doesn't
mean that. Just, okay, what can I learn from
that energy of praising God? What can I learn
from them? Add to what I know. What a beauty.
to learn from other people and enrich your experience.
I was still in the church over the weekend. I
was preaching. I come from a background where
when we're praying, when we say let's pray, people
pray simultaneously and pray very loud. Okay?
I don't know. Even when I was in Korea, it was
the same. Koreans pray with a lot of energy and
loudness. When I came to the UK, I realized it's
nothing like that, particularly most churches.
They pray in tents, all right? So the tradition
is when you pray, I have to wait for you to finish
your prayer, and then I will then join in. And
sometimes people from our background think this
is not powerful enough. They will tell you the
fire of the Holy Spirit is not so strong there
because of the way they pray. They pray very
quiet. But I said to them, you have to listen
and also know that God hears that level of prayer.
God is in the quiet and is in the loudness. God
appreciates when sometimes you desperately cry
to him. And you also appreciate when people are
silent before him and meditating and reflecting.
The God we serve is diverse. He's not nervous
when we do things in a diverse way. He's not.
We human beings are quite nervous, but God is
not. He understands diversity. And so let's learn.
And then also learn to partner in God's mission.
We can do... a lot with other people from other
parts of the world we can reach our communities
we can reach their own rich people when we partner
with other people and and this is very important
we might also be ecclesiastically aware or our
ecclesial awareness the bible says in and ephesians
4 46 says there is one body one spirit Just as
you were called to one hope when you were called,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and
the Father of all, who is over all and through
all and in all. We must learn to work together
with diverse bodies who express different traditions.
We must understand the traditions. You may come
from a Reformed background. You may come from
a conservative evangelical background. You may
come from a typical, maybe, Pentecostal background.
but learn from one another so that we can. We
may not fully agree on certain secondary things,
but we're all God's children. As long as we stay
faithful to the core tenets of the Christian
faith, there are some things we may not be able
to. Understand. You are different. I read this
very important statement or observation by one
professor, Frank Macchia. He's a professor of
Christian theology from Vanguard University in
South California. And I just want to read this
for your understanding or for your consideration.
It reads, I desperately need this gets called
the church. My tendency is to surround myself
with people I enjoy being with, who I feel compliment
me. It is fine to enjoy the company of such people.
Friendship, that is often uplifting. But it goes
on to say that, but to be like Christ, I need
to have my soul expounded beyond this. Beyond
this, becoming close to others who are different
from me and especially who I may not particularly
enjoy being with. People who are different from
you that you may not particularly enjoy being
with culturally, church traditionally. But sometimes
you must learn to do so for the sake of the gospel.
And we must collaborate across differences. We
can do things with other people. Anglicans can
work with Pentecostals. Baptists can work with
Presbyterians for the sake of the kingdom. It
doesn't mean cede your or let go of your tradition.
You be loyal to your church tradition, but I
can work with other people. So as I conclude,
Let me look at this last one before I conclude.
You must also be intergenerationally aware. That's
intergenerational formation engagement. Psalm
145 verse 4 says, if we fail to engage and disciple
the younger generation, we are... No, that is
not it. I'm just coaching the word. Let me just
read Psalm 145 verse 4. One generation commends
your works to another. It's very important that
if we fail to... engage and disciple the younger
generation, we are not just losing the future,
we are failing to present the mission of the
church. The choir revival shows that even though
there's the idea that church is declining in
the UK, among the young people, many people,
particularly those with an ethnic minority background,
are coming to the faith. Those within the 18
to 24 year kind of demographic. And I can bear
testimony of that. I know friends who are pastoring
churches that are attracting very young people
who are desperate for God. And so in our missional
work in our churches, and as we prepare to engage
the global church and the cities that we find
ourselves, we might be aware of the intergenerational
differences so that we can build strong churches
that are intergenerational. As Paul said that
Timothy had his faith. given to him or transferred
to him by the grandmom through the grandmom to
the mom to him. There was an intergenerational
connection. We must learn to pass our faith to
the younger generation. And that is the beauty
of any church that represents what God has called
that church to be. So as I conclude, the Antioch
church or model was or is a diverse one. And
it was spiritually formed, very, very active
spiritual kind of church. But also after they
gathered and were able to see God's face, it
was a missional church. They sent people out.
We cannot build churches and we cannot be part
of churches that maintain people and not send
them out to do God's work. At Oak Hill, and Oak
Hill is a typical example. As people come here,
they have been prepared to go out there and minister
to a church or a world that is diverse. And I
think that let us not take our experience at
Oak Hill for granted. You might be here for three
years, two years, but it is a very important
part of your journey, your Christian journey
or ministry formation. Very important. I remember
back home in Ghana when I did my BA, I was within
a campus like that, an environment like that,
and that environment shaped me very well. And
when I went to South Korea, the same thing. I
was in an environment with people from China,
people from Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria,
from all parts of the world in South Korea. And
that enriched my... cross -cultural, multi -ethnic,
intercultural perspective on mission. And I think
what you are doing here is very important. I
don't take it for granted. By the time you blink,
your training here is over. You'll be sent out
to the world. The question is that, were you
prepared? Are we prepared for the global world
and church? And any theological education now
that is fit for purpose must train people for
the global world and church. It must shape their
thinking. So I want to end with this prayer that
the Lord would prepare us so that we can serve
across cultures to engage in a diverse world.
And to be sent wherever the Lord calls us. Some
of you may be sent to places that you may be
contemplating. What next after my training here?
Be ready to hear what the Lord is saying to you.
He might send you somewhere among migrant communities
that might be different from your comfort zone.
You might be prepared. He might send you among
Ghanians. And you are not raised from that culture.
You must be prepared. They must send you overseas.
You must be prepared. Modern Day Mission is both
overseas and also next door. You can travel somewhere.
That's great. But it's also next door. So I want
us to just let me pray with you before I say,
if you don't mind, let's pray. Let's pray. Father,
we thank you. We give you praise for calling
us into your mission. We come from diverse backgrounds
and traditions, but you've called us to be one
in you. In Christ, in you, we are one. Your spirit
calls us to the nations for the purpose of making
them known that Christ died for them. We live
in a very challenging world at the moment. There
are wars all over the world, all over the place.
But Lord, prepare us from this place to be sent
to the mission field where we are culturally
aware. We are aware of our differences, but we
seek to work together. May you prepare us and
embody us where we are weak and anxious. and
afraid, we surrender all of that to you. May
you take absolute control of who we are so that
we can be assured that you are with us to the
end of the age. May you empower us by your spirit.
May you give us the boldness and the confidence
to do what you've called us to do. When we face
challenges, Give us the grace to rest in you.
Lord, we thank you for what you are doing in
our lives. And we also pray for the leadership
of Oak Hill, that you will continue to shape
them and prepare the ordinance, the ministers,
the pastors, those who come through these doors
to be prepared for the global world and the church.
Heavenly Father, we thank you. In Jesus' name
I pray. Amen.