Can't anyone serve Christ in America anymore?

1. Where God calls and leads people to serve is His business, not ours, as is the risks involved. Read a little Christian history.


2. He did say go into “all the world”


3. The “our own first” refers to believers not geopolitical or geographical units


4. Compare opportunity in Texas to opportunity in that region of Africa for even half a second: the desperation here does not compare to the desperation there. (As the aforementioned “risk” proves!)


5. Nobody going there is stopping others from working here. It’s not really an either-or scenario.

Judea, and Samaria, and all the world. Now I will not speak as to whether Coulter has a profound wisdom Biblically—her tendency towards the polemic often reminds me of a Seattle area pastor who wrote a rather crude book on marriage—but I do think she has a point in suggesting that many American Christians are not witnessing here in the United States, and then their vacations are called “mission trips” to exotic locales. I don’t accuse Dr. Brantly of this, but I’ve seen it in my circles.

Either, or? No. God said, Judea, Samaria, and all the world. But likewise, He did not say “all the world, and if someone in Judea or Samaria comes to Me, that’s great, too.” So while it’s not exactly the point Coulter is making, she does have a point. And a corollary; perhaps one way of figuring out whether a man is ready to serve Christ overseas is to see where he serves Him here, and a lot of overseas “mission trips” are merely glorified vacations.

Again, not the deceased, but there are a lot out there that way.

On distance and evangelism:

• First of all on Coulter. I actually think her rant is more about the media than missions … but
• There’s a tendency to see souls further away as of greater worth than souls local (one could express this in a mathematical formula!).
• Of course souls far away cost so much more to reach (airfare and all)
• We’ve got Jews in St Louis Park (some here call it St Jewish Park) … but not many are interested in reaching them … but the Jews in Israel … that’s another story
• Blacks in Africa … got to go there …. blacks in our own inner city … not so much
• Muslims in a place where we would be beheaded … we ignore them …. Muslims in Detroit … we ignore them too

As one who does try to pay attention to the needs of the people in my own backyard, may I just observe that Ann Coulter had better look in the mirror before labeling anyone else’s condition as “idiotic.” Neighbors with needs are everywhere, and while we can and should show mercy at home, our responsibilities do not end there.

“So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
And he said, ‘He who showed mercy on him.’
Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”
-Luke 10:36-37

If Coulter has a point, it is not to be made using the situation she does. What evidence do we have that Brantly is in this for the attention and accolades? He is not someone who took a 1 week short-term trip to serve in Tahiti… he had moved his whole family to Liberia (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2715028/God-call-life-U-S-docto…). Calling someone like this “idiotic” is like saying that Judson should have gone to the Sioux or Navajo rather than having gone to India and eventually Burma. There are things to be done at home, but in making that point, she is doing so at the expense of a legitimate medical missionary endeavor that was made with real sacrifice. If Brantly had not contacted Ebola, none of us would know his name. Coulter’s criticism might as well be leveled at Jim Elliot or Hudson Taylor, at least as far as “doing it for the accolades.” Coulter is an embarrassment to the cause she purports to support.

Also see http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/08/03/in-a-powerful-sermon-the-ame…

While i tend to think of Coulture as a bull in a china shop, this article included, there is something to be said for American missions. We have a missionary couple coming to candidate next month who are going to Vegas. I am actually pretty excited about it. If we truly are a “post Christian” country then there should be a significant focus here too.

But as Aaron said though it’s not an either or. Both are important and there are still massive holes in the proclamation of the gospel around the world.

I do wonder though if there will become a tipping point in which the gospel is so rare in America that churches will decide to turn to American missions. Obviously we are not there yet but it is worth considering.

It occurs to me that Coulter (and we at times?) may betray our lack of involvement in our own local churches when we assume that missions is primarily overseas or outside our own nation. What do we call Vacation Bible School, or planting churches in urban centers (e.g. Family Baptist Church in Minneapolis by 4th), or radio stations (e.g. WCTS), or summer camp, or the schools we found, or pro-life efforts, and the like if not ministry to our own country?

One must ask, given what I presume we’ve all seen (though the names of the ministries change), whether Coulter is in fellowship at any Bible-believing church at the moment. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m guessing “no.”

Nothing said by right wing loons like Coulter surprises me. The only thing that continues to surprise me is that conservative Christians are too often their biggest cheerleaders.

of eco-toursim. They are to assuage “Christian guilt” about assuring themselves they are doing God’s work, when these same believers aren’t doing anything more than “showing up” at home.

I am pretty sure that MANY would feel safer in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, etc…than a few of the places I was just at (thinking bring no credit cards, carry limited cash, park car in obvious place, don’t get too nosey, etc, in my own country).

[Steve Newman]

Many mission trips are the Christian equivalent.. of eco-toursim. They are to assuage “Christian guilt” about assuring themselves they are doing God’s work, when these same believers aren’t doing anything more than “showing up” at home.