People Are Dying on My Watch!

Last night a leadership institute group at our church viewed a presentation by Christine Caine.  Christine is a part of the ministry of the dynamic Hillsong Church in Australia.  She has answered a call passionately to do ministry that addresses injustice; the human trafficking trade in particular.  Christine told about a time she was speaking about Jesus in a group of people that included women who had been rescued from the sex slave trade.  When she was done, one recently freed young woman asked her, "If all that you just said is true about your Jesus, why didn't you come sooner?!"  This particular woman had been on a ship full of 60 captive women, 3/4 of whom died from lack of oxygen or being dumped overboard to avoid Coast Guard scrutiny off the coast of Turkey.  Christine Caine was stunned, and broke down weeping.  As she said in the presentation on the video, "She was right.  This happened on my watch!"

On my watch...I'm grateful for being a part of the body of Christ.  I see the Holy Spirit do great things in and through the Church - the Hope of the World.  Yet I've also seen times when congregations of all brand names being so consumed with what's going on inside their calls, that they fail to hear the cry of the people in need around them.  Representatives of our own denomination from all over the globe are currently meeting together in Florida.  One of the matters they discussing is the possibility of restructuring our organization so that we will be more efficient in fulfilling the call to lead people in new life with Jesus.  That's very important, and I'm glad it's being addressed.  Still, while our representatives are in general assembly, I wonder how many people will die or give up on life without meeting Jesus.  I wonder how many will see hope die within them.  I wonder how many will die because they don't receive the basics of life that many of us in the church take for granted.  I wonder how many will die because the world doesn't afford them justice and the Body of Christ did not stand in the gap for them.  How many will we lose while I'm typing this, instead of looking around to see where God is calling me to answer for my watch?

There's a great commercial by the United States Marines that shows people running in panic from a smoking horizon.  Then the camera swings to a view of Marines running toward whatever the conflict or catastrophe is.  The text on the screen reads something like, "Some people run toward the sound of chaos."  That's a great line, worth pirating.  With the power of the risen Jesus, we are to recognize that people are lost, endangered, and dying on our watch.  Our task, as the Body of Christ, is to run toward the sound of chaos, whatever that means for each of us and each of our churches.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.