I have just finished reading Christianity Rediscovered by Vincent Donovan. It’s an excellent account of Donovan’s ground breaking work amongst the Masai and I think he brings many insights which are relevant for mission today in all cultures. It’s amazing to think that these reflections come from a man that was one of th first to take the gospel to the Masai. He had no manuals, no pre-trialled ideas, no experience of what may happen. It must have been a truly terrifying but amazing experience.

I suggest it is not that different in reality to taking the gospel to those around today.

A couple of comments that struck me that I wish to think more on:

‘in a community there are no orphans’
The Masai have a strong community sense. This showed in all people having roles, none being discriminated against, all being valued, all being loved for hat they do. This community identity was so strong that whole tribes became Christian and were baptised, or none of them did. Donovan found there was no room for the individualised faith that we have bred in the west. It was all or nothing for all.

In groups in places I know today, particularly amongst ‘tribes’ of young people that I can remember working with, this sense of community identity is evident in a strong way today. Our methods of individualised faith do not have a major impact as it demands a painful move way from that tribe or an ostricisation from them. Maybe group conversions and baptisms are needed today?

‘an ordinary way of salvation must lie in culture, not the church’
Donovan suggests that God enables people to connect with him through their culture. ‘God is present in all cultures and at home in none’ I heard Archbishop John Sentamu say recently. Instead of trying to pull people away from culture, is our task to help them to notice the presence of God within their culture? The Masai creed says; ‘we have known this High God in the darkness, now we know Him in the light’. God was always there, the Masai just did not fully recognise them. Where is God present today, unrecognised, in the cultures we brush against?

‘Jesus Christ shows us what God is, but he also shows us what humanity is’.
I have always looked to Jesus as the image of God, but never as the corresponding image of true humanity. To see what God is like we need to look to Jesus. To see what we should be like s humans, we need to look to Jesus too.

If you have not read this book, it is an excellent read simply written but with a simplicity that will cause you to think deeply.