I´m a reader...it keeps me informed and it keeps me sharp and it keeps me thinking. Recently, I´ve been reading _Letters from the Desert_ by Carlo Carretto--a collection of his thoughts and experiences as a Little Brother (Franciscan) from Italy that moved to Saharan Africa to live and to serve.
I was struck in my reading today as Carretto described the approach to ministry of his community´s founder, Charles de Foucauld: "He came to the Arab world dressed as an Arab. He lived among those who were the servants of the Europeans as though they were his masters. He built his hermitages, not on Roman or Gothic lines, but on the simplicity and poverty of the Saharan mosques. Being poor, dressing like "them," accepting their language and customs, he immediately knocked down the barriers and lived in dialogue with them. Real dialogue: between equals...´going towards them who do not yet know Christ´" (p.96)
Amazing to me is that this was his missional approach...in 1902!! We at The Mission Society (www.themissionsociety.org) strive to follow this same approach now in the 21st Century...and we call it "Incarnational." We strive to live with the people, among the people, as much as the people we serve and work beside. "Incarnational"...in the flesh. And, indeed, it knocks the barriers down and allows us to share Christ in a real and wonderful way. And best of all, it works in any setting...whether it be Barquisimeto, Venezuela,...or a village in east Africa,...or inner-city Atlanta--in all of these, we can be "incarnational"...living out our Christian lives in the flesh, as Christ among the people.
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