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Caught between two worldsI’m trembling as I write this one. I’m already isolated within my own faith community(Pentecostalism) for my views on war and peace; and I know that what I’m about to writehere may put me at odds with a lot of people in the progressive evangelical community— a community I’m just getting used to. In addition, there’s always the fear of beingmisunderstood, so regardless of whether you agree or not with me, know that at least it’smy aim to speak the truth in love.I love Christian Peacemaker Teams. I especially love their motto, “What would happenif Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to non-violent peacemakingthat armies devote to war?” I wish every Christian on the planet would ask themselvesthat question. I have nothing but admiration and respect for full and part-time CPTworkers that live out that motto every day. When I went on a delegation with CPT inOctober 2007 to the West Bank, it radically changed my life.So why am I conflicted about CPT? It’s not that I don’t believe in the organization. I do.It's not even because I necessarily disagree with their anti-proselytizing policy. Iunderstand that every organization has its own purpose and mandate. But as a long timeevangelical missionary and a recent convert to non-violence, I find myself caught between two worlds. On the one hand, I move freely in circles that “pray through thewindow” and map “unreached people groups.” On the other hand, my devotion to peaceand non-violence cause me to move in peace circles—many of which are comprised of theologically liberal Christians. Never was this more obvious than when I was on the CPT delegation. It took all of abouttwo hours for everyone in the group to realize that I was the “evangelical” in the group.When I was asked to describe myself, I shared with the group honestly about what I had been doing over the past several years—traveling the world and sharing the gospel.Throughout the week, I had many discussions with individuals in the group about why I believe that Jesus is God and why I don’t believe that all religions are equal paths to thesame truth. For the most part, the group was respectful, but there was the occasional anti-missionary remark that reminded me of my minority status within the group.Maybe peacenik evangelical missionaries like myself need an alternative to CPT. Thenagain, maybe not. I think it’s at least an option that should be looked into, and I’mwilling to dialogue with anybody even remotely interested in pursuing the matter further.My concern isn’t just with CPT, but with the progressive evangelical movement at large.I’m conflicted because I’m concerned about the implications of progressive evangelicalscontinuing to endorse groups like CPT as“a new face of global missions.”in their booksand articles. If young people join these kinds of efforts to experience “a new face of global missions,” how many of these young people will eventually jettison their biblicalorthodoxy? Even worse, I wonder how many
have already
 jettisoned their biblicalorthodoxy?
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