Darfur and Next Door

We have emphasized on this blog that missions is not just what the church does in foreign lands, but the act of bringing the whole gospel to the whole person in the whole world, even to your next door neighbors. Recently, Relevant ran a great article entitled Why I Don’t Care about Darfur, which asked the hard question: “Why is it that so many Christians focus on social justice overseas while neglecting the need for social justice next door?” Of course, the point of the article is not that we should care less about Darfur, but that we should care just as much about the social injustices of our own neighborhoods and country than causes around the world that some are even calling “fashionable.” The point is that all of us are engaged in God’s mission, and all neighborhoods and nations are mission fields where needing the righteousness and justice of God’s kingdom.