Interview with Dr. Brian Vickers - Confronting Pluralism and Poverty
The growing movement towards pluralism and the rising levels of global poverty are among many challenges confronting evangelical Christians living in today’s postmodern world.
Dr. Brian Vickers, Assistant Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), Louisville, KY., confronted these issues firsthand during a recent mission trip to India.
The following are excerpts taken from an interview with Dr. Vickers about his views and experiences on these issues.
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Evangelism in countries that are stricken by poverty and pluralism like India can seem more difficult than elsewhere such as America. However, you recently made a statement to Towers Online that “regardless of how difficult India is; it is ultimately no more difficult for someone to come to faith in Calcutta than it is across his street in Louisville.” Can you comment on this?
I can’t imagine going anywhere in missions if I didn’t believe that in the first place. If I believed that it’s easier for God to save someone here in America than elsewhere, it would be hard for me to find the confidence to go. It is the same God who works in a human heart that is “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1) and it is by the same power of the Holy Spirit that brings a person to life through faith in Christ.
That’s just as true for people who have been around the Gospel their whole life as it is for the person who hears the Gospel for the first time. In other words, only God saves people. It is not I, not a missionary, not a pastor, but ultimately God who must work. That’s why there’s no place ultimately closed or that cannot be reached.
Of course, there are some places into which it is difficult to gain access, but regardless of how “difficult” a place may be, we can have confidence that that results lie with God. All we have to do is do the work he gives us.
Pluralism, one of the biggest issues discussed among Christians today, is inevitable in India. What is the pluralism that you encountered in India?
Christians talk about pluralism quite a bit these days and it’s quite eye-opening to go to a place like India where you have these major non-Christian religions that are dominant. Obviously, it’s Hinduism that’s dominant and it’s not Christian that comes in second place, but it’s Islam. We traveled north to the foothills of the Himalayas and saw signs of Buddhism. It was astonishing to actually be at a place where religious pluralism could be seen so clearly. .
Even though Hinduism dominates India, when we drove through certain parts of Calcutta, we’d be in a Muslim district when all we did was just drive a block away. Pluralism is on the surface here too, but not to the same degree as it is in a place like India.
What is the way for us, Christians, to approach a nation like India where Christianity is a minority or a country that is hostile to Christianity?
A good way for Christians to approach a place or a nation where Christianity is in the minority, where Christianity is not widely accepted or where people are even hostile toward the faith, is first to go in with the confidence of knowing that your are bringing the Gospel, the good news of life through Christ. But you must also go in and establish yourself as much as you can so that you have a presence there even if it’s just a small presence.
In India, there is quite a bit of misconceptions of what an American is, what a Christian is, and what a Christian would say or do. A lot of these misconceptions are based on stereotypes that are unfortunately true. They would often equate Christianity with Americans culture.
Hence, one should go in to share the Gospel, but also to show people with one’s life what it really means to be a Christian. Much of the hostility is based on the misconceptions of what a Christian is; misconceptions drawn from popular media. There was quite a bit of the worst kind of American television (including the worst sorts of “Christian” TV) and also a skewed or biased media from non-Christian outlets as well.
It is necessary for Christians to be willing to go into these hostile environments and to witness to the truth of the Gospel in both their preaching and in their lives. That’s how you battle pluralism or any other “ism.”
The Gospel must be lived out in our lives. We must witness also through our lives so that people will see that the truth we’re sharing with them is reflected in the way act towards others.
Can you give an account of the Gospel being lived out in life from your mission trip?
While we were there, one person made a comment that they could tell by the way we were speaking to them and what we were saying to them that we genuinely cared for them. I think they could tell that we had a real interest in them rather than merely some kind of ulterior motive.
A Christian’s life has to match his or her message. If you go and preach the message of love of God in Christ, which of course is seen primarily in the cross of Jesus, you have to go in prepared to show people what it means to love God and let that be reflected in your life. Jesus commanded his apostles to love one another so that the world would see the love they have for one other and glorify the Father.
Dealing with poverty is another important issue when it comes to evangelism in countries like India. How can you describe poverty in India and how can Christians confront the issue of poverty?
One of the first things you notice when you leave Louisville, KY. and go to Calcutta, India is just the sheer numbers of people living in abject poverty. It can be overwhelming because you see children, sometimes whole families living in the streets and scores of people begging. These are the things that are impossible to ignore when you go there and I don’t see how a Christian can face that kind of poverty and not somehow be moved with compassion towards these people who are made in the image of God.
While our first priority, without a question, has to be the preaching of the Gospel to people all over the world, we need also to apply ourselves to alleviating human suffering to whatever degree that we’re able to.
I don’t think simply trying to alleviate poverty and suffering is our goal as Christians, but we have to recognize that there is something that we cannot ignore when we see human suffering. Human beings are made in the image of God and they’re suffering in this fallen world. As agents of Christ in this world, we must be moved with compassion towards people. I don’t see how a Christian can turn a blind eye to human suffering.
If you go to places like Calcutta, you can be completely overwhelmed by thinking of what one person could possibly do. There’s nothing one person can do to fix these problems. It takes concerted effort by groups of people. But groups are formed one by one. If many individuals witness these tragic conditions, witness that kind of poverty face to face and hands-on, then together they can make a difference. Seeing in pictures or on television commercials every now and then of children suffering is not enough, Christians should make it their responsibility to get in touch with people in this world who are suffering. One doesn’t have to travel half way around the world to find people who are suffering.
That’s what will change our hearts. To first have compassion on people, we have to see and meet people. That might sound more basic than what needs to be said, but unless we understand people as more than just people groups, more than mere ideas or philosophies, and more than certain sects or beliefs, our hearts will not be moved.
Unless we understand that poverty means that there are actual people who are suffering, who don’t have enough to eat, and without healthcare dying in the most horrible conditions, I don’t think that we can be truly moved to try to minister to these needs.
But it all begins with understanding the infinite compassion God has for sinners through Christ Jesus. That is the true source for gaining compassion for the world around us.
From what you've shared so far, a mission trip to India or anywhere around the world sounds like something you would recommend to or encourage seminarians to endeavor. What are five reasons though may not be in any particular order, they should make such a trip while in seminary?
For one, in seminary, you typically have opportunities to do things like this that you may never have again in your life. It’s simply a matter of taking advantage of opportunities that God gives you when you’re in this sort of particular, peculiar time in your life.
Reason number two is that the students get to see firsthand that there really is a larger world out there, not as it’s described in books or seen on television or wherever else. When they get the opportunity, they need to go out, experience, and see the larger world firsthand.
Third, if you truly want to understand a culture or a particular people group you must do more than read about them. You’ll never fully understand, grasp, or relate to people by only reading about them. You have to go and meet them. Reading about people, their culture, and their history is extremely important, but people are never just theories or just a sum of ideas.
The Fourth reason is that as Christians, we need to be thinking about the Gospel and its impact on a worldwide scale. The ministry of the Gospel is something larger than us, larger than our particular situation, town, and church. No matter how small and insignificant our own ministry context may seem, it is connected to something infinitely larger than ourselves. Going on a mission trip can help us to have that kind of perspective.
The fifth reason is that one can never tell what door God might open in your life through something like a mission trip. You can go to a place you never dreamed of going, or find yourself in a place you thought you never wanted to go, or you may experience conditions in which you thought you’d never be able to survive, but through it all God might use that trip to say “this is where I want you to be.”
What kind of tip would you give to the students who are considering or planning to go on a similar mission trip in the future?
When you’re going on a trip like this from a seminary, you should consider ahead of time that your job is to assist people who are already working in that area. In other words, the best way to make the most out of these trips, since typically you’ll be with some kind of established Christian workers, is to find out how you can be most helpful to the people already working in that country. Those living and working in whatever country you visit will typically know exactly what work needs to be done, so make yourself available to them. These trips should be an encouragement to the full-time missionaries as well as to the short term workers. I think it is easy to forget that.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
What I most brought back from India is the desire to go back. Rather than this trip slowly fading away into back of my mind, it seems to be doing just the opposite. As a seminary professor, the two weeks in India had an immediate impact on the work I’m doing here. It’s given me a renewed sense of urgency of the work of the Gospel. It has also caused me to consider more long-term possibilities. One thing for sure, I came back from India wanting to return to India.
Dr. Brian J. Vickers has earned his B.A. from West Virginia University and M.A. from Wheaton College. He completed his theological studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned M.Div. and Ph.D.
Prior to his appointment to the faculty, Dr. Vickers served as Adjunct Professor of New Testament Interpretation. He currently serves as the Assistant Editor of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. Previously, he was Associate Editor of the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. Articles written by Vickers have appeared in the New Holman Bible Dictionary, The Gospel Witness, and The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. He is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.
