The Questions of Majority World Christians

There is a great article by Todd Johnson that helps put some numbers to the tremendous global shifts that are taking place in Christianity worldwide. It is "Christianity in Global Context: Trends and Statistics."
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=2719604

We simply must take stock of the fact that Christianity is not a western religion. But it also means more, because it means we must begin to look at how our theological resources in the west can be brought to bear on the questions being asked by Majority world Christians. While the questions may seem strange to us, or perhaps resolved or unimportant, they are issues of importance to our fellow Christians in other parts of the world.

Twenty-five years ago I remember leading a home Bible study in a low-income barrio of Guatemala City. The topic of discussion, which I didn't even plan on addressing that evening, revolved around the eternal destiny of the Mayan descendants of our hosts! Was it true that God simply condemned them to eternal punishment because it took so long for the Christian message to reach Mesoamerica? While we may be able to provide answers, doing so in a way that takes seriously the perspectives of relatively new Christians is a challenge. Mark Noll mentions the same question in his new book, The New Shape of World Christianity. I guess it's never been such a pressing question for me. After all, my family has been Christian for generations. Bohemia has been evangelized since the martyrdom of Prince Wenceslaus in 929, and Germany even earlier. But newer Christians are asking different questions than we might be asking.

Another factor that shapes the kinds of questions newer Christians in the Majority world are asking is the struggle to just get by day-by-day that they are experiencing. In many cases, Majority world Christians are struggling just to survive. To a hungry man, or a sick woman with no medical help available, the question of God's immanent involvement with our world is of pressing importance. If God can act, why not ask him to and expect him to, even in surprising ways?

It's not that we don't have answers to these kinds of questions; it's just that we sometimes find other questions more fascinating. Once I have finished Noll's book, I'll post a short review.