Very grateful for the work of Missio Alliance, who invited me to write this article. See full article on their website.

When I think of Pentecost, I think of the wisdom of my friend Rev. Katsuki Hirano, a renowned preacher and Christian author in Japan, who jokes that – in a country where less than two percent of people are Christian – he is pastor of a 200-member Tokyo “megachurch.” As Christians in America from left and right struggle for political dominance, Katsuki has a word for us: “Don’t be afraid to be a minority.” Pentecost also connects me to my colleague Mulanda Jimmy Juma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who says the desire for electric cars in the U.S. is helping fuel a battle for precious minerals in his country, resulting in churches in eastern Congo facing more and more local violence. Pentecost also reminds me of my front-row seat in Christian ministry at the United Nations in New York City, where fellow believers across the world regularly show me how American power can be a force for good in their countries yet can also cause enormous harm. And when I think of Pentecost, I think of a 2019 virus in Wuhan, China that eventually crossed every border until the whole world was in the death grip of a pandemic, a crisis of a generation which continues to haunt churches in America with its consequences.

But what does all this have to do with Pentecost? Disciples of Christ today are deprived, and the gospel’s power is diminished, when we are blind to problems and to fellow believers across national borders. Before Pentecost, this was also true for Jesus’ first disciples.

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Chris Rice lives in New York City and serves as director of the United Nations Office of the Mennonite Central Committee, an international relief, development, and peace agency. His new book is From Pandemic to Renewal: Practices for a World Shaken by Crisis. Chris blogs at chrisriceauthor.com.