"May I add a comment?"

The bishop and I had gone to the Cathedral after two services at All Saints Church. The service at the Cathedral had ended, and the Bishop and I had answered some questions, which covered the usual things. I realized he was about to wrap up and stop. That's when I looked up and said to him, "May I add a comment?"

When I did, it dawned on me that that has been the nature of advocacy for the least evangelized peoples of the world. The topic rarely if ever comes up on its own. But what does that mean for me or any other advocate? Sit by and let the conversation return to the usual mission topics - evangelism and new church plants inside the diocese?

No, it means interrupting the flow of conversation, requesting the opportunity for a new thought, and spelling out the call of the Lord Jesus Christ to the church to go to each and every people group.

In this instance I made the observation that the theological climate in the church in the United States was tolerance, understanding that there are different religious views, and accepting of each one as valid, above criticism, and full of truth.

In that climate a church is highly unlikely to produce missionaries who want to go to those of other religious beliefs and tell them the Gospel of Jesus Christ - humbly, lovingly, respectfully, but tell them nonetheless.

Therefore, I told the congregation, come to the United States and Europe and re-evangelize us, if you want. But there is something else that must be done.

The Gospel must also to to Islamic North Africa, and for that to happen, it must be done by the Church of Uganda, the Church of Nigeria, and other African churches. The Lord is calling them to go there as well as inside their diocese, as well as the United States.

That's a comment that must be added, even if it means interrupting to make it.