So you want to be a liberal Christian missionary? I'm surprised. I thought most of you preferred the swank suburbs and easy going college towns to preach the word of God to Cultured despisers. I don't see many young people connecting Christianity with justice or service. Most of the young people I meet connect Christianity with arrogance, self-righteousness, conformity and hubris. You've found that justice and Christianity are nearly the same thing. That's wonderful. I hope you have a talent - engineers, doctors, farmers, businessmen, and even lawyers have skills that can help people. If you don't, then stay home. You'll just be a source of envy, lust and worry, and the Africans and Indians and South Americans can do the work themselves.
When you are recruiting for money, people will ask you if you are with some satanic organization called "ECUSA." "ECUSA" often supports doctors, engineers, teachers and priests. I was once a missionary, and although I only had one or two conversations about sexuality generally, Conservatives are ever vigilant about anything that could be construed as tolerance toward homosexuals. So you might want to be careful about what you say when a conservative brings it up. But open up your heart to them, even though they think differently.
People may need you. They need good engineers who can teach engineering; they need people who can teach how to read; they need nurses and professors of nursing. They need people to set up banks and cooperatives so that work can get done more efficiently. They need people who can teach women, especially, because they are the ones who share knowledge and pass it on. And churches are good places to get this work done.
But don't worry about their views about homosexuality. Say, simply, "we have different histories" or "people read scripture differently" and change the subject. Our issue in the west is the result of a very sophisticated economy where people don't need the same connections people have in the rest of the world. Our issues are the consequences of high capitalism and its benefits. If you really want to talk about it, wait. And don't fret, conservatives will bring the issue up again. In fact, it doesn't matter if you are a liberal or conservative where you are going. What matters is whether you love God, and love the people of God. Then, what is necessary will follow.
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