"Money and Power" by Oscar Muriu
http://vimeo.com/8450561 - Urbana '09

Reviewed by Jim Jordan

Oscar Muriu’s talk “Money and Power” from the Urbana ’09 missions conference presents the incarnation of Jesus Christ as our model for mission. If you have time to listen to only one talk from this influential conference, Muriu’s should be that one. He captures the central message of the entire conference and speaks prophetically to a new generation of missionaries.

After generations of missions being done in a colonial and paternalistic manner, Muriu challenges young people to take up a different paradigm and follow the pattern of Jesus’ incarnation in our missionary work. Muriu both explores the Biblical precedent of the incarnational approach and calls young people to give their lives to this radical mission.

The heart of Muriu’s message is an exposition of Philippians 2:5-11. He explores four different doors that Jesus walked through in his incarnation: from pride to humility, from power to powerlessness, from privilege to poverty, and from harmony to brokenness. He contrasts God’s way of saving the world with the practices and methods of western missionaries, who often try to help the poor and needy without actually becoming poor themselves. God’s incarnational method, however, leaves behind power and privilege to enter into solidarity with dying humanity. Jesus is born into powerlessness and then lives in poverty under an oppressive empire for thirty years before even beginning his ministry. This humility and patience is rarely seen in success-oriented western missions.

The next generation of missionaries needs to hear Oscar Muriu’s radical call to incarnational mission. Not only this, but our mission agencies and sending organizations need to hear this message as well and change the way they train and send missionaries. The call to incarnational mission is a difficult one, but it is nothing more than the call to discipleship—to follow in the footsteps of our Lord in the area of cross-cultural missions.

Jim Jordan lives in Miami, FL in an intentional Christian community and serves as Short Term Coordinator for Latin America Mission (LAM)