Sandy was about 3 months old when I first saw her. Born to a
Thai street dog, she'd done well to get that far. Her mum had made herself at
home in someone's field, a kind someone, who put leftovers out the back for the
homeless puppies. I decided she was mine and I took her home, not realising she
was covered in fleas and ticks. None of that mattered. I learned fast, showered
her with TLC and pretty soon she was looking healthy and strong, gorgeous.
"What breed is your dog?", they'd ask me. "Bitza," I'd
laugh, "Bits of everything". 
I never thought I'd have to leave her so soon. She was a
friend to me, that year of alone-ness. She was my treasure. I rocked her in my
arms when I cried, and took selfies with her when I laughed. She'd cuddle up to
me in my garden hammock. Sit at the doorstep of my kitchen while I fried bacon,
keeping her boundaries. Barked away strangers I didn't like, lingering outside
my house looking in - she knew which ones. Anyone would think she was ferocious.
Fiercely protective, Sandy.
This treasure I found in the rubble is now lost. "She
ran away", is all I know. If leaving Thailand was one of the hardest
decisions I'd made, leaving her was one of my biggest losses. I grieve for her,
not knowing the circumstances that led to her getting lost, wishing I could
help. Longing to find her again.
Looking at my country with fresh eyes, I find myself
grieving too. Britain is the nation blessed with revival after revival -
outpourings of the Holy Spirit where God chose to reveal Himself in power and
inspired great passion. In 1784, there had been growing desperation in prayer
for a revival which would lead to the spread of the gospel 'to the most distant
parts of the habitable globe'. Revivals rocked England (1500,
1739), Northern Ireland (1859), Wales (1904) and the Scottish
Hebrides (1935) and brought millions to their knees in repentance and awe of
God. Passionate men like George Whitefield, John Wesley and Evan Roberts
lit fires in our nation, which sparked fires of the gospel as far as South
Korea and America, India and Africa - the most distant parts of the
habitable globe.
Yet now, this nation that was so found, so awakened to God's
kingdom, seems to be running hard in the opposite direction. America tells a
similar story. Where Christian revivals birthed milestones in education,
science and medicine, inspired some of our greatest music and the arts, brought
an end to slavery and other social evils, Christian witness is now either seen
as a threat, or worse, a joke.
The modern missionary movement was birthed through William
Carey, a shoemaker from Northamptonshire, who pioneered missions in India. Now
for the first time in history, the balance of the world is changing. Where in
the past, the political, economic, military centre and the centre of
Christianity has been in the Global North, one demographic has now shifted. The
Global South is now the centre of Christianity. Missions is no longer the
preserve of 'the West to the rest', but as it should be, from the Global Church
to the ends of the earth.*
How can the lost be found again? I'm sure Sandy could be
found and won back by love. Love that goes looking for her. Love that gives
extravagantly, nurtures her back to health. It doesn't have to be me, it could
be anyone. The yearning of every human heart is not so different. We long to be
found again. We were made for love. And the Lover who made us has many feet to
go looking. Some are just out of practice. Others are asleep. But while you’re
listening, He asks you, “Will you go? Love my lost ones back to found-ness.”
* "Southern Christianity was formed with and still
retains many Northern trappings, so that it often appears foreign to
non-Christians (and even, at times, to Southern Christians). In addition,
Southern Christians have yet to assume the leadership (in areas as diverse as
international Christian organizations and articulating theology) that their
global numbers would seem to suggest. Southern Christians also hold a
disproportionately small share of global Christian income and wealth, which can
inhibit their ability to fund ministry where Christianity is growing most
rapidly. Christianity’s shift to the South is not without opportunity, however.
In many ways, Southern Christians’ cultures and ways of thinking resemble those
of the biblical era more closely than do Northerners’, creating the potential
for vibrant new theologies and ways of being the Church. Pentecostal and
Charismatic spirituality also energizes many Southern Christians, although this
is not without controversy. Finally, Southern Christians tend to live in closer
proximity to adherents of other religions than do Northern Christians, opening
doors for dialog and mission that the North often resists or avoids." (Hickman, 2014)