I’ve been thinking a lot about the world lately.

A church team just returned from Liberia, where they set up computers for children at the Tubman Gray Methodist School. Look for their story (and photos) in the next Cornerstone church newsletter. Another team is in Haiti, holding a medical clinic in a part of that impoverished island nation where we have worked for years. Our congregation just prepared hundreds of hygiene kits – wash cloths, small soaps and the like – for the team to take with them. Much of our good works is supported by Jubilee Plus!, the church campaign to raise money for outreach above and beyond the operating budget. Look for more on this as the season of stewardship unfolds. Bishop Goodpaster is encouraging people everywhere to donate to a Conference relief fund to help victims of natural disasters in Southeast Asia, American Samoa, Indonesia as well as the great state of Georgia. The next Intersection magazine is out soon with a look at our work in Brazil. Sunday evening, I attended the premiere of A Glimpse of Grace, a film chronicling the work of Myers Park Presbyterian Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The scenes of sick and starving children break your heart. The world missions ministry at our church hosts a dinner October 27 previewing the congregation’s work in the world in 2010. Contact Jami Smith at jsmith@mpumc.org to reserve a place at the table, and to make sure that our Christian love takes flight.

Having covered the church scene for well more than a decade, I’ve heard the lament a thousand times: Why, some skeptics ask, should we help the needy in Liberia and the like when there are needy people around the corner?

Such skepticism, I think, comes from a healthy place in the heart. There are surely hungry, hurting people within the shadow of our steeple who need us. We must not ignore their cries.

But I think a hesitation to expand our vision comes from a less healthy place – in some minds an ignorance of other cultures, a fear of those who are different, a narrowing of our gaze when God calls us to look to the horizon. Whenever our gaze begins to narrow, we should ask ourselves: Does the dying infant I saw in that film from the Congo matter any less than a dying infant in Charlotte?

I’ve covered enough world mission projects over the years to know that an adventurous heart drives some to distant places, a cowboy spirit that relishes long journeys and risky missions. But taking risks in God’s loving name is a good thing. So is embracing the belief that we share this troubled globe – the fortunate few in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the less fortunate anywhere and everywhere that they cry out for help.