Not all theology survives contact with reality.
What I mean is that theology can sound clear in a classroom or feel settled in familiar environments. Yet, once you step into a place that doesn’t share your assumptions, your pace, or your resources, what you believe gets tested quickly.
For the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of serving on Manna Missions trips to island nations in the Caribbean. On my first trip, most of our team was made up of Manna University students, faculty, staff, and alumni, so there was a sense of familiarity within the group. The context, however, was anything but familiar.
I’ve spent time in difficult places before. I’ve seen complexity up close. But this first trip pressed on something different.
It’s easy to form opinions about places and cultures from a distance. News, history, political narratives, and secondhand stories often cause you to build a whole framework before ever stepping foot in a place.
If you’re not careful, that framework becomes your theology in practice.
What I appreciated most about how we prepared for that first trip is that we didn’t just study the context to understand it. We studied it to approach it correctly.
We spent time learning the religious and cultural realities of the people we would meet, not so we could feel informed or strategic, but so we could approach people with empathy. This distinction matters more than you think because what you believe about God shows up most clearly in how you see people.
Psalm 24:1 (ESV) says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”
That verse is simple, but it removes a lot of illusions. I love it because it reminds us of what matters to God.
Not just the land.
Not just the systems.
The people.
ALL of them belong to Him.
That means when you step into a new place, you are not stepping into territory that is waiting for God to arrive. You are stepping into a place where God already has a claim.
There were real needs where we served. People needed clean water. People needed the hope of the gospel. None of that was abstract.
But the truth is, no matter where we step foot on this planet: God is already at work.
With few exceptions, no matter where we travel, the Church is present.
If what we say we believe about God is true, then we know that The Kingdom is always advancing.
On that first trip, we weren’t there to initiate something from scratch. We were there to come alongside local churches and serve into what God was already doing. That’s not just good missions practice. That’s a theological conviction.
I remember standing in a small living room in the capital city when a young woman made the decision to follow Jesus. It wasn’t dramatic. No stage. No production. Just a conversation and a moment of surrender.
A few minutes later, one of her neighbors walked in. A believer. She was overwhelmed. She had been praying for that exact moment.
That’s the part you don’t see from a distance.
That’s the part you can’t control.
That’s the part that exposes your theology.
If you think you are bringing God into a place, you will approach people one way.
If you understand that He is already there, you will approach them another way entirely.
For those of us forming leaders, this matters.
We are not preparing people for a single environment. We are preparing them for a world that is complex, diverse, and often uncomfortable. If their theology only works when everything around them feels familiar, it won’t hold.
Theology that travels well does a few things.
It keeps you grounded without making you rigid.
It allows you to see clearly without assuming you understand everything.
It reminds you that you are not the center of the story, even when you are sent into it.
Most of all, it keeps you from confusing control with faithfulness.
The reality is, there are things you can’t control.
You can’t control how people respond or the pace of what God is doing.
However, you can control your heart’s posture. You can listen, serve, and remain faithful to what is in front of you.
“The earth is the Lord’s.”
Wherever we go, we are stepping into His world, engaging with His people, and participating in something He is already doing.
Dr. Carlo A. Serrano, President