Simon

Last July, our family moved countries again - this time, from Australia to the United Kingdom; our third country in five years. I have to admit, it's been quite a hard time. When you're in the midst of transition, you expect to be disoriented, but in my case, I started to see my old struggles with shameproneness come back again.

Last week I was privileged to speak at a conference for Nigerian churches in Europe. I led a seminar about reverse mission, encouraging them to share the Gospel with their white British neighbours. But, well, you know me: somehow, the topic of shame came up.

Someone wrote to me the other day because they really weren't convinced about what I was saying: that our Western society is incredibly sensitive to shame. "Aren't we now getting more and more shameless?" It's a good question, because I think it helps us to understand some of our assumptions about shame.