Recently an article came to me affirming that missionaries have changed the world. Although I would not make quite so sweeping a statement, I believe strongly that they played an important role in world change. The claim can be most fully illustrated in the Catholic missions of South America following the story of Christian mission in Europe that began with the Apostle Paul. The story is mixed, of course and we acknowledge the errors wherever they occurred, but the history on balance is quite affirmative. The mission was sometimes sullied by the objectives of conquistadors seeking gold, some for holy-grail, or conquest for the sake of conquest. Such is the story of mankind pursuing self-interests and dominated by secular objectives, and to which most of the missionaries, Catholic and Protestant, would deplore. Behind the published history of conquest many saintly persons, from ordinary backgrounds, served both physical and spiritual needs of the peasantry. The names and dedication of these Christian missionaries are legion, and they changed the face of government and community life. The tendency to create protection, in their perception of a need to resist their enemies, enemies related to physical and spiritual interests of their work caused some to adopt pagan means to protect hard-won success. The accent on the hypocrisies of the centuries has tended to shadow mission effectiveness, with greater reverence for life than that which prevailed before the arrival of missionaries. There has been, and will likely continue to be, a constant tension between the forces of secular mankind, and human representatives from God. In modern history much tension has been muffled, but in areas of the world the resistance remains, sometimes to the death.
During the early years of my own professional life in Christian ministry, I interacted with missionaries who belonged to the pith-helmet-and-khakie-shorts brigade. They were a dedicated band. They were hard-working; walking from village to village in some far-off land; dealing with exotic languages; prayerful; adapting to local cultures; and, sometimes left on their own by their sponsors. They lived humbly, joyfully and though poorly paid often shared the little they had with locals. If they had children they would give them up to family or mission schools seeing them only for summer months and vacation periods. Some children rebelled or turned to secular interests, but many of those children succeeded their parents having experienced other cultures as part of their own. Mission boards would bring the missionary families home every four years or so – so that they would not lose their own cultures to that of the people to whom they dedicated their lives. With problems in the programs, missions moved forward to the degree that the native Christians were able to take over the objectives of the mission following guidance and assistance in the work. Many missionaries gave their lives in the violence against them. I have lived for a few weeks in the homes of these pioneers on the field. Some of my classmates were killed in the process of offering not only the redemptive message of Jesus Christ to hopeless persons, but assisting them in improving their daily lives in erecting buildings, educating, improving farm systems – and much more.
Much of this system is now gone. The world has changed since World War II, and the former mission system has been marginalized. The present approach is to use materials as the people have learned to read; to use electronics since even the poor have gadget exposure; to offer larger programs for the improvement of the general community; and, in the emerging pattern, to hear the call to establish Christian programs teaching a curriculum addressing both the individual persons and circumstances. The purpose of personal evangelism is strong. There is some effort given to the preparation of interested native students in the collegiate community, and invitation to students of faith to focus the objectives of Christ in their culture and habitat – even to become factors for secular governments to become friends to teaching missionaries. If there were accented efforts to form free standing Christian Colleges, with cooperative boards between the mission center and a growing Christian population in a nation we may see a renewed drive to win the vision from Christ to communicate the redemptive message and cultural advance. The system has begun. It needs larger support from mature churches in current world societies. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020