/essay/
1.
Introduction.
2.
Learning
to speak the language.
3.
Learning
the culture.
4.
Identifying
with the local people.
5.
Prayer.
6.
Widespread
preaching of the gospel.
7.
Stress
on teamwork.
8.
Early
preparation for indigenous ministry.
9. Conclusion
Intro
In the last two millenia the history of
Christian missions has provided the Church with numerous examples of missionary
practices. Some of them have proved to be quite successful, others have been
partly effective, whereas still others have been rejected as completely
unwarranted by Scripture and their ethos. Trying to identify the most common
factors lying behind successful mission strategies could both inform our
churches, missions and the individual Christians about the basics of doing
mission, and mobilize them into putting those lessons into practice, for God’s
glory. The following are the most common factors that have contributed to some
of the greatest missions since the early church to our times[1].
Learning to speak the language
Learning to
understand and speak the language of local people has always been one of the
most important elements in a successful mission strategy. According to the
Bulgarian ethimological dictionary, language is “a means for communication
achieved through the exchange of thoughts, feelings, impressions, with the help
of sounds and graphic signs”. Since the Babel Latin America . But even if a
missionary is convinced of the importance of becoming fluent in the local
dialect, he might soon get discouraged if he has no gift for languages, and is
not persistent enough.
If we go
through the history of world missions, we will note the relation between the
ability of the missionary to learn the vernacular and the overall success of
his mission. For example, Ziegenbalg, a missionary from the Danish-Halle mission, had an excellent gift
for languages. He not only learned colloquial Tamil, but mastered the classical
form of it, which was extremely difficult[3].
The same goes for Robert Moffat, a missionary in South
Africa , who, after using Cape Dutch India
Learning the culture
The next
factor, identifiable from all successful mission strategies is learning the
culture[4].
As the Willowbank Report puts it, ‘culture is an integrated system of beliefs,
of values, of customs, and of institutions which express these beliefs, values
and customs, which binds a society together and gives it a sense of identity,
dignity, security and continuity.’[5]
It is not enough just to understand the others and make oneself understood.
Good cross-cultural communication necessitates also a good grasp of the history
and culture of the native people. The above mentioned Carey made a proper
research of the beliefs predominant in the Hindu culture. Before that, as early
as the second century AD the early church apologists set out to defend the
Christian faith from the attacks of the educated pagans in the Roman world.
They aimed to show the relationship between philosophy and Christianity, and by
giving tribute to the first, to stress the superiority of the latter over it[6].
The apologists were able to do that because they knew pretty well the
philosophical thought of their day. The same insight dawned to the Franciscan
monk Ramon Lull, who, nearly a thousand years later, established a college for
the study of oriental languages, so that future missionaries could understand
Muslim beliefs and debate with them[7].
One cannot help mentioning also the Anglo-Saxon monks, who lived very near to
the peasants in northern Europe, understood them and “instead of attempting to
destroy or uproot all their beliefs, they set to work to transform them” and
their pagan culture (Neill, 66, 67).
On the other
hand, the lack of knowledge of this background information has led to many
abuses on part of the Church, especially in the Middle Ages and during the
Great Geographic Discoveries. Probably nothing puts people off so much as the
memory of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the extermination of millions of
native Americans by some of the founding fathers in America[8],
the forcefully imposed Christian faith to the pagan population of many European
states, to name just a few…
Identifying with the local people
Another
indispensible factor common for successful mission endevours is the ability of
a missionary to identify with the local people. In his letter to the
Thessalonians apostle Paul showed what this means. He said his love made him
share his life with them and feel like being their “father” and “mother”, both.
He called them “brothers” and so much identified with them that they were to
him like a family and he felt responsible for their spiritual and physical
well-being[9].
Often the receptive culture abounds with such gross injustice, economic chaos,
widespread idolatry and sexual immorality, that missionaries who come from the
West cannot help noting the superiority of their own culture over the new
country they have arrived in. Thus they trigger suspicion and unacceptance on
part of the people they try to evangelise, and remain foreigners to them, even
when they’ve mastered the local language.
Side by side
with the great Biblical examples of people who have identified fully with their
new countries as Daniel, Jesus and Paul, many others can serve us as prime
examples of missionaries having a loving attitude, and thus having been blessed
with a remarkable number of converts. The story of the Moravians could be a
source of great encouragement to modern missionaries. They were descendants of
a group of religious refugees from Moravia
Prayer
As J. Packer
puts it, “true prayer” is “a constant struggle in which you make headway by
effort against various kinds of opposition”. That “struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms”[12].
Mission is in itself an effort to steal away territory from Satan and further
God’s kingdom on earth, and the devil will oppose this with all his strength
till the end of time. So, prayer is vital if we really want to make headway and
win souls for the gospel.
In a sense,
this is not our struggle, but God’s, because it is of spiritual nature. Yet,
the Holy Spirit’s help does not make prayer any less hard. Prayer is also hard
work, but we tend to forget that[13].
When we talk about mission, we think of it in terms of setting up societies,
boards, finding the ‘right people’, who then should set out to make plans and
strategies, and eventually put them into practice. And in the process we forget
all too easily that before we roll up our sleeves, we need to lift up our
hearts to God in prayer.
That’s why,
in spite of all the books that have been written on the subject, prayer is
somehow neglected when we talk about missions. But prayer has been the factor
behind all great missionary achievements, and lack of it, behind all missionary
failures! Jesus himself insisted that his disciples “should always pray and not
give up”[14], and
poured out his Spirit on them on the day of Pentecost as they were all gathered
together in the temple to pray; this day marked the actual beginning of world
mission. Paul, the missionary par excellence, who helped spread the gospel
throughout the Roman empire , prayed a lot
himself and admonished all believers to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions
with all kinds of prayers and requests”[15].
In more
modern times, many great missionary endeavours have started as several or more
people gathered to pray. Both BMS and LMS were founded as a result of monthly
prayer meetings. Hundreds of student Bible study groups have been planted after
a Christian student started praying to meet other Christians at his university[16].
But probably the most striking example of the role of prayer in mission is the
Church in Korea
Widespread preaching of the gospel
Preaching of
the gospel is also among the main factors contributing to the success of most
of the missions we have already mentioned. Language learning, adjustment to the
culture and identification with the local people are important, but God’s word
is that changes people’s hearts, “for the word of God is living and active.
Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and
spirit, joints and marrow; it judges thoughts and attitudes of the heart”[17]
(Hebrews 4:12). Preaching of the gospel was the first aspect of the Serampore
trio five-fold misisonary strategy[18].
Carey and his friends believed that “faith comes from hearing the message”[19]
and the area they covered during their preaching tours is really impressive.
Vanderkemp, Philip, Moffat, Livingston and other prominent African missionaries
were all moved by the heathenism of the African people and their “cause was the
cause of the Gospel”[20],
which was the only thing that could change their condition on earth, as well as
in heaven. Even though some of them, namely Livingston, were seen rather as
colonists than missionaries, their lives and work proved that to preach the
gospel of the crucified Jesus was what gave them energy and motivation to
persevere against the difficulties of their time and region. On the other side
of the globe, further north-east, the Russian preacher in the Moscow Academy,
Ioasaf Chotunshevsky, together with 6 of his students and several clerics
arrived in Kamschatka and within 3 years was able to report a Christian
population of 11, 574. Even more striking is the case with the Aleutians , who had previously known a creator god called
Aguguk to be distant and not exacting worship. After they heard the good news
by the Russion missionaries, they were ready to accept baptism! Much of this
was attributed to the friendly relations the indigenous people had had with the
Russians; but it was undoubtedly God’s Word that opened their spiritual eyes
and urged them to discard their shamanistic beliefs and turn to the living God.
And, finally, before us we have the example of the faith missions that showed a
commitment to preach the gospel to as many people as possible before Christ
returned.
Stress on teamwork
Another
important aspect of successful missions is teamwork. Before Jesus was arrested
and brought to Pilate, he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane: “I pray … for
those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be
one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so
that the world may believe that you have sent me”[21]
(John 17:20b, 21). With these words Jesus drew our attention to three important
aspects of our Christian lives. First, he urged the believers to be
missionaries in their situations and reach out to the lost. Second, he insisted
that all of them were to do that. And, third, they had to do missions in unity.
The first aspect tells us what we are supposed to do (evangelism, mission), the
second two aspects show us how we are supposed to do it (all of us, in unity).
If all
Christians are to do evangelism and mission, then it is the prerogative not
only of the clergy, but it is a task that should be also undertaken by the lay
people. The Anabaptists were the first to take Luther’s doctrine of “the
priesthood of all believers’ to its logical conclusion: all believers are
compelled to preach the gospel wherever they can[22].
When, on the other hand, mission is marginalized in the life of the Church and
limited just to the elected Church elite, as with the monks in the Roman
Catholic and the Orthodox
Churches
There are not
many missionaries in the history of Christian missions, who have worked all on
their own in a distant country, and who have managed to reach out to many
indigenous people without the help of others. Often, as it is the case with
Xavier, or with Marshman and Ward, orders and missions would send companies of
two, three or more missionaries who were to set up a missionary station and
spread the work farther on. It was when Marshman and Ward joined the lonely
Carey that one of the most famous and fruitful missionary partnership was born.[24]
Partnership between missionaries is even more impressive and effective for the
conversion of local people if it is achieved between two or more missionary
agencies or churches, as the case with the Halle-Danish mission. This process
of partnership and interaction was catalized much more with the arrival of the
faith missions which were interdenominational in character and first to employ
lay missionaries, in fact, all people available! After all, Christianity is all
about relationships, unity and partnership, and so is mission.
Early preparation for an indigenous
ministry
This principle has to do with the need of training
competent indigenous Christians to become fellow-workers of the missionaries in
the respective country. It was the last, but not the least important aspect of
Carey’s missionary strategy[25].
Carey and his friends stated firmly their conviction, that “it is only by means
of native preachers that we can hope for the universal spread of the gospel
through this immense continent”. And this principle has been tested to be
correct ever since.
But it hasn’t always been so. During the age of
discovery and immediately after, when the Roman Catholic Church managed to
convert great numbers of the local Indians to the Christian faith, one of the
serious defects of the missionary work was the fact that no serious attempt had
been made to build up an indigenous ministry. This created a clique of whites
with some chosen Indians to wait upon their needs, who were no enthusiastic
about the evangelization of the Indians as a whole. Even though some efforts
were made for training of Indian clergy, the road to giving permition for
ordination of ‘mestizos’ and ‘mulattos’ would still be long and difficult[26].
Later on, this time in Asia ,
the French Jesuit Alexander de Rhodes formed a “brotherhood” who were celibate
and were “required to make vows of celibacy, poverty and submission to the
superior of the community”[27].
This added not less than tens of thousands of converts to the Church. Still
later, John Nevius was maybe the missionary who put this principle of
indigenuity most brilliantly into practice. The Church in Korea Korean
Church
Conclusion
All the above-mentioned factors have
been either the stumbling block, or the blessing for many missions. When we try
to do them all – to learn to speak the language, learn the culture, identify
with the local people, pray for our mission, preach the gospel, prepare
indigenous workers early enough, work in teams – we should not be overwhelmed
by the impossibility of the task. We should rather fix our eyes on Him, and be
reminded, that we “can do everything through him who gives us strength”.[29]
[1] For most of these I have drawn on the Serampore trio five-fold
mission strategy (see Neill, Stephen,
pp. 224-25) as I find it to be one of the most balanced and well-developed
strategies I have come across during this course. We could add to this list some
more factors, as commitment to the task, accountability to ones decisions and
actions, living close to God, etc. I have dropped these out as more or less
they overlap with those I have suggested. For example, while discussing the
headings “learning to speak the language”, and “learning the culture” I have
mentioned that one should be committed to these disciplines if he is to fulfill
his task as a missionary, and so on.
[2] When referring to the missionary I will use the masculine personal
pronoun ‘he’ in singular for the sake of convenience. This should not be
interpreted as a rejection of the role of women as missionaries.
[3] See Neill, Stephen, pp. 195.
[4] Of course, there are some exceptions from the rule, like Robert
Moffat in Africa, who had little if any interest to the cultural background of
the people he shared the gospel with (see Tiplady, Richard, History of
Christian Mission, p. 208-9). Probably the more developed the receptive
culture and the richer its history, the more difficult it becomes for
missionaries to evangelise it without giving tribute to its assets. Probably
pagan cultures are not so demanding in this respect, and such is Mofat’s case.
[5] Quoted in Tiplady, Richard, History of Christian Mission, p.
317.
[6] Notably, Justin set out to prove that Plato and the other
philosophers had each only a “proportion to the share … of the generative
word”, or that, in other words, all truth belonged to Christianity (Apology
2:13). An even bolder statement was that of Clement of Alexandria, who viewed
philosophy as a God-given tool to the Greeks so that it might prepare them for
the advent of Christ (Miscellanies 1:5) – see Tiplady, Richard, History of
Christian Mission, p. 75-6.
[7] ibid., p. 114-18.
[8] See Tiplady, Richard, History of Christian Mission, p. 169.
[9] See 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12.
[10] See 1 Corinthians 1:23.
[11] See Tiplady, Richard, History of Christian Mission, p. 175.
[12] See Ephesians 6:12.
[13] See Packer, J.I., Knowing Christianity, p. 102.
[14] See Luke 18:1.
[15] See Ephesians 6:18a.
[16] See Lowman, Pete, The Day of His Power, 198.
[17] See Hebrews 4:12.
[18] See Neill, Stephen, pp. 222-26.
[19] See Romans 10:17a.
[20] See Neill, Stephen, pp. 263-67.
[21] See John 17:20b, 21).
[22] See Tiplady, Richard, History of Christian Mission, p. 163.
[23] ibid, p. 135.
[24] See Neill, Stephen, pp. 222-26.
[25] ibid.
[26] Ibid., pp. 147-150.
[27] See Tiplady, Richard, History of Christian Mission, p. 151.
[28] ibid., p. 246.
[29] See Philippians 4:13.
