#3

What do mission organisations do for these people?    

    

  This question is of personal interest to me-especially considering that my parents have been missionaries since 1996. After much contemplation, I will be writing specifically about Christian missionaries-as that has been nearly all of my experience. Furthermore, whenever I do refer to "missionaries" or "mission organizations", I shall be referring to Christian missionaries. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Don Richardson's "Do Missionaries Destroy Cultures". I most heartily agree with his viewpoints on missionaries and believe he brought up some very valid points including the idea that the most sympathetic person should go first. Honestly, I agree with him that Christian missionaries are the most sympathetic people and although there have been some sporadic cases here and there of a missionary doing something horrid, there are many, many more cases of those who have done extreme good.    

Even if one ignores the religion brought in, the medical aid alone should grant missionaries and mission organizations some respect from people. Missionaries have braved diseases-even in our modern world, going to places in South America and Africa, many which are still disease-ridden. Anyone who claims that medical missionaries have hurt the society in which they resided should go to the people who were given medical aid, the women whose children were birthed at the hospitals built by missionaries, the young lives saved through the access to modern medicine and the thousands who were not destined to life as a cripple because of missionary doctors and the hospitals that were created as a consequence. Take for example the Snells who took their family to the Amazon rain forest to work among the Machiguenga people. They saved many lives through their ministry. Betty Snell helped save many babies in a tribe where previously more than half of all infants died, she and her husband also helped many with Malaria, the flu, and polio in a tribe where the average life expectancy was previously less than forty years of age. They had brought change to a society because of their obedience to God's calling and the burden He placed upon their hearts for the people which they served. Therefore should these amazing people and the thousands of others like them be told that they cannot continue physically helping people?  

Missionaries have also provided an example of something which no other organization could ever give in quantity or quality. This is love. Christians are commanded to love-first God, then everyone else regardless of whether and how others respond. Take Elisabeth Elliot, whose husband, Jim Elliot, was killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador, she could have just been mad at those who killed her husband and gone back to the US, but she went and lived with the very people that killed her husband because she loved them. This may sound crazy to many people, but God had given her such a love for the people that He loved and she saw the people through His eyes and provided a wonderful example of how Christians should love and how God does love. Amnesty International and the United Nations can do a lot of good things for people, but when it comes to loving people, missionaries and missionary organizations are well-known for their love and they would be the first ones to say that the love comes not from themselves or their goodwill, but from God. 

What else do missionaries do for people? They present the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people. Do they force people to accept this message? No, for this is a message that cannot be forced upon anyone but is truly accepted by choice. Do they go against different aspects of the cultures? Yes-when it goes against Christian beliefs. Do they go against the whole culture? No. Have there been missionaries that have made mistakes? Yes. Does that mean that all missionaries are bad? No-there is a much higher percentage of missionaries that do respect the culture and people group with which they live and still are able to share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In regards to the few missionaries that have behaved in a manner not Christ-honoring, I have a quote from my pastor which says: "Don't blame God for man's sin." I believe this is highly applicable to this topic as many are very quick to point out the mistakes in missionaries and use it as a reflection on all of God's people and most importantly God. People are not perfect, and Christians are no exception by any means and this is essential to keep in mind when looking at mission organizations and their works.

 

Citations:

Snell, Ron. It's a Jungle Out There. 1st. Hannibal Books, 1995.

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