How to Be A Good Missionary |
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By David J. Lu April, 2011. David Lu is Professor emeritus of History and Japanese Studies at Bucknell University. His training includes attendance at Westminster Seminary in 1950-52.
I
dreamed one night that I was asked to advise theology students
who were about to embark on their long-term missionary work. My
son Stephen asked me to put that down in writing. This is an
embellished version of that dream,
Congratulations. You
have just answered the great commission. What must you do to
prepare for it?
Step 1: Be humble. You are going to represent
the servant Messiah who washed the feet of his disciples. Hubris is always with
us, and humility is hard to come by. One of the cardinal sins
that missionaries commit is their sense of self-importance. Home
church members simply adore you. Their support has been
generous. Arriving at the host country, you find yourselves
supplied with living standards much higher than those of their
typical middle class families. Wow, “I must be very important!”
Be truthful with
yourselves. Many missionary families have fallen into this trap.
Haven’t you heard that some of them really hated to return home
for their sabbaticals? They would say that the mission needed
them, but truthfully they missed the lifestyle they left behind
in the host country. In countries where the dollar remains
strong, domestic help is easy to come by. Sooner or later you
begin to feel that you are superior to those people you have
come to serve. You may not realize then, but you, the servant,
have been behaving like a master!
Let us step back for a
moment. Let us see the events which are about to unfold from the
perspectives of those people whom you are about to visit. Have
you ever thought of how they feel about you? They did not ask
you to come. You just came to them. You may be an unwelcome
guest. If you act or
feel superior to them, it doesn’t take a genius to smell it
instantly.
I have been in this
country over 60 years and have been able to observe how
missionaries are sent from this end. However, I was born and
raised in Now that my appreciation
is made clear, let me share with you an incident that a
Taiwanese Ph.D. student at one of our major universities had
experienced. After coming to this country, he read the Bible
from cover to cover twice in order to prove that Christian
belief was wrong. Instead, he accepted Christ and was baptized
.There was a well-known American missionary returning from Whenever I think of this
incident, it saddens me. I feel sorry especially for the
missionary. He missed a chance of listening to one of the most
heartwarming conversion stories, Worse yet, he forgot what the
scripture taught us, that we esteem others as higher than
ourselves, and that we bear one another’s burden.
Step 2: Be respectful of the people you are
going to serve. Dr. and Mrs. James
Curtis Hepburn gave a sharp contrasting story. They were the
first U. S. Presbyterian missionaries to
Not long after their
arrival, Dr. Hepburn faced an assassin, but was spared, Mrs.
Hepburn was less fortunate. She was attacked from behind by an
unknown assailant with a crowbar. They kept these secret, for
fear that these happenings could be made into major
international incidents. Patiently Dr. Hepburn began practicing
medicine, and Mrs. Hepburn started teaching English and other
mundane matters to reach as many Japanese people as possible.
They had been in
This eventually led to
Hepburn’s creating the first Japanese-English Dictionary. The
system of Romanization used in this dictionary became known as
the Hepburn system of Romanization. With his newly acquired
skills in the Japanese language, he became the principal
translator of the Old and New Testaments into Japanese, with
capable assistance from Japanese scholars and other
missionaries. Hepburn’s legacy in
Step 3: Establish points of contact. Even among nonbelievers,
there are seeds of religion that make them look God-ward. When
you enter a mission field, the first thing you want to do it is
to discover these seeds of religion among the people you intend
to serve. That will establish firm points of contact for you We are all shocked by
the earthquake-tsunami of March 2011 that devastated the
northeastern
The Jesuits were
diligent in search of seeds of religion in people
wherever they went. Father Matteo Ricci arrived at
Once they became able to
think and act like Chinese scholars, it was not difficult for
them to find many points of contact. Did not Confucius say: “Do
not do unto others that which you wish others not to do unto
you”? Was it not akin to the Western golden rule? Then there was
a passage in the Great
Learning: “When the personal life is cultivated, the family
will be regulated; when the family is regulated, the state will
be in order; and when the state is in order, there will be peace
throughout the world.”[2]
These words could be read
with benefit alongside I Timothy 3:6, dealing with
qualifications for bishops. “For if a man know not how to rule
his own house, how shall he take care of the The Jesuits understood
the hierarchical nature of Chinese society, and concentrated
their conversion efforts on high-ranking officials. Once they
were converted, those under them would follow suit, they
reasoned. This trickle-down approach had some success. However,
once the gospel reached the lower echelon of society, their
practice of ancestor worship became problematic.
To the Jesuits,
Confucius was almost a saintly figure. His moral precepts
contained many elements of Christian virtues. He stressed one’s
debts to ancestors. Did not the Ten Commandments instruct us to
honor our father and mother? Was not ancestor worship an
extension of this commandment? The rite performed in honor of
Confucius and ancestors, when it was done by the scholar-gentry
class, was elegant, often accompanied by soft music, and the
Jesuits could be at home in that atmosphere. They did not see
any problem in Christian converts performing these rites. The Dominicans and
Franciscans, who arrived in Here my sympathy is
totally with the Jesuits. Qing emperors governed Let us place this in the
contemporary context. In 1996, I was at a meeting of
missionaries in In today’s world, you
may serve in a country which is hostile to the This is an aside, but an
important one. Most likely, you will be accompanied by your
children. They are quick learners, they will master the native
language before you, and they will make friends faster than you.
Let your children lead the way from time to time.
Step 4: Step out of the box from time to
time. I am sure all of you are
well trained, by that I mean you have had good courses on
missions in your seminaries. Here my advice to you is this, no
matter how good your professor has been, he has not visited all
190 or so countries. You will be serving in a place he has never
visited. Precepts which work in Country A may not apply to
Country Z. So step out of the thinking box of your seminary days
from time to time. Let us turn again to the
Jesuits and Franciscans, and this time about their activities in In
1.
Whether one desires to become a follower of the padre is up to
that person’s conscience.
4. Anyone whose fief is over 200
chō and who can expect
two to three thousand
8. If a
daimyō who has a fief
over a province, a district, or a village, forces his retainers
to become followers of the padre, he is committing a crime worse
than the followers of Honganji who assembled in their temple [to
engage in the Ikko riot]. This will have an adverse effect on
[the welfare of] the nation. Anyone who cannot use good judgment
in this matter will be punished. The war-torn The mission prospered,
mass conversions were reported, and some prominent
daimyō (fief holders with large
territories) joined the rank. Some of the
daimyō
might have found
in conversion a means of
obtaining trade privileges and access to much sought after gun
powder, but Lord Arima, Otomo, and Takayama were known for their
fierce loyalty to their newly found faith. The It was this unfettered
desire for land that placed the Jesuit mission at odd with the
emerging central power of The proscription of 1587
was not intended to destroy propagation of Christianity. The
freedom of religion for common people was left intact. It
contained an equally strong condemnation of Buddhist orders. Two
major forces, both Buddhist monasteries with well-disciplined
monk soldiers, stood in the way of Nobunaga’s quest for
unification. As a historian, I am
trained to look for unintended consequences. In seeking choice
real estate, the Jesuits probably thought they were doing it for
the glory of God. Had they not done that, Hideyoshi would not
have bothered to prohibit their activities. A cunning strategic
thinker, he would not have done anything to jeopardize his trade
relations with the West. Death of the 26 martyrs was an
unintended consequence and an unnecessary sacrifice. After the
execution of the 26, the situation turned worse for all
Christians. Ruling powers began to fear the spread of
Christianity. They began to believe that Christianity was the
vanguard of aggression by the Spaniards and Portuguese. The
Tokugawa family was in power from 1600. Their Bakufu (governing
organization) in 1633 started issuing edict to close the country
from the outside world and in 1639 completed the process. To be
a Christian was a capital offense. There was a peasant rebellion
in Shimabara, lasting from 1637 to 38. It was conducted in the
name of Christ, and the peasants, warriors and family members
alike, willingly died for their faith. In this Hideyoshi’s worst
nightmare was realized.
Step 5: Beware of your action’s unintended
consequences I do not think it is
necessary to explain why this caution is needed after hearing
the stories of the 26 martyrs and the Shimabara rebellion. In today’s world, you
must also act and speak cautiously. If you are a newcomer in a
foreign mission, or a partner in a short-term mission trip, you
may not always understand why those who are already in the
vineyard are so reticent. Before you raise a voice to criticize
them, and act and speak contrary to what they do, stop and think
and try to learn from them. Their silence and inaction may have
come from years of experience. You may be in a country that does
not welcome foreign missionaries for ideological reasons. You
may get away with your own careless action, but it may cost the
visa of a great disseminator of truth who has toiled in that
country for many years. Remember the unintended consequences.
Step 6: Be patient, and keep a journal Love is patient. When I
become impatient, I think of how patient our Heavenly Father is
toward us. Yes he does love us. In your post, you may
get frustrated. There are so many things you want to accomplish,
but nothing goes right. Be humble, patient, and take one step
back. If you think that this kind of failure should not have
happened to a person as well trained as you, you are in big
trouble. You will look upon everything with disdain. Instead,
concentrate on the fact that there are so many things you do not
know. Then you can take everything in stride. Be thankful for
the opportunity God has given you to serve. God’s hand is at
work in everything. He is giving you a learning experience. Take
it with a joyful heart. “Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing,
and in everything give thanks.” Life is not bad after all, once
realizing this you will sleep better tonight. Again, here is a helpful
aside. Keep a journal. Your first impression of your new post
will become a jewel of memento to be cherished later. You can
keep a quiet conversation with yourself. Later it may enlighten
others. I had a student who wrote a term paper on daily life in To be patient also means
not to rush to judgment, and not to expect a quick result.
Ferdinand Magellan, we
all know him as a great circumnavigator, but little is known of
him as a missionary, and it was in that capacity that he met his
untimely death. In March, 1521 his armada reached the shores of
the present-day From today’s
perspective, we can see clearly that Magellan was combining his
evangelical zeal with colonial imperialism. As a man of the 16th
century, he found no contradiction in pursuing both goals
simultaneously. The crucifix, the flag and trade went side by
side. When the Jesuits arrived, many contemporary Japanese
perceived of them in those terms. That notion persists, even
today, as seen in many of their historians’ writings.
You do not have to
subscribe to their judgment. But there is a cautionary note.
There are many countries today which are hostile toward the
Step 7: Be willing to answer tough questions. You do not have all the
answers, but be happy that people ask you questions. With a
thankful heart, accept hostile questions. Allow yourself time to
study and answer them truthfully when you can. The process will
become an edifying experience.
Let me give you a sample
of a hostile question. “You Americans condemn jihad by the
Moslems. You are dishonest. Don’t you Christians practice jihad
too? I am sure the questioner
will cite the Crusades (1095-1291). Did not Urban II promise
remission of all their sins, if people joined the crusade to
attack Ponder for a moment, how
you would answer. As for me, I would say that many wars were
fought in the name of God, and that was wrong. As for jihad, I
would answer to them.
“Oh we had a jihadist
par excellence named Saul from We pray that someday, those who aspire for jihad against Christianity may also meet the transforming love of Christ. Now go forward. May the
blessings of our Lord be with you always.
[1]
Ricci
adopted the habit of Chinese
scholars. The issue of learning
language and dressing like
people in the community also
became one of the founding
principles of OMF International
(then the China Inland Mission)
founded by James Hudson Taylor
in 1865. The idea is called "incarnational
ministry".
[2]Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton University Press, l963) pp. 86-87 [3] Using this term, today in China Catholicism is called tian-zhu-jiao 天主教. To avoid using the same term, Protestants call our God as Father in Heaven, or tian-fu天父.
[4]
David J. Lu,
[5] Philippians 3:5-6. All quotations are from the King James Version.
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