A recent article in a mission
magazine provided me with some food for thought about our identity as missionaries
today. One observation that caught my attention was how deeply the countries, or
geographical regions, in which individual missionaries served have influenced
their vision of mission.
For instance, those working in China Japan Korea Taiwan Pakistan
On the other hand, those appointed
to Latin America and the Philippines found themselves among people with a
Christian tradition but, perhaps do to a shortage of priests, Religious and
trained laity, needed help in broadening their understanding of the Christian
message and renewing their commitment. Since many of those people were overwhelmed
by unjust economic and political systems, that context had to be addressed in a
genuine renewal process. As a result there was an emphasis on solidarity with
the poor and the social teaching of the Church.
I would not like to draw too clear
of a distinction here, as if one group was concerned only with a spiritual
dialogue and the other only with raising Christian social awareness. In both
situations there was a blending of the social and spiritual messages but the
different contexts inevitably meant that in certain situations more attention
was given to one aspect of the Good News than to the other. The contrasting
experiences and priorities that ensued were to have important consequences for
the development of our Society’s identity.
On the one hand, it led to
considerable expertise in the fields of international justice and the environmental
threat. However, our knowledge of the field of religious studies was not
refined to the same extent. For example, there is an opinion among a surprising
large number in our Society that all religions are much the same and, therefore,
going out to encourage people in non-Christian cultures to become Christian is out-dated.
I hope I am not misrepresenting the
mind of the author mentioned above when I read one of his sentences in that
light: “These realizations have demolished any lingering geographical basis for
mission and made quite impractical any distinctions between a people, a
culture, a community, an individual alleged to have heard the Gospel and those
alleged to have not.”
There could be a number of reasons
for this misunderstanding. One may be disillusionment with the sad state of the
Church in the western world. Another, a belief that every generation needs to
be re-evangelized so the task in no one culture is more urgent than in any
other. A third could come from the observation that religious practices have a
great similarity throughout the world and that thinking Christianity is better is
just the relic of a Western superiority complex.
I think the third objection points
to a key issue. There is no doubt that religious similarities and parallels do
exist around the world when people, for economic or social reasons, depend on,
or hope for, divine intervention to solve their more urgent financial, health
and personal needs. I have seen this is places as disparate as Taoist and Buddhist
temples in Korea China Cebu and a shrine to a Holy Man in Lahore
In their private lives those
believers were probably aware of precepts, similar to the Ten Commandments,
which they knew they should be observing and felt guilty about if they fail to
keep them. They were good people, trying to do their best as their traditions
taught them. Only the identity of the deity differentiated what they were doing.
If comparisons were to be made between such religious practices, it would be in
terms of which of the deities concerned was the more powerful or successful in
providing help.
But in many parts of the world today
most material needs can now be solved by human resources. In the 1980s and 90s
when tens of thousand of young Koreans were drawn to the Church it was not in
the hope of economic or other immediate benefits but in a search to satisfy
their deeper and inner yearnings. The Church’s stand for democracy and human
rights on the national level gave grounds for thinking it might have the answers.
What they were looking for was inspiration
in their lives, a source of encouragement and strength, a sense of their
individual and personal worth. Today
young people in China
I believe Christianity, and no
other religion today outside the small circle of mystics, has the answers to
this search. The message of Jesus uniquely offers:
--a relationship with God that is
direct and personal, giving a sense of being valued, of being wanted or called;
--a path in life that is inspiring,
enlightening, encouraging rather than prohibitive, compassionate rather than
judgemental;
-- a world view that is positive,
with an active role for humans and uniting people.
Again, I do not want to make too
strong a distinction between people with a ‘favor seeking’ faith and a
‘spiritual search’ faith. The reality is that the two are intermixed though, in
individuals and in certain cultures, one can dominate the other.
Unfortunately, many of the young Koreans
in the 1980s and 90s did not find what they were expecting. The Church in Korea
It is possible then, and indeed it
is stating the obvious, to say that there are geographical areas of the world today
where the vast majority of people have not heard the message of the person
Jesus, and could benefit from it. The prime example is Asia ,
with a third of the world’s population. There is much to respect in, and learn
from, the traditions of the East but that should not dampen our confidence and
enthusiasm for offering to them what we are fortunate to have inherited.
A problem remains in our Society of
two streams of experience talking across each other rather than to each other.
The loss is not just to the Society but to the world of mission in general.
Hugh MacMahon. 11/15/07
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