Contextualization In Monoculturalism

Last month I caught up with Shanti, who was one of my students two years ago in a class I taught in South Asia.  In many ways Shanti’s story is common in this part of the world, but unique in its nuance.

Shanti is from the state of Manipur in the northeast of India.  Born into a Hindu family, she became a follower of Christ just a year before I met her.  Predictably the opposition to her conversion became an issue in her household.  Shanti’s father wanted to arrange her to marry a Hindu boy, but she refused.  Shanti’s pastor visited with her father and suggested she attend a training school that specializes in small trade projects for church workers and missionaries.  After completing her training she returned to her home and now works in her church.

I learned that Shanti’s mother and sister are now followers of Christ and her father has softened his attitude towards her.  At this stage she does not want to think about marriage as where she lives finding a Christian boy to marry would be difficult and her father, due to pride, would probably resist such a marriage.  Shanti is content to wait on the Lord and serve Him anyway He sees fit.

Though my passion is teaching missionaries from all parts of the world to take the Gospel cross-culturally, the teaching of how to communicate the Good News is not just for those crossing geographical boundaries.  For Christians like Shanti, who live in the midst of unreached communities, the lessons of how to contextualize the Gospel in one’s own family is relevant.   People movements are seldom, if ever, brought about in big evangelistic meetings.   Families and communities coming to Christ are more often a result of one person who tells one other person about the Savior.  In societies where the Gospel is restrained because of ethnic and religious opposition, it often the faith of one family member that becomes the catalyst for household conversions. 

Though we in missions often pray for the unreached people groups, in that prayer may we also remember Christ followers like Shanti, who faithfully live out their faith and share it with those in their own communities and, indeed, among their own family.

Is Missions An Old Mans Game?

To take off from an earlier post on missions and youth, I propose that maybe missions is more effective as an old man’s/woman game.

A few years back I was in Bolivia and met up with a guy in his mid-seventies.  He had been on the field for forty years and his sending agency wanted him to retire and return to the states.

“Why would I do that,” he wondered?  “I have some brothers and sisters back in the states, and of course some of my children, but I have no ties to the states.  I’d rather finish out my life here than some missionary retirement home in Florida.”

Carl’s support had dropped over the years as churches and donors dropped him to support younger missionaries.  He and his wife live on a modest income, but own their home in Santa Cruz.  Though this veteran admits he can’t physically do the things he did three decades ago, he still meets with pastors every day.  He counsels, encourages and teaches often.  What he has forgotten about missions is more than most first termers will ever learn. 

I’ve met many missionaries like Carl down through the years.  The eighty year old single woman in Kenya in 1978 who still drives the back roads among the Masai told me she has no plans on going back to the states as her “family” and friends all live in Kenya.  Or Marjorie who still rides a horse, though not as often, in the backside of Brazil for over fifty years.  Working with several organizations in South Asia the most effective national leader I know is in his eighth decade of life.  Apart from the physical challenges, these older folks are still making a significant contribution for the Kingdom around the world.

I am not suggesting that in every case older people are preferred over younger missionaries.  Of course the future of missions is to the young and not to those who are “too old to cut the mustard anymore.”  However, I can make the argument that, in some cases, older missionaries are preferable than those who are just now in their second decade of life.  Why?

First, life experience does count for something.  The young, in their twenty’s are, what a friend described as “pre-life” people, often have more zeal than knowledge.  In any profession those with experience are often more desirable in the workforce than those who just out of school.  Having once been a young person myself, I agree that it’s hard to have experience unless you are given a chance to prove yourself, but to put all your mission eggs in the basket of the young I think is unwise stewardship and not particularly strategic in furthering the Great Commission.

In the Western culture we adore the young and dismiss the old.  I think one of the reasons two week short-term mission trips are so popular is because the church can give kids something to do as they try to find their way in life.  Okay, good argument.  However, in most other cultures of the world, old age (anywhere between forty and eighty), are those who are respected.  Even Jesus didn’t have anything to say in His culture until He was thirty.  Youth is good.  Maturity is better when it comes to effectiveness on the field.

Third, older missionaries have the skills that will take the young at least ten years to acquire.  They have the language, have learned the rules of culture, the do’s and don’ts that only time provides.  Veterans are not enamored with the trends of missions that get everyone excited back in the states.  Senior missionaries year-by-year slog it out working with nationals, discipling new converts and building on a foundation they have established.  Why would any supporting church in the states diminish the efforts of seasoned missionaries just because they served for over thirty years?

I am very much aware that there are some older missionaries who should retire.  Just because they have seniority doesn’t make them effective.  Some old missionaries were not effective thirty years ago and are just comfortable being ineffective, as they grow older.  Since there are precious few mission dollars available, if an old retiree doing nothing is standing in the way of new career missionaries getting on the field, then, by all means, they should step aside and let the new generation take over. 

I am not yet a part of that old generation, but, admittedly, closer to them than the pre-life folks.  I’d like to think that when I get to that place in life, where the spirit is still willing but the body says it’s time to back it in, that I will have the wisdom to get off the stage.  My thoughts in this blog is that we recognize that missions is not just a young man’s game and that those who have been around a few years have much to offer.  That veteran may be the most strategic part of a churches outreach and is just as worthy as a young person and maybe more.   

Like an old professor of mine said, lying in the hospital, “Just about the time we learn how to live, it’s time to die.”  The wisdom and experience of the older missionaries makes missions an old man’s game. ­

How Missionaries and Politicians Are Alike

Riddle: How are missionaries and politicians alike?

Answer:  They both are always raising funds.

Politicians say they must continue to raise money to stay in office.  Television advertisements, bumper stickers, placards and direct mailing costs money.  Even though politicians have a salary, health benefits, travel expense and taxpayer funded office expense; to stay in office the folks in D.C. nevertheless continue asking voters for their votes and their dollars.

Missionaries, of course don’t have the perks of government “servants.”  For most cross-cultural workers, if they do have a salary, health insurance, a retirement package or office expense, they must raise funds from churches and donors.  Any ministry accomplished on the mission field, such as building classrooms at a Bible school, digging a well or printing study material, falls on the shoulders of the missionary to the find funds for such projects. 

Being a career missionary means one must also be a career fundraiser.  Why?

DONOR ATTRITION:  A missionary seldom, if ever, is able to maintain 100% of his/her support.  Each year the missionary receives notes from churches or individual contributors saying they will have to discontinue their support.  Sometimes it’s because of an economic downturn in the donor’s location.  Sometimes it’s because there is new leadership in the church and, though the congregation has supported the missionary for twenty years, the new pastor may decide they will drop that support because they don’t know them.  Or perhaps the church takes on a different mission philosophy or policy.  Whether the merits of donor attrition is valid or not is irrelevant, the fact of the matter is, donor attrition makes career fund raising a reality.

COST OF LIVING:  The price at the pump is hard on everyone, including those who serve overseas.  We all know that prices never go down, they just keep going up.  Housing rent, food, clothes, insurance, building materials and school fees increase.  Single donor support seldom increases.  Though the $50 a month support is regular, and certainly appreciated, its value is drastically depleted.  The buying power of $50 in 1992 now takes $81.82 in 2012.  Continual support raising is an attempt to keep up with inflation.

One reason there are fewer people committing to serving overseas as missionaries is this obstacle of fund raising.  I meet young people often who tell me they would like to be missionaries but they just don’t like the idea of going to friends and churches and asking for support.  It seems like a lousy system, but for career missionaries it’s the only system they have for living and working cross-culturally.

Being a missionary is an honorable calling and, unlike politicians, it is a profession that is driven by service, not by an attempt for power or economic advancement (that is not to say there are not honorable politicians, but their profession is often perceived as being more self-serving than serving the people).  Career missionaries are not in it for the money, power or economic advancement, they just want to serve Christ in taking the Gospel to those who do not know Him.

To those of us who support missionaries, individually and corporately through our local church, may we continually be sensitive to their financial needs.  May we never assume that because they are on the field they are doing okay.  May our prayers on their behalf be matched with realization that without our support they cannot carry on the task of the Great Commission.

IS MISSIONS A YOUNG MANS GAME?

Crawling under the mosquito net in the mud hut with thatched roof, I was bone tired from the five hours on a Sudanese bus in over 100 degree heat.  Listening to the conversation of the people outside my sleeping quarters, stretching to get the kinks out of my body,  I couldn’t help but wonder if I wasn’t a bit old for such endeavors.   Thirty years ago when I was working the bush of Turkana and Pokot such expeditions were normal.   Today I wonder if I decided to start fresh in South Sudan how would I do it, but even more, I wonder IF I could do it.

My time in Sudan was short, but long enough to hear the stories of tribes such as the Dingadinga, Topsa, Dinka and Nuer and other tribal groups living near the mountains on the Ugandan border, where primitive people live much like they have for centuries.  My spirit wanted to explore such places, to learn their customs, tell them of a God they know exists but fear the spirits with no knowledge of the One who created them.  Sadly, my body told me that my time for walking through the bush for days is past.  Such work is a young man’s game.  Sleeping on the ground, eating any food that is set before you, is a chapter that is closing in my life.  But is missions really a young man’s (and woman’s) game?  If so, then, statistically, the role of American missionaries in the world is waning, as fewer are signing up for career service in places like Sudan, the highlands of Kyrgyzstan or the lowlands of Bangladesh.  And, even if the young do sign on, a very small percentage will ever work in the many back roads throughout the world.  Not many Americans will take their families to remote cities away from the capital,  even fewer would put their children in a boarding school like Rift Valley Academy and be separated from their kids weeks at a time.   Of course serving God is more than roughing it and most the the good work Western missionaries are doing are in cities.

Reaching the unreached is a popular theme in the Western church.  We can pray for the Dinka, we can even send short-termers to visit them, but how will they truly be reached with the Gospel?

Probably the only hope for those hidden groups would be for a national missionary to reach them, but Africans are not that much different from Americans.  The style of living is different as there is still a standard of lifestyle for each person.  A guy from Kenya will generally complain about the food of the Sudanese, or the hot places where the people live. 

This past week I have met some Sudanese and Kenyans who truly have a passion for doing things that is absolutely necessary for successful ministry among a people group, i.e. learn their language, customs, cultures and live by the rules they dictate, not your own culture.  Though I cannot be on the field of play because of age, I can work smarter using the experience God has given me to facilitate the young man’s game.  And, for the time I have left on earth I pray that from time-to-time, the Lord will allow me to join in the game and tasting the experience of taking the Gospel who truly have never heard His Name.

Reflections: Respect for a Fallen Comrade

Yesterday I read about a colleague who passed away in Ethiopia of malaria.  Though I didn’t personally know him I had heard of him, first, as a missionary in South Africa and more recently his plans to serve in South Sudan.  His death hits close to home as we share similar experiences.

Malaria is one of those viruses that have consequences like having a bad flu.  A mild case makes you feel terribly uncomfortable, burning up with high fever yet with chills, or, as in this case, can kill you.  I’ve known several East African missionaries who have contacted malaria and many of my Kenyan friends have died of complications of malaria.   I have been hospitalized twice with the bacterial virus caused by mosquitoes.   When I heard this morning that he was very ill I could empathize. 

This colleague was one of those guys who, evidently, weren’t content with status quo, and adventure, which is common among many of missionaries who work on the African continent.  With an open door of working in the newly formed country of South Sudan, this brother was looking for new frontiers.  One can only admire such a spirit.  In an age when career missionaries from the West are fewer than anytime in modern missions, we all feel a loss of great magnitude. 

Rex was 61 years old, just a few years younger than myself.  At that age one thinks, not about retirement, but how many more years you have left before the inevitability of a decaying body can withstand the rigors of working overseas.  The end of Rex’s journey came sooner than he expected, and causes those still in the trenches if we will finish the race in old age or go out while still actively doing the things we love for the One whom we love. 

My heart goes out to Rex’s wife and family.  The loss is only tempered with the assurance that the God he served, for whatever reason, took him in according to His purpose.  For those who serve our Lord on a foreign field there is a bit of admiration for guys like Rex.  We all know the dangers of disease, conflict and persecution, and we know, too, that risk management is a thing we should pay attention to but there are neither guarantees nor avoidance of danger.

Words of consolation are futile at this point.  But my respect for Rex and many more just like him is immeasurable.  

Is There A Special Call To Missions?

People seeking God’s will for their lives often ask, “How does one really know for sure if God is calling them into His service?”  The short answer is, “I don’t know?”  As I review those early years of my journey, it seems to be more of an accident than a well thought out plan.  However, I believe the principles regarding how God uses a person, whether they are in the ministry or not, are consistent.

The first principle is that you must surrender to God’s leading in your life and love Him with all your might (Mt. 22:37).  Though I fell into my career path by default and decree from my pastor, my heart was in the right place.  I gave my heart to Christ years ago as a kid at Vacation Bible School, and that salvation experience was real.  Though I had lived the life of a prodigal, I never doubted that I was child of God—not even when I openly denied Him.  In my deepest moments of despair and debauchery, I had a secret longing to return to the One who loved me and gave Himself for me.  My resignation to giving my life completely over to him that February night was genuine.  Had I become a football coach (which was actually my lifelong dream), a farmer, or a clerk in a store, my life would have been just as fulfilling because I was committed to Him.  I have never believed that being in ministry was a supreme calling—noble, yes, but no nobler than any other career where one is doing what God has gifted them to do. 

There are some in the church who insist that there is a special call into ministry, and they use Bible personalities from Abraham to the Apostle Paul as their proof-texts.  I concede that God did, and probably still does in rare cases, call out people for special tasks.  I do not believe, however, that a special call is a pre-requisite for all who enter fulltime service.  One needs to be gifted for any task they pursue; but God’s special hand is not on every pastor, missionary, or evangelist.

The ministry has always been on a volunteer basis.  Most who volunteer are people with a deep desire to give their life to Christ to such an extent that they take on ministry as a career (1Tim. 3:1).  To seek a career in ministry, rather than being called to be a pastor, youth director, professor of Greek, or missionary, is not demeaning; in fact, it is pleasing to the Father that His children, through their own free will, desire to serve Him.  

In many ways, the teaching of “a special call for ministry” has been harmful to the church.  Some have abused the call by assuming a position that is not to be challenged--all the while claiming they are chosen by God.  The church would be better served if we abandoned the notion of the call and just accept it for what it is: a profession born out of a desire to serve Him.

(Excerpts from The Journey of a Post Modern Missionary now available on Kindle.

The Noble Task of Missions: A Case Study in Niger

The girls are married between the ages of 10 – 15 years.  Because they are children bearing children, often their frame just cannot give birth.  Some of these girls are in labor up to 10 days and if they don’t die in the process their babies certainly do and permanent damage done to the mother’s body.

I attended a men’s breakfast at the church we attend as a part of their mission conference.  A friend of mine, and former student, talked about his recent trip to Niger.   Cliff is a gadget genius and went to Niger, as well as some other folks from this church, to do some work at a Fistula Hospital in Danja (http://worldwidefistulafund.org/danjafistulacenter).  As he told the story of the child brides, the reason for the need of this hospital it was so compelling I came home and watched a PBS documentary on this subject. The video clip is about 50 minutes long, but it is worth the time.  Some people merely condemn culture, others serve culture, in spite of its many flaws.

If I had ten lives I’d want all of them to be involved in missions.  Missionaries get a bad rap from secularist, even from some Christians.  I know we don’t do all things right but when I see, read and hear the stories of missions and missionaries it truly is a life worth living.  

Short-Term Missions: It's A Life Changing Experience

I pulled this picture off of Facebook, it was produced by Experience Mission.  For a group that promotes short-term missions trips I thought it was pretty honest. 

Going to their FB page my eye caught the one phrase that drives me crazy.  One person wrote, “I went on a mission trip and it changed my life.”  It is the one testimony that every short-termer says.  I plead for originality, but it seems to be the only thing they know what to say.  No one ever says how it changed their lives, but going overseas for 10 days seems to have some impact.

A friend of mine in Nicaragua  wrote, “I maintain that short term mission trips, seminars, classes etc. (learning experiences) should be evaluated six months to a year after the event.  By then the shine has worn off and more of the truth might be evident.”  That’s a pretty good idea.   Maybe after 6 months that change of a lifetime will be more evident.

Ring, Ring...Make The Way Plain

One of my standard messages when speaking in churches is on John the Baptist.  Luke 3:3-6 reiterates the words of Isaiah who states that the role of the forerunner of the Messiah was to “make the way plain, to smooth out the roads, make the crooked path straight.”  It’s a cross-cultural communications outreach message entitled, “Make the Way Plain, Make it Easy.”

The role of every Christian witness is the same as JB.  We are to declare the faith in a manner that people who are not believers can easily understand.  We often don’t communicate the Gospel well because we use Bible-speak vocabulary with words like, “faith,” “salvation,” “born-again” and really get carried away sometimes with our lofty theological  verbiage by interjecting words such as “propitiation,” “sanctification” and “substitutional atonement.”  The words are okay if you have a Bible degree from the University of Martine Prison in Rome, or one who learned the word “saved,” before you could say Mama, but for the average non-churched secularist, Buddhist or Hindu, these words as are as foreign as Mork’s “Nano-nano.”

I remind my listeners that one way of making the way plain, easy for non-believers to accept Christ is NOT BE AN OBSTACLE.   I believe that for 2,000 years the institutional church has consistently set out to see how hard they can make it for seekers to be Christians.  The Judaizers wanted every male in the first century to be circumcised to enter the Kingdom.  Then came those who insisted that a requirement for salvation should be being baptized three times forward or walking five kilometers on your knees to pray to a dead saint.  The church is often not a bridge to Jesus, but more like a boulder on the highway to heaven.

You can imagine my surprise then, when just before I was to deliver my message recently that the pastor had a humble request.  “Please, sir, could you remove your wedding ring before you speak?”

What?  I haven’t had my wedding band off in forty-three years?  Why do you want me to violate my sacred vows to my wife and before God by removing my ring before speaking (I realize that is a bit dramatic, but you get the point)?

The pastor went on to explain that recently there was a lady who wanted to be baptized and join the church.  However, she wears a ring on one finger.  The congregation was in much distress and divided over whether she should be required to remove the offensive object from her hand before becoming a member of the body.  Their interpretation of “women should not be adorned with gold…”  (1 Tim. 2:9) requires that they wear no ornaments of fashion such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets or rings.  Since the pastor was in the midst of such a deep theological debate he felt he needed to be consistent in asking me to remove my insignia of devotion.

Of course I reluctantly complied.  Like the Apostle Paul was willing not to eat meat that was offensive to the church in Corinth, I, too, put away my preferences for the sake of the weaker brothers and sisters (1 Cor. 8:9-13).

So, how does one preach “Make the Way Plain,” to a church that would rather refuse membership to person who wears jewelry than allowing them entrance into a body of fellowship?  Very carefully.  I can admonish people to not be an obstacle without pointing my finger of judgment, with or without my ring being on it.   One learns grace at times like these remembering that just a few years back as a young pastor I taught some pretty silly stuff as well.

I have since learned that the congregation thought my message was wonderful and they would like to have me back for a conference.  Stay tuned for “Make The Way Plain, Part II.”

           

Two Hundred Years of American Missions

February 6^th is a big day in North American mission history.  It was on that day 200 years ago that the first American foreign missionaries were commissioned, most notable being Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice.  Sent out by the Congregationalists and knowing they would be interacting with the English Baptist missionary William Carey on their entrance to Calcutta, on their four month trip by sea to India Adoniram and his wife Ann studied the Scriptures on the subject of baptism.   Their study convinced them that the Baptist’s were right on mode and method and, so on their arrival to the sub-continent, the Judson’s were baptized by Carey.  Rice arrived in India sometime later and was distressed to learn of the Judson’s theological conversion.  However, after studying the subject Rice also became a Baptist. 

The British East Indian Company had little tolerance for missionaries by the time Judson and Rice arrived in Calcutta.  Carey was well established in India and the ruling colonialists could do little to expel him from the country, but they did refuse to grant the new batch of missionaries’ permanent resident status.  Blocked to remain in India, Judson and Rice resolved to go to Burma.

However, due to switching denominations, both Judson and Rice thought it proper to resign from the Congregationalist.  Rice was in poor health and it was decided he would return to the U.S. while the Judson’s continued their ministry in Burma. The Congregationalists accepted Judson and Rice’s resignation, with the provision that both missionaries return money invested in them.  

Not only did Rice have to raise money to return to the Congregationalists, he also had to seek support for the Judson’s and himself.  The issue of raising money for ministry work put Rice on a life long pursuit of funds, though for many years he thought it was a temporary necessity until he could return to Burma.  Rice is known for attempting to bring northern and southern Baptists together, but more than anything, raising money for colleges and seminaries.  Rice died with not much more that his horse and buggy, never married and never returning to the mission field. (read a more detailed account of Rice at this website).

Judson’s story is one of triumph and tragedy.  In the 38 years he served in Burma he translated the scriptures and shared the Gospel. It was six years before Judson saw his first convert and after twelve years there was only eighteen followers.  Humanly speaking, Judson paid a great price for his service overseas.  He was in prison for nearly two years and under a death sentence for being a British spy.  Two of his wives  as well as several of his children died in Burma.  Judson passed away at the age of 61 of a lung disease and was buried at sea (read more).

As I reflect on this historical event of 200 years ago I am in the southern part of India teaching.  In my class are three students from Burma.  One of the issues that always comes up in my class is should supporting churches and missionaries invest time, energy and resources in areas that are most receptive and/or is it a waste to go to fields that are resistant.  Soon after Judson’s death it was estimated that over 210,000 Burmese were followers of Christ.  Today, with a population of nearly 50 million people in Myanmar, it estimated that 6% are Christian, 3% are Baptists.  I am sure that every believer in Burma today, who are direct spiritual descendants of Adoniram Judson would say that, even today as Christians are not only a minority religion but also a persecuted group, that the investment in their country with the Gospel was worth it.

Two hundred years after that first batch of missionaries went out from America, the cause of missions is stronger than ever.  Though we do not have as many career people going out and certainly not many going to the hard places that Judson was committed to, the American missionary still has a vital role in global outreach.  Happy 200^th birthday to us.

January Report

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Year End Reminder: The Importance of Trifles

Quick, can you name the 19^th century author who wrote A Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language?  He’s the same person who was a professor of classics at General Theological Seminary in New York.  Give up?  His name is Clement C. Moore. 

Most people can be forgiven for not remembering Professor Moore or his writings.  But finish this sentence:

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house…”

I find it interesting that though 99 out of 100 people reading this blog are not familiar with the name Clement Moore, probably 99 out of 100 people could finish the sentence and, perhaps the whole poem, of Twas The Night Before Christmas.

This is the last week of the year and as we reflect on the events of the past 365 days we take stock of accomplishments, victories, failures, happy and sad days.  Yet, in reality, we really don’t know how this year will stack up as it relates to posterity or eternal good. 

By all accounts, Clement Moore was a pretentious man, who was prideful in his profession and accomplishments as a scholar and who had disdain for, what some would consider, silly things of this world.  Though his poem was instantly popular as a children’s nursery rhyme, which he wrote for his own children, he denied being the author for over a decade calling it a “mere trifle,” something that was beneath his dignity.  Nearly two hundred years later, however, few people remember the author’s identity and, I dare say, have no interest in reading his academic writings, but they can finish the sentence, “…not a creature was stirring, not even a…”

Now in my sixth decade on this earth, my prayer is that, though I need to be serious about my vocation and calling, may God deliver me from being a self-absorbed prig.  Life is not about our accomplishments, but our contributions.  Though Clement did indeed contribute much through his accomplishments as an educator in his time, it was the mere trifle that he penned that has remained longer than the remembrance his name. 

Mind the mere trifles in life; it’s the stuff that legends are made of.

You've Got To Follow The Star

Training Non-Western Missionaries

Occasionally I teach cross-cultural mission in the U.S.  I always enjoy it and hopefully I can be a help to the young men and women who have an eye on career missionary work overseas.  My focus, however, has been for over a decade, to teach non-Western missionaries.  The reason is two-fold.

First, each year there are fewer and fewer Western missionaries taking up the challenge of missions as a career.  The American church, especially, is much more focused on short-term mission projects.  There are some short-termers that are truly helpful and contribute to the overall spirit of the Great Commission.  These folks are usually highly specialized and fill a real need for the national church throughout the world.  With skills in building, digging wells or appropriate technology in developing countries, they work alongside the nationals or career people on the field.  These short-termers don’t seek cross-cultural training because they feel that, since they will only serving from 10 days to three weeks, they don’t need it.  In many cases they are right, but in other cases I feel they would be better off in both serving as well as understanding the experience of being in a foreign culture if they had even a one day seminar on the dynamics of culture.  Nevertheless, with the decline of career people serving and the emphasis on short-term missions my role in working with American missionaries is limited.

Second, and primarily, the reason I don’t teach in the U.S. is because what God is doing globally. 

Sam George, whose article, “Diaspora: A Hidden Link to ‘From Everywhere to Everywhere’’ in Missiology, January 2011, states that over the past five centuries there has been paradigm shift in missions.  The first wave of missions was the rise of the West, which he says coincided with the Protestant Reformation.  The second wave in missions was the rise of the United States, propelled by the modern day mission movement and WWII.  The third, and present wave, is the rise of the Rest, which is a globalized movement. 

In 1800, 5% of the Christian population lived outside of the West.  Today, two out of three people Christians in this world are outside of the West .  The Korean church sends out more missionaries each year than the all of the Western countries combined.  Nigeria, India and Argentina have an increasing global presence in missions.  It’s not difficult to see with these statistics that the heart of mission activity resides outside America.

The role of the career North American missionary, like me, is to facilitate this movement of global missions.  As a missiologist, with an emphasis on cultural anthropology, my role is to help the national church learn the dynamics of how to serve cross-culturally.  I believe there are many other Americans like me who can serve in this capacity.   

The Goddess of English

Polytheism is the belief in many gods.   It’s estimated that there are over 330 million Hindu gods and goddesses.  With a population of over 1 billion people in India and 85% of them Hindus, most of their religion revolves around petition to local, village and household gods.

I readily admit, as a monotheist, I don’t understand polytheism.  I understand Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism as well, of course, Judaism and Christianity because each one of these religions has a historical base.  Buddha was a person, as was Confucius and Loa-Tz, Mohammed, Moses and Jesus.   The main characters of Hinduism, Ram, Vishnu, Shiva, are mythological figures as well as their avatars.  Though the function of Hinduism is basically the same as other religions, the one distinguishing factor is that it is not based on any historical record.  And, evidently gods and goddesses are still being created.

This past week I read about a new deity, the Goddess of English, created by a Dalit writer by the name of Chandra Bhan Prasad.  The Dalit are an oppressed people group with a population of 200 million people.  Though discrimination by caste is outlawed in India, the Dalit’s, formerly known as “untouchables,” remain an oppressed class. 

The language of power, since the days of the British Raj, has been English.  Only the privilege upper caste were given access to the English language and, as we all know, over the pat 50 years in this day of globalization, English has become the dominant means of communication in commerce and politics.  Illiteracy is much higher among the Dalit than any other class of people.  Believing that learning English is a path out of poverty and discrimination, Prasad created the Goddess of English, which is modeled after the statue of liberty wearing a floppy hat, holding a pen in one hand and the Indian Constitution in the other, perched on a computer.

The reason there are so many idols in polytheism is because there is a deity created for every need of man.   The gods/goddess of fertility, wealth, rain, social power, marriage, crop harvest, herd health, protection, whatever is the need there is a shrine or temple built for that need.  So, the Goddess of English is just another extension of polytheistic superstition.

Again, most religions have an element of superstition, myth and animism.  Whether it is the Muslims praying to one of their saints, Buddhists praying to their ancestors, Catholics praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe or evangelicals (?) with prayer cloths, all are objects for the adherent to manipulate the gods to grant them blessings. 

What is striking about the superstition of religion is the void of worship, worship that is rooted in love and gratefulness, not fear or mere veneration.  Human devotees may admire prayers to the Goddess of English, the fast of Ramadan, the immolation of Tibetan Buddhist monks, but they are acts driven to appease the Supreme power and to bend that power in their favor.   

The faith of a Christian is, or should be, marked by an uncharacteristic lack of human self-reliance.  Our belief is in the one true God that provided His creation with salvation through Jesus.  The only thing we humans are required to do is to accept that grace He has provided and turn away from the many gods created by man and turn to the living God (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

Learning English is a great endeavor for social and political power.  However, creating an idol and making it an object of devotion cannot and will not make the Dalit free, either in this life or after death. 

Black Friday and Worldview: Consumerism

Every year the traditional starting point for the American Christmas shopping season begins the day after Thanksgiving, known as “Black Friday” (a term referring to retailers who, hopefully, will turn a profit and get them out of the negative red).  What's caught my attention this year is the intensity of advertisement to lure people from their homes and be first in line for holiday bargains.  Throughout the nation people have been camping out in front of stores for days so they could be the first to snatch up the super sales when the doors open.  Some stores actually began their Black Friday sales at midnight.

I am in the midst of reading, “Hidden Worldviews: Eight Cultural Studies That Shape Our Lives,” and the second chapter deals with the worldview of consumerism.

Not all aspects of consumerism are negative.  Since the beginning of time people have made or grown goods to sell.  It’s the cycle of consumption that is the part of life.  Even if one grows roses as a hobby, as does my wife, we consume the flowers by cutting and putting them in a vase to beautify and bring color into our surroundings.  Consumption, then, is an inherent part of who we are as human beings (one can argue that the animal world are also consumers, though they are without one distinguishing characteristic, a consciousness of self). 

The consumption ritual of Black Friday, and indeed the shopping season leading up to Christmas and beyond (don’t forget the after-Christmas sales), reveals a materialistic worldview; that we are by what we own.  Self-worth and worth of others is dependent on the philosophy of consumerism.

Materialism is a worldview irrespective of income, held by both the wealthy and the less affluent.  The car we drive, the home we live in, the clothes we wear and even the food we eat are all symbolic indicators of consumer power.  The feeling of being successful or making economic advancement is marketed by brand, price and exclusivity.  The “I’ve got to have it,” regardless of whether one can afford it, is the power of the consumerism worldview.   

Authors Wilkens and Sanford also point out in their book that consumerism buys and discards the ever-elusive definition of “need.”  The commodity that is so desperately needed this year will soon be thrown away or in next year’s garage sale.  The dream home becomes inadequate over a period of time and the ultimate mobile phone becomes obsolete within a matter of months.  So prevalent is the worldview of consumerism need that it even affects marriage.  The ideal husband or wife loses their value and the search for a more meaningful relationship lead some in our society to discard their mates because they no longer meet their needs.  Consumerism is the pursuit of greater fulfillment.   The reality of Black Friday and all consumption activity is that it is a black hole.  What we own materially is never sufficient, echoing the words of J. D. Rockeller when asked how much money is enough replied, “Just a little bit more.”

Guilt is also a marketing technique of consumerism.  Several years ago, in my own home, I was given a catalog of a certain product.  The sales pitch was, “I think your wife really deserves something this nice for Christmas.”  The subtle message was, “If you value her, don’t go cheap, go big.  Show her you REALLLY love her by buying something expensive.”  So moms and dads all over the nation will get up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday and fight traffic and endure shoulder-to-shoulder crowded stores just to show little Ethan they love him by buying the latest XBox game, or little Emma has the coolest IPod. 

Mary Douglas wrote in “The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption,” that materialism is driven by envy and competitive display.   Envy of what other people have influences the market and what the consumer perceives as need. 

Conspicuous consumption is the pitiful cry of the self-absorbed consumer saying to the world, “Look at me.”  Suffering from a severe case of inferiority, the consumer tries to mask their feelings of inadequacy by buying the symbols that will prop up their self –esteem.

The Bible is actually neutral in matters of wealth.  Having material things is never the issue but the attitude behind consumption.  It’s the attitude of greed that makes it easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than the rich entering the kingdom; it is the foolishness of pursuing riches that is equated to trying to catch the wind.    A biblical worldview is about contentment, helping those in need (not just the crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table) and pursuing God rather than money.  A biblical worldview recognizes that our worth is not in what we own, but rather who we are in Christ.   God, who created our material world, gave charge to His creation to be stewards of the earth and all that is in it, not to consume, gain or hoard.

Black Friday is an attempt to manipulate the retailer’s bottom line and feeds the worldview of consumerism as well as promotes competitive shopping.  However, this holiday ritual of consumption will never contribute to the real bottom line of man’s greatest need.  The water that Best Buy or Khols offers requires that we go back to the well each day.  The maker of the water said that if we ask He will give us living water and we’ll never thirst again. 

Thanksgiving and Inequities

For those in the U.S., this Thursday is our national Thanksgiving Day.  This is the one day of the year that, officially, we stop to give thanks to God for the abundance and blessing that He has bestowed on our country.   As we approach this year’s holiday, there’s a lot of talk about inequity. 

The “Occupy Wall Street” protesters claim that 1% of our citizens are taking advantage of the 99% of the rest of the population, holding most of the wealth, not sharing or spreading the prosperity to others.  While it is true that there is a disparity in income, the purpose of Thanksgiving is not to focus on what we do not have but be thankful for what we do have, which should include all Americans.

I read recently that two-thirds of the world’s population has an average wealth per adult of less than $10,000.  About 1.1 billion of these adults hold a net worth of less than $1,000.  Even the poorest of Americans are above this poverty line.  The inequity of the rich and poor is troubling and though many of us are a long way from being a part of the 1% of those who are considered rich, this Thursday 99.9% in this country will be thankful for how good we have it.

A greater inequity of the “have’s” and the “have-not’s” are those who have heard the Good News of Christ and His salvation.  Of the 7 billion people who occupy our planet, less than a half-billion people are followers of Christ (2.1 billion people embrace Christianity as a religion, most are nominal, about 500 million claim to be evangelical).  Ninety-percent of all resources, money and time, are to those who have access to the Gospel, while less than 2% of world Christian outreach is to the 2 billion people who have never heard the name of Christ.  3.6 billion people in this world have never met a Christian.

I do not, nor ever will, understand the inequities in this world.  While Jesus said, “The poor you will have with you always,” He also said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  And, while the gap between those who have and who have not heard His Name grows wider the Great Commission remains mandate for the church to go into all the world and make disciples.

To those who have enough to eat, be thankful.  For those who are blessed to live in a community where you can learn more about Jesus, be grateful.  Hopefully, a grateful heart will prompt those blessed to be a blessing to others.

Status and Role - Non-Verbal Communication: A Case Study

“I think I saw you at the Delhi airport,” I said to the woman sitting next to me on the flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. After confirming that she, indeed, was making the air-o-than of nine hours from DEL to AMS; nine hours from AMS to MSP, she told me that it was her first trip to the sub-continent. When she learned I taught cultural anthropology and had visited India often, she had a lot of questions.

Working for a large multi-national corporation, this trip took her to Chennai to visit engineers.She was in the country less than a week, though she said she found the India interesting and her experience positive, there were some cultural issues that had her confused.

“There was one engineer in the company in Chennai that was clearly smart and had great potential for advancement. We pressed the manager of the company to allow this junior employee to get additional training to enhance his skills, but the manager never granted permission for such training.

Why?

“We were told , by another employee, that it would not look if a junior employee had more advanced training than the manager.”

There is nothing more important in India than status and role. Status is often due to caste ranking. Ascribed status is seldom coupled with achievement, and to have an employee of lower status to rise in the ranks though achievement is a cultural impossibility.

“Another thing we could not figure out,’ she continued was their ‘head wagging.’ My colleague from the U.S. was really upset with this behavior and complained that he thought the Indians were ‘blowing me off,’ with their head wagging.”

I smiled and told her that’s the way south Indians show agreement. They weren’t disagreeing with the American, they were actually showing they were understanding and agreeing with what he had to say.

She laughed when I explained the meaning of the Indian head bobble and said, “I can’t wait to tell my colleague as he was really upset with the whole experience.”

“Doesn’t your company not offer any cross-cultural training for your employee’s?”

“Some,” she answered, “but not much.”

I did a bit of a head wobble myself as I got off the plane, but not in agreement, with my travel companion, but in dismay. With all the money multi-nationals spend for global business, it looks like they would spend a little time and money teaching their employees how to communicate and understand people of other cultures. Cultural anthropology is not just important for people going to work with tribals in the jungles of Africa but for multi-nationals companies, and missionaries seeking ways to communicate their message. Non-verbal communication is as important what comes out one's mouth. Why say "uh-huh," "yep," when one can just wobble your head.

How Do You See Others?

By far the most popular post on this blog is one written five years ago on "Ethnocentrism and Business." It's natural for all of us to be proud of our nationality and ethnicity. The map below is a light hearted, but interesting, way many Americans see the world. See if you agree.

I shared the map above with my students in India. They didn't get it. Then I flashed the map below on the screen and they howled. We all see the world and the world of other people a bit differently. Sometimes it's ethoncentrism, sometimes it's just funny.

Syncretism of Form: Hindu Mantra’s and Christian Worship

After a fourteen-hour train ride I was tired, sweaty and needed a nap. The compound where I am teaching in Nasik, India, is a retreat center. The buildings are old, some dating back to when the British built them over 100 years ago. The bungalow is rustic, but clean. After my bucket bath I had just one hour to rest before the teaching sessions began. But I couldn’t sleep.

Less than 17 meters (50 yards) from my little room a local church youth group, probably 30 of them, were having a retreat. For the entire hour they chanted, sometimes with fervor, then dying down only to rise again, Halleluiah, HALLELUIAH, HALLELUIAH, HALLELUIAH…you get the picture. I was astounded that was all they did throughout my attempt to sleep. With hands clapping, it seemed there was a competition the girls and boys on who could shout the loudest. For one solid hour it was Halleluiah, HALLELUIAH, HALLELUIAH, HALLELUIAH. Nothing else.

I asked to my host later, “What is it with all the noise going on in that room?”

With a wry smile he said, “Baptist call it noise, others call it worship.” He did admit, however, they were extreme.

Fair enough. I get the point. On further reflection, however, the “noise” that troubled my rest I believe has a deeper missiological meaning, one that I have observed in Africa as well as India.

Form, the way people do things, is often culturally determined. How people assemble themselves around the table for supper, give and receive gifts, conduct business meetings, marriage ceremonies or bury the dead, all have a culturally prescribed form. Like “loan words,” (vocabulary borrowed from another language for communication, e.g. “safari” for travel, “daktari” for doctor or universal technological words used by all languages, i.e., Email or Internet), form of worship is often borrowed. Much of the form of Sunday morning Christian worship around the world is borrowed from the West. I can close my eyes in some churches in Delhi and hear the same praise songs I hear in the U.S. Even if the language is in Swahili, Hindi or Spanish the order of service is usually music, announcements, offering, special song and sermon. Churches that try to contextualize the form often do not move too far away from traditional/historical patterns.

Syncretism, of course, is contextualization that has crossed the line and adopts form from the host. In the Roman Catholic tradition they are often accused of syncretism in places like India who put a statute of Mary, or one of the saints, outside their churches for people to offer prayers. Across the street the Hindu’s offer prayers to statues of Shiva. With the form being same, is there a distinction in praying to idols.

Though unintended, the halleluiah chorus across from my hovel was not that different from the mantra’s of the Hindu’s. The constant repeating of a word or phrase is common to any Buddhist at their temples or the priest reciting prayers to Krishna. Do the mantras have power? Do the worshippers or God move closer to one another by the incessant repeating of words? I contend the separation of mantra of the Hindu and the Christian is so thin one could hardly discern the difference between the two.

Shouting has always been associated with casting out demons and evil spirits. The witchdoctors have been doing it for centuries, as they believe that forceful speech is the only way the spirits will respond. Power is in the chants and the more vigorous the presentation the greater the chances for overcoming evil.

I am well aware that those who hold tightly to these forms of display will disagree with this post, just as those who maintain dead liturgy continue to embrace their form of worship. I am a proponent of contextualization, but I suggest that some of the forms used here in India look and sound too much like those who venerate the gods of stone.

Shame Versus No Shame Cultures

Overhearing a conversation between my wife and our friend in India recently, my wife asked about the women she has been meeting with. These women were all Hindu’s that our Christian friend has known since high school and they occasionally met to talk about family, marriage and God.

“One of the ladies has accepted Christ as her Savior and was baptized,” our friend said. “Another one is still interested in Jesus and we meet often. Sadly, another friend has moved away. Her father got wind that she was interested in becoming a follower of Christ and put a stop to her visiting with us.”

In shame cultures the hierarchy of loyalty is family and religion before personal happiness or fulfillment. Arranged marriages in south Asia, even among Christians, shows respect to the group. “Honor killings,” though illegal, is justifiable in the eyes of many as dishonoring or shaming the family is a greater offense.

To most Westerners, shame cultures seem backward and oppressive. Individual freedom, me first, is what’s really important in our culture. Family, company loyalty and even children always takes a back seat to personal happiness.

The by-product of a self-centered society increasingly manifests itself into a no shame culture. There was a time in our country when adultery was a scandal. Today it’s mildly embarrassing, something that happens and eventually will be overlooked, and maybe even justified. Our no shame culture no longer knows how to blush. We live in a Britney Spears environment (“Oops, I did it again,” giggle, giggle) where a girl can have five kids with five different fathers and people are expected to celebrate the event, certainly not condemn (“Judge not lest you be judged,” has become American Christians favorite verse).

The lyrics are only slightly vulgar, so it’s okay and nothing to be ashamed of. The movie or sitcom is only partially suggestive, and though uncomfortable for a moment, it really is, after-all comical, so I will put away the shame so I can finish the show. The joke is crude, but, hey, it’s funny. The mother of all no shame activity (for some, certainly a minority) is Facebook, with posted pictures and discussions that has one objective…look at me, listen to me, sympathize with me. The no shame culture now believes the social network is the place to go to get affirmation for bad behavior. It’s also a place for enablers to show “grace” to those who have no shame.

We all have, and certainly I do, have a thousand things in our lives we are not proud of, even ashamed of. Rather than celebrate our flaws, however, let us be a little less transparent about our failings. As a guilt culture perhaps we need to feel a little bit guiltier. True, Christ has taken away our guilt, but it probably wouldn’t hurt if we blushed more, were more discreet and laughed about it less.