Whenever an overseas mission field excludes or expels Western missionaries, the haunting question arises: “Is the investment in Christian missions a waste or a witness?” The missionary crisis in China precipitated by the Communist takeover in the 1940s shook the confidence of many American Christians in the “success” of overseas missions. Since 1950, a number of other mission fields—India, Burma, and Sudan, to name only three—have either placed restrictions on Western missionaries or excluded them altogether. Many American churchmen question continuing investment in overseas missions. Are their misgivings justified? Or is there cause for optimism? What should be the guidelines as mission-minded persons chart a course for the final decades of our century?
The good accomplished through past missionary endeavors cannot be erased by present adversity.
Hardship and persecution bring benefits. They weed out the tares, purify the faithful, force the Church to reorganize and to develop creative new ways to fulfill its task. Baptists in Burma, for instance, have had to make adjustments required by a socialist state. The Church is no longer permitted to operate Christian schools and hospitals. However, Christian teachers are continuing to teach with a Christian orientation to life, even though all schools except theological seminaries are now controlled by the government. Christian nurses have formed Nurses’ Christian Fellowships. In several state hospitals they have formed choirs and are giving their witness through music along with their compassionate ministries of healing. The total work of the Church in Burma is now ably carried on by trained national Christian leaders. In evangelism and in training for church-related ministries, growth is continuing. Hardship—yes; witness—yes; wasted investment—no!
Although in many lands adversity clouds the mission picture and even jeopardizes the future, it cannot undo past accomplishments. Many souls have been brought into the Kingdom, and many more have been given the opportunity to embrace the Gospel even though they have not responded. In nearly all lands where adversity has overtaken Christians, there is a remnant church.
Present hardship has also brought out in thousands of nationals unexpected gifts and resources that previously lay either unrecognized or uncultivated. These personal resources are demonstrated not only in strengthened faith, perseverance, and steadfastness in the face of opposition but also in loving and devoted service to others.
A missionary official in the Democratic Republic of Congo wrote recently:
Our Congolese Christians are not unaware of their responsibilities as their brothers’ keepers.… As a result of a visit from a missionary doctor from North-east Congo who told of the terrible conditions which still exist there, the women of the Kinshasa [Leopoldville] churches gathered from their meager possessions several boxes and bundles of clothing, cooking utensils, and other household items to be sent to their “sisters” of another tribe.
Another missionary official in the same field said that when the Congolese Christian women learned that a missionary was caring for twenty-six orphans, they organized a schedule to take turns cleaning, washing, ironing, and preparing food. They also took several infants into their own homes. “Why should a woman from another land have to care for our children?” they asked. These orphans are all from “foreign” tribes; under Congolese tribal customs, they would never have been “our” children, “our” responsibility.
Christian missionaries have often been pioneers in ministries that have given men hope, tools for self-improvement, and a faith to release them from fear and superstition. These benefits are indestructible.
We need to look for some of the possible by-products of change that may present new opportunities for Christian mission.
Rapid and radical social changes are taking place throughout the world, many in part a judgement upon American Christians for failing to do more when we had an opportunity. These changes necessitate some shifts in missionary strategy and methods. Although no one has a clear view of just what strategy would be adequate for our revolutionary times, Christians must shun the temptation to remain immobile. They should energetically look for emerging opportunities.
The loss of some of the overseas mission-related institutions relieves the indigenous church of some prohibitively expensive inheritances. During the early development of overseas missionary work, there was necessarily a heavy investment in schools and hospitals. These institutions have been invaluable in the development of the indigenous church, and many of them are still exceedingly valuable. However, some became financial burdens and also a source of contention for control. Today national governments are sensitive to any foreign control of the basic instruments of national development—whether by Western missionary agencies or by national Christian groups, which often are considered “foreign” within the nation. When Communists gain control of a government, they immediately confiscate or eliminate private and religious schools and hospitals. Generally, other forms of government eliminate them more slowly by providing public counterparts and by regulating the standards for operation of all such institutions.
Although some institutions would be richly helped by far more money and workers than they are now receiving, because of government pressure and financial difficulty the government takeover of some mission institutions may well be a blessing in disguise!
The breaking up of deeply entrenched ideas and cultures may also provide opportunity for a new openness to the Gospel. Whether this breakup is produced by force, as under Communism, or through social development, the fact of change opens up possibilities for the missionary.
At present the church in China is severely limited, if not openly persecuted. Possibly it will be wiped out either by persecution or by slow attrition. But let us, without ignoring present church difficulties, take a long-range view of China—look at her, say, 100 years from now, when today’s agonies may provide new opportunities.
For the first time in modern history, China has been unified as a nation. She has better communications and transportation than ever before. Twenty years ago in China the literacy rate was considered to be about 20 per cent; today we have reason to think that it is about 80 per cent. Think what a new door of opportunity this may someday open for the distribution of Scriptures and other Christian literature. The process of attainment has been ruthless and cruel. But China’s radical break with past customs and traditions may eliminate some of the obstacles that have stood in the way of response to the Gospel. Perhaps Communism’s insistence upon literacy may in the long run be the seed both of its own destruction and of new opportunity for Christianity.
The question we need to ask ourselves is, “Will we be prepared to help in the evangelization of China when another opportunity comes?” I know of no denomination preparing people either for future service in China or for scholarly research in advance of the day of new opportunity.
METEOR
Flaring error, rising, horrifying,
Scorching spectacle of hurt
In sky of days and nights.
Is my agony to swift
Along with it down all the empty
Futile spaces of eternity?
Superstitious fear.
Primitive man is unaware
That speed and incandescence
Denote, not power and permanence,
But demolishment by friction
Against enveloping Love.
HELEN S. CLARKSON
We must move forward aggressively through Christian missions with God’s message to a desperately needy but largely unmindful humanity.
As Christians, we have a responsibility to continue in mission despite difficulties and regardless of results. If, after more than 150 years of the modern missionary movement, we had to report no churches established, no converts to Christianity, we should still be responsible for carrying out the Great Commission as well as we could. Happily, we have more than 900,000,000 persons throughout the world who bear the name Christian.
For reasons that are difficult to accept, American Christians seem reluctant to move forward forcefully into the new age in Christian mission. Financial resources for overseas missionary work are generally inadequate for the opportunities available. Although there is great interest in the Peace Corps, some denominations are having difficulty recruiting enough well-trained young people for missionary work. Over one million births a week occur throughout the world. It is highly doubtful whether all the Christian forces together are winning anywhere near that many persons to Christ each week.
Each generation of Christians must face its own problems in Christian mission. But each generation needs to be reminded that God constantly calls his people to areas of human need. Christians in our day need to find better methods and deeper theological roots. They must concentrate more upon the meaning of Christian commitment and less upon statistics. Above all, believers in our day need to recover a vital sensitivity to the Great Commission itself and to move forward boldly with a Gospel that has lost none of its relevance for human need.
