A NEW MISSIONARY

I am writing these thoughts on board of the American Airlines plane that is taking Anna, Naomi, and myself have from San Jose to Chicago. From tomorrow on, we will attend ELCA’s annual Summer Missionary Conference and the subsequent orientation for new mission personnel (Kumar will join us for the New Missionary Orientation during week two). 

Had anybody suggested in the past that I ought to consider serving a foreign missionary, chances are that I might have reacted rather surprised. Skeptical, doubt-ridden, progressive me? You are kidding, right? I might have pointed out that, by and large, modern Christian missionaries have caused more harm than good through their often arrogant participation in a colonial enterprise, an enterprise that aimed at bringing peoples in the Southern hemisphere in line with Northern European values, culture, and faith, an enterprise that contributed to the overall economic and cultural exploitation of those peoples. Would I ever want to participate in such enterprise? Not likely!

Yet, here I am, just a few weeks away from taking up residence in Hyderabad and joining the staff of Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad, India, as ELCA global missions deployed staff. What has happened?

I now understand my own rather negative view of missionaries simply as a naïve, uncritical extension of the mainstream European and North American view of missionaries. Take for example, as a case in point, Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary. There, a missionary is defined as “a person who is sent to a foreign country to do religious work (such as to convince people to join a religion or to help people who are sick, poor, etc.).”

This definition is problematic on several accounts, as it implies a sense of superiority of one’s own religion over the faith tradition of others and reflects a colonialist view of others (the “sick” and “poor” residents of faraway countries).  It does not reflect the fact that the global majority of Christians now live in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

I often describe the Lutheran expression of the Christian faith with words like grace, love, mercy, humility, reconciliation, forgiveness, solidarity, and justice. If those are the core spiritual gifts that guide our life and faith as Lutheran Christians, how do we then can we understand the work of foreign missionaries?

ELCA accompany their brothers and sisters in the faith. They support and assist them where they can. They don’t assume to have ready-made solutions and easy answers. They help build capacity for local witness, local pastoral care, local service, and local leadership. They are patient and open to living with their own and others’ differences, idiosyncrasies, and fallacies. They are willing to be flexible and able to adapt to different cultures and different ways of doing things.

Will I be able to be such person? Will I be able to go where the Spirit calls me? I wonder how my views might change over the next four years while living and working in India.

I ask that you hold my family (Anna, Naomi, and Kumar) and myself in your prayers – that we may be kind, patient, loving, and open to new experiences and that we may remain healthy in body, mind, and spirit throughout this journey. 

For those among you who are adventurous and open to visiting with us in Hyderabad – our home will be open to you.  If you can’t come and visit – please stay in touch.