I wonder
how many members of Western missionary societies would be shocked at the idea
of my asking them if all their fellow missionaries were still convinced of the
need for ‘Ad Gentes’ mission? And by ‘Ad
Gentes’ I mean going to countries where the culture and thinking of the
people is still untouched by the message of the gospel?
It is not so long ago that
missionaries from the West were journeying eagerly to the East, confident they
had something valuable to share. In the early days, when they went by sailing
ship, half of those who set out never arrived because of shipwreck or disease.
Those who got there had no expectations of ever returning home. Yet their
commitment never faltered.
Today it is different. The
excitement of mission is gone from the West. Faith is less important in people=s lives. Young people are willing to
travel abroad to offer their services in humanitarian causes but do not regard
any one faith as better than another.
There are a number of reasons for
this. One is disillusionment with the sad state of the Church in the West which
seems to have little to offer the modern life. Another is the defense that
every generation needs to be re-evangelized so the task in the West is just as
urgent as that in the East or elsewhere. A third comes from the observation
that religious practices have a great similarity throughout the world and that
thinking the Christian version is better is just the relic of a Western
superiority complex.
The third objection may points to the
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 in the religious practices of 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 differed. 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 today in many parts of the
world 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 guide for
moral conduct and a sense of their individual and personal worth. Today young
people in China
Here 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.
However, I believe Christianity,
and no other religion today, has the answers to the questions emerging in both
east and west. This is not ignoring the role of other faiths and the importance
contribution they have made to thee wellbeing of the human family. I have spent
many years immersed in, and studying, the tradition of the east and benefited
from the experience. It was that involvement which led me to question my own
religion and seek to uncover what was unique and of universal value in Christianity.
What I found was the human figure
of Christ with his message of a compassionate God, of the Spirit alive in the
individual, the call to be part of a new creation, an explanation for evil in
the world and a spirituality that seeks the transcendent in ordinary life, a reaffirmation
of the individual while challenging him or her whether living in the west or in
the east.
Unfortunately, many of the young
Koreans in the 1980s and 90s did not find what they were expecting. The Church
in Korea
If the mainstream Western
missionary movement is to recover, it may be time for missionaries who have
worked in a predominantly non-Christian environment, and faced up to
comparisons with other religions, to bring back what they have gained from the
experience. In their efforts to communicate the heart of the Christian message
to people of different religious backgrounds they had to peel off the layers of
later cultural additions and try to uncover its core message.
If they have survived this far as missionaries
it is because they have glimpsed the value, even the urgency, of Christianity
for themselves and others today and this has motivated them to want to share it
cross-culturally. Now that same clarity of vision and ability to apply the Word
to the questions of modern life is also needed in their home countries to
revitalize the missionary spirit there.
For over four hundred year missionaries
took a confident faith from the west to the east, knowing they were providing
the greatest service by doing so. Now it may be the time for modern
missionaries to take that faith, refined and renewed, back to their home
Churches and rekindle enthusiasm there.
Hugh MacMahon SEDOS 2/6/08
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