In Reply to: Re: I'll probably be strung up for this posted by Thinker on April 14, 2009 at 07:07:42:
No strings.
I can see you point. But I believe that there are people who are called to reach out to people and cultures who have not heard the Gospel, or who live in a society that may once have been Christian, but due to oppression and/or tyranny, Christian teaching has gone underground or has been greatly suppressed.
you wrote:
"To travel across the world and assume that you can or should tell anyone what to believe is quite arrogant to me. The closer I look at the process of conversion the more jaded and unable to believe in religion/proselytization I become. Where do you draw the line between "outreach" and neo-colonialization or cultural-supremacist thinking?"
I think that these concerns that you have about neo-colonization or cultural supremacy have been true of some missionaries in the past, but I'm seeing a new type of missionary today. Now some may still argue that there is a cultural-supremacist attitude that continues, but the missionaries that I'm aware of work hand-in-hand with indigenous converts to
Christianity. For example, a young Ugandan came to this country to attend a seminary and while he was here, he became very good friends with my pastor. It's been many
years now that he has been back in his country and has established a church there through the help of our congregation; some of whom have also gone to Uganda to help him with a number of the material needs of his community: digging wells, building projects, etc. How is this any different from the work of the peace corp, except that the Word of God is preached?
Another example: A woman from our town when she retired began to build a community in Africa in order to provide homes for orphaned young females. These females are raised in the Christian teaching and are taught trades that they can use once they are old enough to leave the community.
you wrote:
"There is just something about a missionary from a richer country going on a short-term trip to a poorer country with simple folk, telling them what to believe, that really rubs me the wrong way. "
Again, I can see your point; however, this doesn't represent all Christian missionaries. Should wealthy countries send money to help Aides victims? Should we be telling them that their sexual practices are killing them?
What NM Milan experienced is not everyone's.