THE SCOPE OF IHISIONS
Edited bg Oran H. Smith
Chairman, Dept, of Missions, Biola Bible College
By On The Other S ide by Don Hillis
Passing S ukarah was a high caste Hindu. His reputation as a champion of .Hinduism and a persecutor of the Church was well established. The fact that Sukarah ever turned to Christ is a miracle that only heaven can explain. It is little wonder then that his orthodox H indu friends turned on him with a strange de termination to destroy him and his testimony. Sukarah lost his job. His home was burned to the ground. More than one attempt was made to poison him. In desperation he turned to the only help he knew, the missionary. He had prayed long and earnestly dur ing hours of persecution, but he need ed the sustaining help and wisdom of someone more experienced in the Christian faith than he. Without spiritual counsel he would faint by the wayside and without material help he would starve. Our Saviour gave to us the story of two religious leaders who, “ passed by on the other side.” Shall we in the hour of Sukarah’s deepest need pass by on the other side? The most common subject of the now common missionary conference is the indigenous church. It is both treated and mistreated in lively and interesting symposia in which mis sionaries of widely varying view points express their convictions. The upsurge of this important matter is a healthy sign in the program of the modem missionary movement. There is, however, not a little careless talk, about Apostolic methods being ap plied today. It is right and proper that we should consider the Acts of the Apostle as the textbook for our missionary program. Its 28 chapters are filled with abiding principles that are designed to assist us in the plan of world-wide, evangelism. Neverthe less, honest thinking demands that we take account of the h istorica l background into which these princi ples fit. It is dangerous to take a particular method or experience out of its setting and enforce it on pres ent day missionary endeavor. We will do well to remember that the word indigenous does not appear on the pages of the New Testament. In general, the term refers to the fol-
loud-speaking system, projector, re frigerator and sewing machine help to arouse a spirit of covetousness in the mind of the less fortunate nation al worker. In not a few cases these things produce a determined resis tance against the very idea of self- support. There is certainly something in consistent about our demand to pro duce an indigenous church in a pov erty stricken land like India, where as we will support missions amongst the less fortunate in the skidrows of our big cities for generations, with out ever wondering why the converts of these places don’t support the work themselves. And this is happening in luxurious America. While the problem of producing a self-supporting church appears large in the eyes of the home con stituency, that of self-government looms quite as large in the eyes of the national. He argues that there is no legitimate reason why the mis sionaries should guide the principles and practices of the church. To this the missionary replies, that if the church is unable to support its work ers, certainly it has no right to dic tate as to the employing of the same. These two principles often come into conflict one with the other and thus cause tension between the mission ary and the national Christian. The missionary is concerned about a self-supporting church while the national is concerned about self-gov ernment. What is God’s purpose? His chief desire is that the church should be self-propagating. That which He puts first, we put last. That which He puts as a foundation, we have made the super-structure. Early in the book of Acts we read, “ and many believed” , “ a great num ber turned unto the Lord.” These are but two statements that indicate to us clearly that the primary purpose of the early church was self-propa gation. The Lord was adding to the church daily such as should be saved. It was in the light of the growth of the church that the problems of self-governm en t and self-support arose. One is impressed with the CONTINUED ► 35
lowing three things: self-support, self-government, and self-propaga tion. You will note the order in which these components have been placed. The supporting constituency in the homeland which often includes the home board is concerned about the subject of self-support. In some cir cles the young missionary is sent to the field well versed on the meth ods of raising up a self-supporting church. He is in form ed that the church must be self-sufficient from the very beginning. He must refrain from all types of financial aid in his program of evangelization. He has probably been told that dispen saries for the sick, famine-relief for the poor and schools for the unedu cated are to be scrupulously avoided. These things are not to be entered into until there is an established church to do the work itself. There is of course to be no place for a mis sion paid national helper. This atti tude grows out of the fear of pro ducing rice Christians. Anyone who has labored in the -more poverty- stricken areas of the world knows how readily this condition can come to pass and the serious consequences that follow. This danger, however, was just as real in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ and in spite of it we see Him giving famine-relief and upsurge of this important matter is h ea ling the sick even though He knew many would flock to Him for the sake of physical or material gain. It was all a part of His manifest love for the whole man. It is altogether possible that the present well-supported and well- equipped missionary program mili tates against our endeavor to produce a self-supporting church. In general, it can be said that the people amongst whom we work find little to encour age them along the line of faith and sacrifice. They know that the mis sionary’s salary is guaranteed. The comparatively comfortable bungalow in which the missionary lives as well as the one-half ton of equipment that he brings with him all add up to a first class argument against the pos sibility of building a self-supporting church. The missionary’s car, camera,
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