Territories of Poverty by Ananya Roy

Author:Ananya Roy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2015-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Missionary Actors as Agents of Change

GMF had begun as the brainchild of one man, Pastor Kim, a modestly successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and publisher of a local Korean-language Christian weekly newspaper. In 1994 he went to Rwanda to report on the genocide for a journalistic assignment, and he was so devastated by the violence and destruction he witnessed that he made a career- and life-changing decision upon his return—he founded GMF and began working full time on world missions. By 2001 he had been ordained as a Presbyterian minister and was running GMF as its full-time director. By the time I met Pastor Kim in 2006, GMF was a registered nonprofit organization with several paid staff and volunteers, dedicated to identifying and proselytizing to “unreached people groups” especially in East Africa. A stern man in his early fifties, Pastor Kim personally oversaw most aspects of the programs. He frequently gave guest sermons at Korean American churches and raised money for his projects, and he traveled between Africa, California, and South Korea several times a year. His salary and travel expenses, as well as the entire operation of GMF, were supported by donations from individuals and sponsoring churches in the United States and South Korea, as well as the few small business ventures affiliated with GMF. His teenage Korean American children often accompanied Pastor Kim to Africa, as they did in 2006 when I participated in the mission trip. While Pastor Kim led delegations of Christian politicians from Korea in meetings with Ugandan and Tanzanian government officials, his son and daughter participated in proselytizing activities on the mission field, and his wife worked at her full-time job as a nurse back in California.

Short-term missions like the GMF program are derided by critics as the “amateurization of missions” or “drive-by missions,” but they remain a key part of evangelical programs and mission strategies today (see Hancock 2013). Short-term missions bring a concentrated infusion of attention and funding and complement ongoing long-term GMF projects such as the year-round operation of mission centers, medical clinics, primary schools, and small factories. Short-term visitors can bring new energy and enthusiasm and help alleviate the feelings of isolation and loneliness that can beset missionaries in the field. However, when I spoke with several long-term missionaries unaffiliated with GMF, they expressed mixed feelings about the influx of volunteers and donations. They worried about how short-term missions exhausted fragile local networks and exploited relations that had taken time and care to cultivate over a long period of time. They were also troubled by how poorly trained the short-term volunteers often were in terms of language competency, historical knowledge, and ethics of aid work. While most appreciated the enthusiastic flurry of activities every summer—the peak season for short-term missions—the long-term, career missionaries also wished for more attention to the less spectacular programs in the more immediate present. Instead of a minivan full of balloons and face-painting supplies, for example, the long-term missionaries wished for a regular supply of writing paper and sketchbooks.

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