The Indigenous Church and The Indigenous Church and the Missionary by Melvin L. Hodges

Author:Melvin L. Hodges [Hodges, Melvin L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BookMasters
Published: 2012-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

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4. The missionary’s ability and efficiency may prove to be a hindrance to the church’s development. Impatient to attain certain goals, the missionary may use the direct approach instead of the slower, indirect way of working through the nationals. Americans are noted for their ability to get things done. Psychologically, we are geared to the machine age. Fast and big are words that occur frequently in our speech. “Within the boundaries of our evangelical standards, anything that produces results more rapidly is looked upon with favor, even though the permanent results may not be as satisfactory as (those) that might be obtained from other methods.”4

Often we establish systems and a tempo that are beyond the capacity of the national and do not fit his nature. He observes the way the missionary does things, knows that he cannot do them in that way, and becomes discouraged. He cannot understand the American system of bookkeeping. He cannot carry through a complicated program that requires coordination of several diverse activities. The missionary may be a gifted musician and insist on the use of beautiful hymns. Perhaps under his guidance the believers learned to sing hymns with piano accompaniment. When the missionary leaves, the believers miss the piano, and their efforts to sing lack luster. Wouldn’t it be better to allow them to accompany their hymns on a one-stringed instrument with which they are familiar and can continue to use when the missionary is not present?

Sometimes the missionary is too capable for the good of the national church. He does too much and sets a pace that is too fast. Believers watch him—not without admiration—and decide that since he does things so well, he should keep doing them.

Someone illustrated this point by asking how we would feel if we were placed with a group of illusionists. By trying to copy their actions, we certainly would end up feeling frustrated, bewildered, and discouraged. We don’t have training to fit us for the task. Similarly, the quick, efficient Americans are like illusionists to the nationals. It is futile to try to force them into our pattern. We only discourage them. Rather, the missionary needs to educate himself and change his ways so that he follows the natural pattern of the nationals. We should not make the pattern of the work so foreign that it requires a foreign education to accomplish it.

An example is the missionary who is unwilling to wait for a national church to find the resources and make the effort to build a church. He knows that he can appeal to friends at home and receive more in one month than the church will raise in a year. His desire to “have something to show” for his labors may cause him to put aside the efforts of the nationals and build the church with outside funds.

Another missionary feels that he should continue to pastor the church where he resides, because no national worker is “big enough” for the central church. Better crowds

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