I just finished reading “Revolution in World Missions” by Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder K.P. Yohannan. The “Revolution” referred to in the title is Yohannan’s belief that Western nations should shift from primarily sending western missionaries overseas to primarily supporting indigenous native missionaries that are already in the country to be evangelized, or near it.
After reading the book, I feel that GFA is doing some monumentally important work in Asia. Their strategies and methods of training native believers and sending them to plant churches among their own people or people who are culturally similar appear to be effective and efficient, and these missionaries ought to be held in high esteem for the sacrifices they make to help fulfill the great commission. Part of the book is meant to convict a western audience of selfishness and materialism, in order to free them to be able to give to overseas missions, and even as I myself felt convicted reading it, I believe his point is well made, and that we Christians here should be making sacrifices and cuts in our standard of living in order to support the work of missions overseas. All that said I have a number of disagreements with it, one in particular I’d like to address.
“Revolution in World Missions,” is essentially an extended support letter. Its purpose is to entreat western believers to financially and prayerfully support Asian missionaries in the third world so that they can spread the gospel. I have no problem with this. Yohannan seeks to gain financial support from three sources.
1. Individuals making changes in their own lifestyles in order to support more missions.
2. Churches shifting their spending from local ministries and buildings to world missions.
3. Churches shifting their support from western missionaries to indigenous missionaries.
Again, I find myself agreeing with him on the first two cases. However in the third case, I have to disagree. Yohannan, through many personal accounts of interactions with western missionaries, missions organizations and denominations, concludes that in nearly all cases Western missionaries are a tremendous waste of money, ineffective, motivated by pride, and full of subtle but deep seated prejudice and racism. In many instances this may indeed be the case, however the solution is not to pull the plug on the West sending missionaries, but for western “senders” to be better stewards in choosing whom they send, and for western missionaries to become better ministers in foreign countries. As a missionary appointee planning to go to Japan myself, I found many of his critiques helpful, as they give me things to watch out for. I believe any missionary that is humble, willing to live among the people he’s trying to serve and adopt their culture and strong in his faith can avoid most of the problems Yohannan has with Westerners.
I also have an issue with Yohannan’s strategy of “don’t send people, just send money.” Perhaps in many instances we should send more money than people but I think it’s very difficult to find Biblical justification for exclusively sending funds. The great commission to the disciples was not that they start saving up their money to hire people to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, but to start taking it there themselves. In the early church there were frequently missionaries being sent from one church and culture to another, and in this way all churches were encouraged. The function of a missionary is primarily to spread the gospel, but it in addition they serve as representatives, sharing news, resources and encouragement from one church to another. Yohannan himself claims that he believes that God has called him to open the eyes of Western Christians to see how deeply materialism has penetrated our hearts, and I have no doubt that this is the case. However that only goes to show that God uses people from other cultures to teach his children. Just as his Indian perspective allows him to see dangers in our culture, I think that a Western perspective could also perceive dangers in Indian culture.
Yohannan seems horrified at the thought of all the money that is being “wasted” on Western missionaries. However I think that this attitude does not take into consideration the sovereign provision of God. His fear is that if western churches send western missionaries then fewer native missionaries will be funded. This is odd given the many stories he relates of God’s miraculous provision of his ministry. Yohannan often comes across as though he believes that his ministry is the only one being led by the Holy Spirit, and that all missions organizations that are sending Western missionaries are doing it for some other reason.
To be fair, Yohannan does concede that there are occasions when western missionaries are useful, however he does so only in a few short sentences after spending chapters arguing that they are a waste.
In conclusion, I think we all need to be on the same team here, not competing for funds as though it were some sort of scarce natural resource. I believe that God is leading the ministry of Gospel for Asia, just as I believe that He is directing SEND, OMF, YWAM and countless other missions organizations. I believe that He will fund all the ones that He wants to succeed, and that if He wants to phase others out then He will. I think that American Christians need to give both generously and wisely in to support overseas missions work.
(SIDE NOTE: GFA doesn’t work in Japan, and it’s my opinion that, given the small number of Christians, Japan isn’t yet at a level where they have enough of their own that can reach the rest of the country, so it’s my opinion that Japan still very much needs missionaries from other countries to help take the gospel to its unreached areas.)
(NOTE 2: One thing I forgot to mention, that I think is important; in the interaction that I have had with Western missionaries, I have not noticed the negative qualities that Yohannan has described to be typical. In nearly all casses the impression I get from national believers is that the help of Western missionaries greatly appreciated and welcomed.)