World Missions is Political
I grew up in a church and a denomination that were passionate about world missions. (By world missions, I mean, the Christian/Evangelical mandate to send missionaries abroad to ultimately share the hope of Christ.) I grew up having dinner with and hearing sermons by men and women who engaged in a variety of work overseas. I heard from people who were expats to Belgium, India, China, Burundi, Japan…honestly, the bulk of my world geography knowledge stems from slides of maps on Sunday mornings.
I heard, over and over, tear-filled imploring for us to give of our resources, or our lives, for these people that Jesus loved. My heart was moved many times by ministers who had a deep love for the people they were working with. They would have given their lives for them.
And then I went into missions, and I understood it on a new level. I became a neighbor to people in my new community. I loved them deeply. And then I came home to the US and heard the rhetoric, how people really felt, on Sunday mornings.
The people I loved were sometimes jokes. I heard things like, “If it wasn’t for us, they’d be speaking German.” I heard things like, “I went there one time, and no one would even speak English to me.” I heard things like, “Don’t they smell bad?” (Is this shocking to you? Every missionary has heard things like this about the people they are called to serve. Every missionary has clenched their fist while trying to reply politely. Missionaries laugh together about the things people say, when really it feels too heavy to call it what it is. Racism. Xenophobia. Ignorance. Hate.)
As it turns out, American exceptionalism and an understanding of “Go into all the world” don’t marry very well.
In her novel, “The Poisonwood Bible,” Barbara Kingsolver tells the story of a missionary family from 1950’s Georgia who moves to the Belgian Congo. Their worldview on race and American superiority shaped their mission. Their story, while fictional, wasn’t unique for the 1950’s era missionaries. We’ve come a long way from that era in some ways. In some ways, we haven’t.
And what now? There is a way people of other nationalities are whispered about, yes by church people. There is a “I’m not racist, but” sneaked into phrases that feign curiosity but are actually testing the waters for camaraderie. There is an “I’m just saying, if you’re going to come here, do it right” while turning a blind eye to dehumanizing words and actions. The posture of my heart toward the oppressed, the marginalized, the fatherless, and yes, the immigrant, matters. It is addressed in Scripture many times.
Missions is not about telling and teaching, it is about sitting with, it is about learning from, it is about hearing stories we wouldn’t otherwise have heard. It is about having your cultural lens of the Gospel completely upended and challenged, and building a new understanding that takes into consideration those with different stories. It is seeing and hearing stories of injustice and believing them. It is confession and repentance. It is humility.
Superiority doesn’t mean we say out loud that we are better. It is a sense that we know better. It is a sense that if people would do it like us, everyone would be better off. It is a sense that we have more to teach than we have to learn, that we know everything we need to know. It is believing there is no chance we are wrong about things.
Superiority is believing America is the greatest country in the world. And that other countries are less than we are. Because if you believe it on an abstract level, you’ll believe it on a personal level. And that can’t be compartmentalized when it comes to missions.
The hallmark of Christianity is that we choose to be less. As Jesus chose to be less.
Jesus says it in Mark 9 - “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” We don’t choose to be greater. We choose to be less. One of the things that made me quite sure I was in the right place when I went into missions was that I walked into a workshop and the executive director at the time, who was surely in his 60’s or older (honestly I was in my 20’s so he could have been 45 or 85, he was old to me) was sitting on the floor listening to someone else speak. My boss once said in front of all of us, “We are called to serve. I am less than all of you.” I once settled into a row in the back of a plane for a flight to a missions event, and the (new) executive director sat down right next to me, his very tall frame squashed into the seat. These are people at the top, but they consistently demonstrated being less.
I do believe there should be a deep divide between politics and the church. The Kingdom is the Kingdom, and Jesus is our King. It’s okay to love your country and to be proud of it. I have now lived in and loved three countries. None of them perfect. I believe that as ministers, we need to have common ground with as many people as possible.
But politics has an undeniable effect on missions. Foreign policy, things like tariffs and visa requirements and travel bans, make it harder for missionaries to ‘go’, for them to be received abroad, and for them to succeed in the work they are called to. Dehumanizing language by our leaders about other people groups, and our excusing it, makes it harder for our compatriots to focus on the work of the Gospel abroad.
There is a consequence to being ‘us first’, and that consequence can look like doors that used to be open slamming shut. What do we really win if we make ourselves great? We are not called to greatness. We are called to be neighbors, servants. We are called to eat at tables together, to break bread. Power and wealth are meant to serve and lift others, not to elevate ourselves. Blessing is meant to spill over, not be locked into a compound.
The Church will be victorious in every season. The work of the Kingdom will not be impeded by any force in heaven or on earth. May we keep eternity in our sights and the global work of the Spirit at the forefront of our hearts.
K
