GFA World Equips Local Missionaries

In the discussion of cross-cultural missionaries versus national missionaries, the question “Should missionaries westernize Indigenous people?” may come up. To westernize is to make the local culture look more like Western culture. This can be either bad or good. On the negative side, missionaries can damage the culture and their witness along with it. In one remote area, the missionaries thought the robes that every local man wore looked too much like skirts, too feminine, so they convinced the new believers to wear pants. The Christians there became the “Church of Pants.” The missionaries had evaluated the local culture against Western standards (even though Jesus likely wore robes). On the other hand, in areas that practice human sacrifice, widow burning or oppression, a positive impact on culture could be seen, resulting in increased protections for people and which better reflect God’s loving character. The key is in sharing the values and character of Christ, not the standards of the West.^[7]

Because of the many benefits of local missionaries, GFA World works to train, equip and support Indigenous missionaries. GFA World founder K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan) published his book Revolution in World Missions in the mid-1980s. His vision for missions turned the traditional model upside down, advocating for people in the West to support and train national workers who are already in place. Yohannan believed local workers were best suited to work in communities across Africa and Asia because they already live like the local people: working alongside them, living among them in the villages and slums, dressing the same, speaking the same language, eating the same food and drinking from the same well. GFA World’s national workers are equipped with the training and resources to break extreme poverty and offer hope to those in despair, all in the name of Christ.^[8]