Local Missionaries

Should Missionaries Westernize Indigenous People?

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Should missionaries westernize Indigenous people
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The question, “Should missionaries westernize Indigenous people?” is complicated by the challenges posed by Westernized theological training and missionary practices in non-Western settings. As Daniel D. Kim of OMF International discusses,[1] Western Christianity’s influence on theological education and methods for sharing the Good News in non-Western contexts has sometimes led missionaries to replicate their own cultural church structures in other cultures.

Examples of this include:

  • Needing a full-time pastor who has graduated from a Bible college or seminary
  • Meeting once a week on Sunday morning around 10 or 11 a.m.
  • Needing a traditional building
  • Needing a three-point sermon
  • Needing lots of funding[2]

It is easy to think of these practices as necessary for all Christians to follow since it is what many Western believers do, but the actions and traditions themselves are morally neutral. These practices work for some cultures, but that does not mean they are needed for all cultures. Believers in some parts of the world may need to meet in the evenings after everyone is done working for the day. Or Christians may hold their services in different people’s houses or in a field. That does not make them any less devout than believers who meet on Sunday mornings in a building devoted to the purpose.

Indeed, Daniel Kim explains, the inherent beauty of the Good News of God’s love lies in its pliability and divinely ordained capacity to establish itself in any culture or among any people.[3] From the very beginning, that has been the case; the Good News was shared to the Jews first and then to the Gentiles, without forcing the Gentiles to join the Jewish culture (see Acts 10 and Acts 15). As believers share God’s love with the world, they must evaluate what parts are “Western culture” and what parts are true “biblical Christianity.”[4]

GFA World understands this balance, and we support and train national missionaries, who walk the line between the culture and the Bible. They grow up in their country’s culture and instinctively know the best ways to communicate the love of Jesus so their countrymen will understand it. In addition, these missionaries are sensitive to the needs of the people around them and can see ways to tangibly show God’s love: through providing Jesus Wells, income-generating gifts, toilets and more.[5] They work within the culture to share the Good News in tangible ways that make cultural sense.

You can sponsor local missionaries with GFA World. They seek to represent Christ in their daily lives showing those they serve that, even though they live within the culture, there is a difference because of the hope they have in Jesus.[6] They don’t seek to change the culture but to change people’s hearts and lives with God’s love.

Learn more about GFA World’s local missionaries in Africa and Asia

[1] Kim, Daniel. “A critical evaluation of the westernization of the Gospel.” Lausanne World Pulse Archives. Issue: 03-2008. Accessed November 21, 2024. https://lausanneworldpulse.com/themedarticles-php/907/03-2008
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5]. “National Missionaries: About National Missionaries.” GFA World. Accessed November 21, 2024. https://www.gfa.org/sponsor/why-national-missionaries.
[6]. Ibid.