Humbling
A couple of years ago, when I was living in Romania, I attended a cultural awareness seminar put on by a Romanian non-profit that was geared towards foreigners living/working/volunteering in Romania. I was cleaning out my room the other night and found some of my notes from the classes there. One thing that really impacted me was a session that was taught by Allan Taylor, a missionary from Austraila. He had conducted a survey and collected all the data and come up with some interesting results. Allan asked several Evangelical Romanians this question: "What have been some of the mistakes missionaries have made in the past 12 years, in your opinion?" The results were some very honest answers that really made me think. The list is long, but there are a few I wanted to share that really stuck out to me.
*"Coming with personal agendas rather than spiritual goals"
*"Not learning the language"
*"Either intentionally or unintentionally missionaries left us with the impression that Foreigners are superior to Romanians."
*"Exaggerating reports to back home leaving people with a wrong impression of the work here in Romania."
*"Coming with outside pressure to perform on the mission field, leading some missionaries to push things in the ministry and even become controlling. This just causes resentment and resistance."
*"Passing on materialistic values through the example of the missionary's own life."
*"Sensationalizing the ministry. Throwing bibles and other materials out to people in church while taking pictures of people scrambling to catch something."
Those were just a few. He also asked "What do you think the role of the missionary is in this country?"
*"To serve people like they keep saying they came to do." (I believe Robin and Josh are doing that)
I was really humbled by what I heard that day. And it really made me re-think a lot of my ideas about missions, especially short term missions. The term "missionary" shouldn't be a negative thing in Romania, or in any country, but the truth is that in some places there has been a lot of hurt and negativity associated with that label. I hope that as Christians we can take a hard look at the way we view and treat the rest of the world, and that a "missionary" can be defined as someone who seeks to love and give the hope of Christ....
*"Coming with personal agendas rather than spiritual goals"
*"Not learning the language"
*"Either intentionally or unintentionally missionaries left us with the impression that Foreigners are superior to Romanians."
*"Exaggerating reports to back home leaving people with a wrong impression of the work here in Romania."
*"Coming with outside pressure to perform on the mission field, leading some missionaries to push things in the ministry and even become controlling. This just causes resentment and resistance."
*"Passing on materialistic values through the example of the missionary's own life."
*"Sensationalizing the ministry. Throwing bibles and other materials out to people in church while taking pictures of people scrambling to catch something."
Those were just a few. He also asked "What do you think the role of the missionary is in this country?"
*"To serve people like they keep saying they came to do." (I believe Robin and Josh are doing that)
I was really humbled by what I heard that day. And it really made me re-think a lot of my ideas about missions, especially short term missions. The term "missionary" shouldn't be a negative thing in Romania, or in any country, but the truth is that in some places there has been a lot of hurt and negativity associated with that label. I hope that as Christians we can take a hard look at the way we view and treat the rest of the world, and that a "missionary" can be defined as someone who seeks to love and give the hope of Christ....
posted by Amy at
8:29 PM
2 Comments:
I appreciate what you've shared Amy.
hi... i don't know you, but i stumbled across your blog and really liked what you had to say. We seek to gain a lot when we can learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us and when we can be humble enough to listen to those that expose what is in our hearts.
I often ask my students for feedback, and although sometimes what they say hits close to home... i just can't allow myself to not ask. Because being an effective teacher, and not damaging them, is more important than my pride. Amen.
Shona
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