It’s always interesting to me to see how people view the different roles of a Missionary. In the West, the view of a Missionary is often one where you have a white man enter a foreign land, stand on a corner, tell everyone how wrong they are and how he has all the answers, show how superior the West is, and create a group of native followers. To be honest, this view is arrogant, ridiculous, and awful.
Although we don’t “officially” hold the title of “Missionary,” Bethany and I certainly feel this title is appropriate to our work. It is our love of Christ that drew us to reach out to other parts of the world. It is the love of Christ that encouraged us to meet new people, develop relationships, and get involved in what is going on here in China. But how we share our faith must change from the stereotypical norm. (Bare with me – this may get a little long….)
Let me be clear: In no way are we “ashamed” of our faith. We are very open with the fact that we are Christians. We are very open to sharing ideas of the Bible. In China, none of this is illegal. What IS illegal in China is evangelism – or, more specifically, classic Western Evangelism.
So what this means is we are not allowed to walk up to random people and say, “Hey, do you know Jesus?” This means we are not allowed to stand on a street corner with a bull horn and shout at people to tell them they are going to Hell. This means we can not walk down the street and hand out tracts to people.
But, in all honesty, is this really all that bad?
I mean, when was the last time shouting at strangers on a street corner really brought them to Christ? To be honest, I have never found tracts to be all that effective either. How would you react if some stranger walked into your home, started telling you all the things you are doing wrong, and how you should change the way you live? Would you respect them? Would you listen? It was rare for Jesus to find a random stranger, tell that random stranger how to live, and then walk away from him. Why do we think we should be doing this?
The truth is that nearly all of Jesus’ ministering occurred personally and relationally. The few times we do see Jesus correct random strangers (eg. The Woman At The Well), he is coming to those people as a respected authority figure – people care what he has to say. More specifically, we see Jesus ministering in three different ways throughout the Gospels.
The first, and most popular among the West, is by teaching/preaching. His most famous example was the “Sermon On The Mount.” (Matthew 5-7) This is the method that we in the West tend to feel most comfortable with. It’s usually the least intrusive and least amount of responsibility for the teacher. People show up, they listen, they leave. You teach, and then you walk away. There’s little accountability, little responsibility, and little risk involved. Those who want to hear are already there to listen.
The second way Jesus ministered was by confrontation and calling people out. He challenged the religious leaders of the day – the Pharisees – as they tried to challenge Jesus’ authority on religious matters. Some people try to use this as the basis for classic Western “You’re all going to Hell” evangelism. But who was Jesus speaking to? The religious LEADERS – people who supposedly knew and followed God’s law. These people knew God’s Word. These were the people who went to church every week. These were the people who tithed every week, who prayed daily, who were called to represent and lead God’s people. These were the people Jesus called “sons of hell.” (Matthew 23:15) These were the people Jesus verbally smacked around.
Now, is it true that people are going to go to hell if they don’t know God? Yes. But how much good does it do to yell at sick people and tell them over and over they are sick? Everyone knows we’re messed up. It’s obvious to most people this world is broken. Screaming at them won’t help. The recent events in the US has reinforced that.
The last form of ministry Jesus did was relational. Arguably, this was his biggest form of ministry. Jesus had a way of accepting those who didn’t feel accepted – those who were told they weren’t good enough, or failed too many times, or didn’t deserve to be acknowledged. Those were the people we seemed to reach out to the most. And it was his love that brought them close to God – it’s what drew them in.
Zacchaeus was one of those people. He was a tax collector for the Roman Empire. Thus, he was hated by the Jews. Some say he was a JEWISH tax collector. Which would mean he was also a traitor among his own people. But then he had an encounter with Jesus (Luke 19). During this encounter, Jesus took note of Zacchaeus. Jesus simply said he was going to eat at Zacchaeus’ house (which would have been an honor in those days). How did Zacchaeus respond? With repentance! “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (V. 8) What did Jesus say or do to invoke such a response?
Love. Jesus showed love to people. That love typically shown through in the form of compassion and acceptance. He came across prostitutes, thieves, Jews, Samaritans, Romans, the rich, the poor, the lame, the blind, the sick, the outcasts, and so many others. He relationally accepted them all. He never let them stay where they were, but he accepted them nonetheless.
China is a relational culture. We have entered there culture – there home. My job isn’t to change their culture or their laws. My job is to bear the image of Christ. We are here not as authoritative figures, but as (hopefully) humble Americans seeking to make friends, build relationships, learn about them, teach English, and show God’s love through legal means. That is our goal.
It starts by creating relationships. That’s how friends are made. That’s how teaching and learning happens. That’s how God’s love is best seen. That’s how being a “missionary” starts.
