THEY CAN FINISH THE JOB

Dr. Bob Finley, Chairman and CEO of Christian Aid

Half a century ago, one outstanding advocate of

foreign missions was the network broadcaster and
eminent Bible expositor, Donald Grey Barnhouse. In
1952 he journeyed around the world to visit
missionaries and mission stations. Upon his return he
shocked evangelical audiences across the country with
a startling prediction: "Within 20 years there will be no
further need for American missionaries serving
overseas as they have in the past."

Native missionaries are more effective

After hearing him say these things I went to him
privately to ask what had so radically altered his
thinking. He told me that in every place he visited in
Asia and Africa he saw that local Christian workers were
much more effective than foreign missionaries in
reaching their people for Christ. He was astounded by
Donald Grey Barnhouse the sheer numbers of native missionaries which were

being raised up by the Spirit of God, and told me that if the pace
continued there would be no further need for us to send Americans
overseas.

Seven years later I was present when Bakht Singh of

India spoke at the church of which Dr. Barnhouse was
pastor, Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia. This great
leader, from a Sikh family in Punjab, had come to
Canada as an engineering student in the 1930’s and
turned to Christ in Winnipeg. Since returning to India,
he and his disciples planted over a thousand churches
among Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. When asked about
American missionaries, Bakht Singh flatly stated, Bakht Singh

"They are no longer needed in India."

When I last visited Bakht Singhs home base in Hyderabad I saw over
100 native missionaries being trained for service, in addition to other
hundreds who had already gone out. Few of them had regular financial
support. The cost of sending one American missionary family overseas
for language study would have provided full support for at least 50 of
these Indian citizens. And any one of them, already knowing their

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culture and languages, would be ten times more effective for the
kingdom of God than any foreigner could ever be in that country.

But I fear that Dr. Barnhouse

underestimated the possibility
of changing our cherished
church traditions. Now, half a
century later, a billion dollars of
God’s money is still being
consumed each year on
perpetuating the colonial
tradition of sending Americans
Hundreds of thousands of new believers have been won to Christ by overseas as resident
native missionaries since all foreign workers were put out of their missionaries.
countries.

And all the while some 300,000 native missionaries in poorer countries
are out on their respective fields with little or no support.

The poverty of native missionaries

• Thousands of them walk hundreds of miles under the broiling sun
because they don’t have 50 cents to buy a ride on a bus or truck.

• The work of tens of thousands of them could be greatly increased if

they had $75 to buy a bicycle, or a motorbike for $850.

• When they go out, many native missionaries leave their families in

one or two room huts with no furniture, no glass or even screens in
the windows, no refrigerators, no running water hence no bath
rooms and with about a dollar a day to purchase food for the
family.

The need for change in the way we do

missionary work is long overdue.
Failure to do so is a tragic misuse of
God’s money. We must phase out the
costly tradition (which has no Biblical
basis) of sending Americans overseas
and redirect our resources to helping
the indigenous missionary ministries
which our Lord has raised up in every
country. Most native missionaries live in mud huts like this one
with dirt floors, thatch roofs and no windows.

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Appreciating missionaries of former centuries
However, when we speak of the need for change, we must be careful
to pay tribute to faithful servants of Christ in past centuries. Take
India for example.

Thousands of foreign missionaries

Native missionaries are much more effective than
foreigners in reaching their people for Christ.
served on the India field during the
days of British rule. Beginning with
William Carey in 1792, they put the
Word of God into 16 major languages
of that country. Today, India believers
are deeply grateful for the
contributions made to the cause of
Christ in their culture by those early
pioneers.

Nevertheless, when Gandhi came with the independence movement,

foreign missionaries were seen as part and parcel of colonial rule.

While the average Indian family lived in one room and slept on a dirt
floor with no furniture, missionary homes were generally two-story
brick houses with six to eight rooms. Mission compounds were
surrounded by concrete walls with iron spikes or broken glass bottles
along the top. Most missionary families had five or six servants.
Almost all had a car, and some had two. From the Indian point of view
they were fabulously rich. So how could they teach, "Love your
neighbor as yourself?" Or, "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and be
crucified with Christ." We misrepresented our Lord, "who though He
was rich yet for our sakes became
poor."

Mercifully, when independence came in

1947, all foreign missionaries were
excluded from the largest
conglomeration of unreached people
groups (1600 tribes and nations within
the sub-continent) on this planet. It
took 30 years and the rise of a new
generation for unpleasant memories to Native missionaries supported by Christian Aid trek high
into the mountains, taking Christ to isolated tribes living
fade. The "foreign invaders," identified in homes like this one in the Andes of Peru.
with colonial rule and projecting an image diverse from the Christ they
represented, cast a shadow that took many years to overcome.

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But healing came, as gifted Indian Christians like Bakht Singh, Sadhu
Joseph, P.M. Samuel, K.E. Abraham, P.J. Thomas and a host of others
lived simply and proclaimed the gospel without it being identified with
Europeans.

Hundreds of thousands added to the Lord

Crowds of 25,000 became commonplace at evangelistic meetings.
Open air conventions began to draw 50,000 delegates to sleep on the
ground, Indian style, at night. Hundreds of thousands were added to
the Lord—often more in one month than in 100 years while the
foreigners were there.

Just as surely as God used the

pioneers who went there a century
ago, there came a time when the
best thing for the cause of Christ
was for all foreigners to leave. The
same could be said regarding
China, Burma, Cuba and many
other places. The job can be
finished by tens of thousands of
native missionaries whom God has
A church was planted in this village by native missionaries
supported by Christian Aid. It is located at high altitude in the raised up all over the world.
Himalaya mountains of Nepal.

One example of how God uses native missionaries can be seen in the
isolated Himalayan mountain kingdom of Nepal. That country of 24
million Hindus and Buddhists has never openly admitted foreign
missionaries. But many Nepalese found Christ while away from home
through indigenous ministries such as that of Bakht Singh in India.
With help from Christian Aid they went back to Nepal and planted
churches among their own people. Since 1960 the number of believers
there has grown to over 500,000 and includes some from each of
more than 60 different tribes and nations in that country.

Foreign presence has negative impact

About 1000 Americans are there as "tentmakers." In order to raise
support, they call themselves "missionaries" here at home. But to the
Nepalese government they deny it. In order to gain admittance, they
sign a statement saying they will only do "social work" and won’t
"propagate their religion" while in Nepal. Yet Nepalese missionaries
have gone to prison, suffered beatings, and been put out of their
homes because they openly witness for Christ.

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Christian leaders in Nepal have said
that the presence of these "rich
foreigners" is having a devastating
effect on the Christian young people
in their country. While their parents
counted the cost and paid the price,
young people are being tempted to
compromise their faith in order to
escape persecution. And since one More than 50,000 new missionaries are being trained at
hundreds of Bible Institutes supported by Christian Aid.
American receives more support than
100 Nepalese missionaries combined, the presence of foreigners
breeds covetousness among Nepalese youth. Finally, a group of Nepali
Christian leaders adopted a petition asking all foreign "tentmaker"
missionaries to please leave their country. Can we blame them?

So the question arises, is there any "mission field" country where it is

better to spend a fortune sending Americans rather than to redirect
God’s money toward the support of indigenous missions which are
already there? The only excuse I can think of for sending Americans
overseas might be a case like Bruce Olsen who went as a single man
and lived with the Motilone tribe in South America. He didn’t even
have a suitcase. In fact, he lay dying along the trail when the
Motilones picked him up and nursed him back to life. It was a great
discovery to them when, months later, they learned of salvation and
eternal life in Christ from him.

One misconception is that Americans should go out to teach or train

God’s servants in poorer countries. It’s based on a colonial attitude:
"We are superior, they are inferior." Look at Vietnamese refugee
children in American schools. They are usually at the head of the class.
Asians and Africans are not inferior to Europeans. They can do the
training much more effectively than we can. The last thing they need
is for some (comparatively) rich person to come over there and cast a
shadow in their midst.

Better to send support than to send people

American Christians who wish to further the cause of Christ in poorer
countries should accept our God given responsibility to be stewards of
the Lord’s treasury. Instead of consuming His resources on the costly
tradition of sending Americans overseas, we should rather redirect
those funds to the many thousands of indigenous ministries which He
has raised up in every country, including those where American
missionaries are not allowed.

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One outstanding leader, whose ministry Christian Aid began helping in
1960, was the great Zulu apostle, Nicholas Bhengu. His mission
planted thousands of new churches among over 100 tribes and nations
in southern Africa. While speaking at the missionary conference we
sponsored in Washington 34 years ago he said, "Just give us the tools,
and by God’s grace we will finish the job."

For more information, please visit the website of Christian Aid:

http://www.christianaid.org

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