NGOs OR CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES

Who should we send to help the Third World Countries – NGOs or Christian Missionaries? In an article entitled “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God,” British Journalist and professed atheist Matthew Parris, argues that to “leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete” instead of Christian missionaries is an act of violence:

·       “Africa needs God…Missionaries, not aid money… [They] are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem—the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset.”

·       “Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good” (50).

·       “Christians, black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.”

According to Parris, there are hardcore secularists who will not give credit where the credit is due. However, Parris, who had spent his childhood in Malawi, knows otherwise:

·        “It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I’ve been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I’ve been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my worldview, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.” https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/as-an-atheist-i-truly-believe-africa-needs-god-3xj9bm80h8m

In light of the above, if we are really concerned about the people we claim to want to help, why do we fund NGOs and not Christian missions?

Sometimes, we have to let the facts overcome and correct our ideology. For this, I admire Parris. However, he is not alone in his assessment of the positive impact of Christian missions. The late theologian, B.B. Warfield, glowingly testified that:

·          Hospitals and asylums and refuges for the sick, the miserable and the afflicted grow like heaven-bedewed blossoms in its path. Woman, whose equality with man Plato considered a sure mark of social disorganization, has been elevated; slavery has been driven from civilized ground; literacy has been given by Christian missionaries, under the influence of the Bible.

Professor of sociology, Robert Woodberry, had done extensive research on missions. Many have concluded from Woodberry’s years of research that:

·       “Woodberry already had historical proof that missionaries had educated women and the poor, promoted widespread printing, let nationalistic movements that empowered ordinary citizens, and fueled other key elements of democracy. (Christianity Today, Jan/Feb 2014, 38)

Woodberry summarized his findings:

·       “Areas where Protestant missionaries had a significant presence in the past are on average more economically developed today, with comparatively better health, lower infant mortality, lower corruption, greater literacy, higher educational attainment (especially for women), and more robust membership in non-governmental associations.”

Philip J. Sampson cites the improbable testimony of Charles Darwin:

·       “Human sacrifice…infanticide…bloody wars, where the conquerors spared neither women nor children—all these have been abolished…by the introduction of Christianity.” (6 Modern Myths about Christianity and Western Civilization, 110)

However, not everyone is willing to give this despised group any credit.

·       “The missionaries [to New Guinea] from the start found themselves in bitter opposition to the white traders and exploiters, whose attitude was expressed by one of them to John G. Patton in the words ‘our watchword is ‘Sweep these creatures away, and let the white men occupy the soil,’’ and who, in pursuance of their aim, placed men sick of the measles on various islands in order to destroy the population through disease.” (Stephen Neill, “History of Christian Missions,” 355)

Sampson adds:

·       Disappointed in not finding the field of licentiousness quite so open as formerly, they [the Western traders] will not give credit to a morality which they do not wish to practice or to a religion which they undervalue, if not despise. (111)

It seems that today’s secularists have a lot in common with their predecessors, the Western traders. They too seem to despise “a religion which they undervalue.” (Don’t let that talk about the alleged “separation between Church and State” fool you.)