This is an article from the May-June 1998 issue The Mission to the “Aucas”.

May 01, 1998 by Glenn Schwartz

How Missionary Attitudes Can Create DependencyThe Sense of Urgency Regarding the Task

If the demeanor of the missionary is so important, it points to the importance of cross-cultural

training.  But how do we balance the urgency of the task with the need for adequate cross-

cultural training? Or how do we balance the urgency of the task with waiting for local initiative

to develop? Let me suggest something which may help to move us in this direction.

Assume that all who are preparing for cross-cultural ministry accept that they need cross-cultural

training. (I wish that were true, but let’s assume it anyway.) Good solid missionary training

might take several years of concentrated effort, if not a life-long commitment. Several weeks of

training are only immunization which convince missionary candidates that they have had enough

of that; now they can get on with ministry. Little wonder they don’t have the patience to wait for

local initiative to develop.

Some of this tension might be resolved if those who are committed to the urgency of the task will

also commit themselves simultaneously to the training. Fortunately, this is more and more

becoming possible through distance learning which a number of institutions are pioneering these

days. But what about those who aren’t mature enough to go to any field far away from home

anyway and would benefit from serious concentrated cross-cultural studies even in a classroom?

With the help and creativity of those designing the study program, why not build active ministry

into the process in a multi-cultural inner city situation nearby? Here is the pitch: “Come study

with us and begin your cross-cultural ministry now.” Or better yet, “Are you eager to get to the

field and begin your ministry? You can do it right now while you are studying on the side in our

training program.” Remember,

for the sake of the urgency, the studying is on the side, not the ministry. That brings the urgency

issue together with the importance of training. It also gives some candidates time to mature while

they make their blunders closer to home where the expense is not so great. And so far as the

patience required for local leaders to come on board, perhaps this period of training will give the

Christian time for patience to develop.

What about Paternalism and the Missionary Demeanor?

Admittedly paternalism sometimes creeps into the heart of Western altruism and perhaps even

more often into the demeanor of missionaries. There isn’t time to develop it here, so I will just

mention it in passing. We as Westerners cannot imagine how our benevolence or altruism could

possibly be at the root of the dependency syndrome. After all, we use money to solve many

problems. Furthermore, we get such a good feeling from giving that we may not even realize

when paternalism creeps in. Sometime ago we challenged someone on what was clearly to us

paternalism. His response was classic. He said, “How can you accuse me of paternalism? I

treated them like my own children and they didn’t appreciate it!”

I am sure you will agree that there are many ramifications to the dependency syndrome. I have

barely begun to scratch the surface in this brief paper. For a longer treatment of the subject, there

is an eight-hour video series available through World Mission Associates.2

What Hope Is There for the Future?

Is there a ray of hope for this situation in the future? Is it not that today’s and tomorrow’s

missionaries have access to training that was not available even thirty or forty years ago? If they

take advantage of it, the Christian movement will certainly be better off in the next generation

than it was in the last. Of course, the effectiveness of this depends on whether those teaching

missions are familiar with the dependency syndrome and know how to help everyone avoid it.

This represents a challenge for many of us.

There is another ray of hope. It is in the new missionary force—especially from the non-Western

world —which is not so well endowed financially that it will create and perpetuate financial

dependency as the Christian movement spreads. As Art Glasser once said about the China Inland

Mission: “We barely had enough money on which to survive as missionaries ourselves. We

could not have spoiled churches with money if we wanted to.” 3 When this came up in a recent

gathering of retired OMF missionaries, we heard his colleagues who had lived on modest income

agree with resounding affirmation.

Conclusion

Missionaries can speak and act with authority and urgency, and they do not need to create the

dependency syndrome in the churches which are started. But it will take a new and sometimes

radical approach for that to happen. It remains to be seen how many are prepared to pay the price

for the innovation and how many have the courage and humility it will demand. After all, taking

this approach means bucking a lot of history over the last century.