by
K. P. Yohannan(1)
What a fine book, written by a man who was born in India and became a believer in Jesus Christ! He was raised in a very poor Christian family, never wearing shores until he was nearly seventeen. Throughout his childhood, his mother prayed that one of her sons would become an evangelist. K.P. was the least imposing of her children, but God called him to preach the gospel. For some five years he went throughout India, preaching the gospel, with minimal resources, living by faith, and enduring hardship and rejection. Even so, the gospel was proclaimed and many Indians came to faith through his ministry. Then suddenly, he was offered a chance to be educated in the United States. He did so, finished his studies, and became the pastor of a small church near Dallas. At that point, God called him to establish a foundation to raise money for indigenous missionaries, that is, missionaries from India and other Asian countries who could preach the gospel to their fellow countrymen or to other peoples from the same part of the world. He began this ministry with virtually nothing, but due to the miraculous provision of God, he was able to establish a foundation that has trained hundred of missionaries on site in places like India and sent them out to proclaim the gospel throughout Asia.
His primary claim is that the Western World would better serve the cause of missions in the non-Western world if it funded and prayed for native missionaries to spread the gospel where the gospel is scarcely known. In the past, western mission agencies sent Westerners as missionaries, but now, the West needs to support indigenous missionaries. In his words, "We believe the most effective way now to win Asia for Christ is through prayer and financial support for the native missionary force that God is raising up in the Two-Thirds World."(2) If the West were to support native missionaries, there would be a revolution in world missions.
In Yohannan's view, there are compelling reasons for this approach.(3) Among other things, he notes the following: 1. It is wise stewardship. A native missionary can be sent out for a fraction of the cost of a western missionary. In fact, the cost of sending a missionary from the States to places like India, Pakistan, and Nepal is easily ten times the cost of sending a native missionary to such places. 2. Western missionaries perpetuate the myth that Christianity is a western religion. Native missionaries, by their faith in Christ, show that Christianity is for all people, not simply Westerners. 3. Western missionaries, and the money they bring, compromise the natural growth and independence of the national church. 4. After the colonial period came to an end, a number of Asian nations, former colonies of the western imperial powers, prohibited the entrance of western missionaries into their countries. Native missionaries, however, are allowed access. 5. Western missionaries seldom are effective today in reaching Asians because they do not know what it means to be an Asian.
The importance of supporting native missionaries was the primary aim of the book. Yohannan made his case, and it was compelling. There were, however, other aspects to this book, and I will mention two of them -- first, Yohannan's view of the churches of the United States, and second, his faith in a miraculous, living God.
One of the reasons I am convinced that, in general, non-western missionaries make better missionaries is that they have not been as infected by the anti-miraculous disease that affects the western church. For example, Yohannan described a native missionary named Simon, trained in one of their theological schools for mission in India.(4) Upon graduation, he went to an Indian village in an area renowned for their hostility to Christians. There he learned that the spiritual life of the community was in the hands of a woman named, Manjula. She was the priestess of two very powerful Hindu goddesses. He also discovered that Manjula had been sick for some time, paralyzed from the neck down. She had instructed hundreds of her followers to do a prescribed ritual with numerous sacrifices, but nothing happened. Then she got other more powerful sorcerers, made the right sacrifices, said the right rituals, and still nothing happened. Simon went to her home and asked her what she would do if Jesus healed her. She said she would follow him for the rest of her life. Simon prayed for her, and she was immediately healed. Within a week, 20 people gave their lives to Jesus and Manjula opened her house so the new believers. Simon founded a church there, and then, continued his missionary outreach in other villages. He lives simply, like the villagers, and spends about three hours every morning praying and studying.
In Yohannan's view, the churches of the United States are worldly. They spend millions on themselves each year, and from the point of view of the rest of the world, this spending is insane. For example, he mentioned a U.S. church that spent 74 million dollars on a single building, a sum that would fund nearly 7,000 average size churches in India.(5) This is not unusual. A parish where I was once the rector decided to engage in a multi-hundred thousand dollar renovation program. This was voted on at a meeting of the entire parish. As rector, I moved that we devote ten percent of our renovation budget to funding poor congregations in poor countries, explaining that our ten percent was equivalent to constructing several churches in these countries. It was put to a vote, with only three people, myself and two others, voting in favor of tithing on our wealth.
This corruption affects every aspect of church life in the U.S. Among other things, churches spend inordinate amounts of time, energy, and money on choirs, videos, multi-media church services, books, educational materials, and so forth. All of this is to feed the saints on the Word. Yohannan looks at it a bit differently, "The saddest observation I can make about most of the religious communication activity in the Western world is this: Little if any, of this media is designed to reach unbelievers. Almost all is entertainment for the Saints."(6)
Not only that, the gospel itself has been corrupted. Many preachers in the U.S. preach something like this: "Give your life to Christ, and you will be blessed." In other words, the point of being a Christian is for God to solve your problems and make your life a success. To that end, American Christians love to point to the successful as examples of their God in action. Here is Yohannan,
Christian magazines, TV shows and church services often put the spotlight on famous athletes, beauty queens, businessmen and politicians who "make it in the world and have Jesus to!" Today Christian values are defined almost totally by success as it is promoted by Madison Avenue advertising. Even many Christian ministries gauge their effectiveness by the standards of Harvard MBAs. ... The typical media testimony goes something like this: "I was sick and broke, a total failure. Then I met Jesus. Now everything is fine; my business is booming, and I am a great success."(7)
That's the Christian message, U.S. style. Here is the way it reads in other parts of the world, again quoting Yohannan, "I was happy. I had everything-prestige, recognition, good job, and a happy wife and children. Then I gave my life to Jesus Christ. Now I am in Siberia, having lost my family, wealth, reputation, job and health."(8)
His point of view reminds me of the words of Jesus, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34).
Finally, Yohannan comments on the various causes promoted by churches in the United States.
In the years I have lived and worked in the United States, I have watched believers in whole congregations get caught up in all kinds of similar crusades and causes that, while not necessarily bad in themselves, end up taking our eyes off obedience to Christ. And in this sense, they become anti-Christ. Read-hot issues burning across the horizon-such as inerrancy, charismatic gifts, the latest revelations of itinerant teachers or secular humanism, or whatever new issue raises its head tomorrow -- need to be kept in their proper perspective. There always will be new dragons to slay, but we must not let these side battles keep us from our main task of building and expanding the Kingdom of God.(9)
This is a significant point. Innumerable preachers do not preach the gospel of sin, repentance, and new life to their people. Instead of addressing their congregations, they attack real and imagined enemies, and then, forgetting the Kingdom of God, they enlist their members in the latest crusade, political, social, or ecclesial. The result is a derailment of the gospel in American life. This is not only true of the liberal churches, who often do not believe in Jesus as Lord, but also the conservative churches. They frequently attach the name of Jesus to their particular conservative cause, and spend their energy attacking the liberals, the secular humanists, the gays, the foreigners, neglecting the need of their own people to repent and receive new life. We would do well to listen to the prophetic words of Yohannan.
It would be wrong to think that the emphasis of Yohannan's book is the sin of the North American church. His real goal is the Kingdom, the saving of souls throughout Asia and the rest of the world. That is his passion. Even when he is critical of the Western Church, he speaks so humbly for the sake of the Kingdom that it breaks one's heart to think that his message scarcely penetrates the body of the North American Church.
In the meantime, let us proclaim the gospel with power, and pour our energies into the Kingdom, giving thanks to God that he has not left us without men and women who are willing to endure poverty and persecution in foreign lands for the sake of the gospel. When I think of them, in contrast to myself, I remember a line from Hebrews, that the world is "not worthy of them" (Hebrews 11:38).
Endnotes
1. K. P. Yohannan. Revolution in World Missions. GFA Books, 1986.
2. Yohannan, 158.
3. For the points of this paragraph, see Yohannan, 158f.
4. Yohannan, 204ff.
5. Yohannan, 45.
6. Yohannan, 48.
7. Yohannan, 96-97.
8. Yohannan, 97.
9. Yohannan, 91.
The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
October, 2010
