Celebrate The Good, Call Out The Bad, Remember Them Both
In 2024, I visited an island in Indonesia to visit a few communities that are engaging in oral Bible translation that is supported by my organization. Indonesia has the world’s largest population of Muslims, with Statista reporting 241 million as of 2022, beating out Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. [1] But this island is an exception, with the majority of the island professing faith in Jesus. This island was colonized by the Dutch in 1866 and along with colonization came a hospital and the gospel.[2] The communities I visited had thriving churches and were proud of their Christian heritage.
When thinking about colonialism, I have had generally negative feelings and thoughts about the destruction of culture, language, and traditions that come with colonization. However, I simultaneously cannot deny the spread of the gospel and economic, technological, and medical advancement that came as a result of colonization in some circumstances. I believe that colonization is a violation of God’s design and appreciation for diversity and for the fullness of the image of God. However, I am reminded that despite the imperfect and even destructive ways of mankind, God has a way of his gospel moving forward to redeem the world. In many ways, this is a mystery – how God prevails, despite the poor attempts of Christians to take things into their own hands.
In reading The War Against The Past: Why The West Must Fight For Its History by Frank Furedi, I was intrigued by his argument that western culture is attempting to erase its past, casting it all as a story of shame. [3] One byproduct of the war on the past is that some educators believe it is their job to distance their pupils from history, save children from their parents’ ideology, and replace parental values with progressive ones. This resonated with me because in 2022, my daughter’s elementary school celebrated Pride Week in which they received LGBTQ+ education in “community circles” and were instructed to keep what happened in the circle confidential. [4] Understandably, some parents were furious at the school’s teaching and especially asking kids to maintain confidentiality.
Another by-product of the war against the past is that culture is heading towards rejection of trying to change anyone’s beliefs or way of being. You be you is a common phrase that aligns with this thinking. According to Barna, almost half of practicing Christian millennials say evangelism is wrong, and likely even more Gen-Zers hold the same belief. [5] I find this greatly troubling and ironically unloving.
Historically, missions have had subtle or even overt tones of colonialism. At my organization, we often refer to this historical posture as From the West to the Rest. [6] But today, missions is moving much more towards From Everyone to Everywhere. [7] In reflecting on this week’s reading, I’m sensing that I don’t want to ignore or minimize the destruction of culture and diversity that came with colonialism, but I also think we must celebrate the advancement of the gospel and other positive outcomes that have come with Western history. I realized that I have felt pressured to count all of history as evil, but this reading has given me some permission to celebrate the good, call out the bad, while remembering them both.
References
[1] Statista. “Top 25 Countries with the Largest Number of Muslims in 2022 (in Millions)*,” n.d. https://www.statista.com/statistics/374661/countries-with-the-largest-muslim-population/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20Indonesia%20has%20the,211.16%20million%20Muslims%20in%20India.
[2] Wikipedia. Details hidden for confidentiality.
[3] Furedi, Frank. The War Against The Past: Why The West Must Fight For Its History. Hoboken: Polity, 2024.
[4] Asmussen, Jacob. “School District Tells 4-Year-Olds to Keep ‘Pride Week’ Lessons a Secret.” Texas Scorecard, March 21, 2022. https://texasscorecard.com/local/school-district-tells-4-year-olds-to-keep-pride-week-lessons-a-secret/.
[5] Barna. “Almost Half of Practicing Christian Millennials Say Evangelism Is Wrong,” n.d. https://www.barna.com/research/millennials-oppose-evangelism/.
[6] “Remembering Our Journey.” Report from the SIL Think Tank; reflecting on our corporate roots in order to look ahead towards the future., n.d.
[7] Lausanna. “The Future of Mission Is from Everyone to Everywhere,” n.d. https://lausanne.org/global-analysis/future-mission-everyone-everywhere.
About the Author
Christy
9 responses to “Celebrate The Good, Call Out The Bad, Remember Them Both”
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Thanks for your thoughts Christy. You describe the tension between acknowledging the harm of colonialism while also recognising how God has worked through history to advance the gospel. How do you think Christians today can navigate this balance in missions, ensuring that sharing the gospel does not come at the expense of cultural dignity while still embracing the call to evangelism?”
I think one way is through contextualized evangelism, church planting, etc. Missions have come a long way in working through contextualized models, but we still have more to do!
Christy,
I agree with you. Plastered around our state are historical markers detailing the history of people or places. What I would love to see when it comes to people is for one side of the marker to detail the achievements the person made that bettered our nation and the other side to site facts about which we might not be proud but are part of who the person was. It’s like the Bible, we celebrate Moses, David, Peter, etc. but the Bible details some of their failings.
In looking at missions, do you know examples where you believe that the previous missional strategies and ideology, West to the Rest, has left a lasting negative impact on a people group that makes reaching them today difficult?
Hi Christy, I really appreciate how you emphasize the importance of remembering both the good and the bad. I resonate with that sentiment. I was also encouraged to read that missions is increasingly moving toward the “From Everyone to Everywhere” approach. I agree that traditional missions have often carried subtle or overt elements of colonialism. From your position, what practical steps have you seen that help shift the focus from “the West to the Rest” to a more inclusive “From Everyone to Everywhere”?
On a personal note, having spent four years in Africa, I’ve found myself feeling somewhat disconnected from the culture wars currently unfolding in the West.
Hi Elysse, it takes time to change the tidal wave of ‘west to the rest’ to ‘from everywhere to everyone’. So we have to take incremental steps towards the future we want to see. My organization has an internship program that focuses on participants from the Global South. Another example is that certain leaders are expected to mentor younger leaders who are more representative of the global church – which is moving away from the west and more to the Global South.
Hi Christy, I share a lot of your ideas. I believe that Christian mission can do great things. Do you have ideas for practical steps churches/denominations can take to communicate more helpful missional practices that do not carry the baggage of colonialism?
Hi Christy, Thanks for your reminder of the good that has come out of colonialism. I have questions that go along with those of Elysse and Julie. Missions still carry a strong colonialistic vibe, especially in my context. I wonder what some of those steps are to shift from the “West to the Rest” to “From Everyone to Everywhere” since the Gospel has not yet penetrated everyone everywhere?
Hi Julie, one key aspect is leadership diversity and development. I shared a bit about this in my comment to Elysse, but I’ll expand a bit more here. In today’s missions, we often want to operate ‘from everywhere to everyone’, but the systems, structures, and leaders aren’t in place to see this as a reality. We have to take steps to build the infrastructure that can make this a reality. We must have leaders that are localized to a context – and if we don’t have the leaders in place, we have to ask why not – and take action on those bottlenecks. Sometimes, those bottlenecks are really far upstream that prevent us from seeing the reality of ‘from everywhere to everyone’. It’s ok if it’s far upstream; we just need to make progress and be ok with the small steps. In some countries, that might be childhood education, in other places it could be young adult internships, in other places, it could be having diversity in leadership.
Hey Christy. You mention “I’m sensing that I don’t want to ignore or minimize the destruction of culture and diversity that came with colonialism, but I also think we must celebrate the advancement of the gospel and other positive outcomes that have come with Western history.” How can this best be accomplished?