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DCRunningDiva
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Joined: 10 Oct 2003
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Location: Washington DC Metro
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 Posted: 05/06/05 - 09:41 Post subject:
| RangerG wrote: | I would do it if:
It were on a Native American Reservation.
I was financialy secure enough to give the time.
I had a place to sleep and food to eat.
I did not have to try and change their religious beliefs. |
I did a summer missionary project where I stayed (by myself) on a Navajo and a Hopi reservation for two weeks (one week each). Just being there for those weeks changed my life. I wish I would have been more mature at the time I did it because I think I would have gained such a different perspective on things if I would have been. At the time I was just out of college and very immature.
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ShannonG
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 09:44 Post subject:
We have family friends who are Mormon and both their sons have gone on missions right after high school. It is a life altering experience to be sure.
My feeling is that what right do we have to go into a culture and try to change it by evangelizing? It sort of smacks of 'we're better than you, and we know it'. Don't jump on me, it's just the way I feel.
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airehead
Oompa Loofah
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Joined: 12 Nov 2002
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Location: Between here and eternity...
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 09:49 Post subject:
Not all missionary trips are about evangelizing. Most of the ones I have been attached to have been just about going and building school buildings, fixing sewage systems, and generally just giving from the much we have to give. It wasn't about evangelizing.
That being said, when Aire Jr is gone to university I will probably involve myself in mission trips. I have always wanted to and finally hope to get the opportunity.
We're all in this thing called "life" together. We who have so much need to share with others everywhere.
I had an uncle who lived as a missionary with his family in Peru. For years. They are amazing people.
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TOsteve
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 10:08 Post subject:
| ShannonG wrote: | We have family friends who are Mormon and both their sons have gone on missions right after high school. It is a life altering experience to be sure.
My feeling is that what right do we have to go into a culture and try to change it by evangelizing? It sort of smacks of 'we're better than you, and we know it'. Don't jump on me, it's just the way I feel. |
I think that a lot of people's perception of evangelizing has been negatively impacted by a militant, 'you must believe what I believe or I won't waste my time with you' attitude that some people of faith have demonstrated in North America. Evangelizing, for me, is just sharing a part of who I am with people (the part that influences my character and decisions more than any other part).
When I went to India, I was there to learn from their culture and in exchange use the time and wealth I am blessed with (being a North American) to help people with less time and wealth. While I was their I evangelized to people - but sharing my faith is something I do with everyone. It frustrates me to know that some militant evangelicals have soured peoples impression of sharing their faith so much so that we can't even talk about our faith without many people making certain suppositions about our motivations.
I hope this doesn't sound like 'jumping' on you. Just know that many missionaries do what they do out of a genuine love and caring for the needs of people that their faith instills in them. 
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DCRunningDiva
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 11:22 Post subject:
| TOsteve wrote: |
I think that a lot of people's perception of evangelizing has been negatively impacted by a militant, 'you must believe what I believe or I won't waste my time with you' attitude that some people of faith have demonstrated in North America. Evangelizing, for me, is just sharing a part of who I am with people (the part that influences my character and decisions more than any other part).
When I went to India, I was there to learn from their culture and in exchange use the time and wealth I am blessed with (being a North American) to help people with less time and wealth. While I was their I evangelized to people - but sharing my faith is something I do with everyone. It frustrates me to know that some militant evangelicals have soured peoples impression of sharing their faith so much so that we can't even talk about our faith without many people making certain suppositions about our motivations.
I hope this doesn't sound like 'jumping' on you. Just know that many missionaries do what they do out of a genuine love and caring for the needs of people that their faith instills in them. |
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ShannonG
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 12:10 Post subject:
| TOsteve wrote: |
I think that a lot of people's perception of evangelizing has been negatively impacted by a militant, 'you must believe what I believe or I won't waste my time with you' attitude that some people of faith have demonstrated in North America. Evangelizing, for me, is just sharing a part of who I am with people (the part that influences my character and decisions more than any other part).
When I went to India, I was there to learn from their culture and in exchange use the time and wealth I am blessed with (being a North American) to help people with less time and wealth. While I was their I evangelized to people - but sharing my faith is something I do with everyone. It frustrates me to know that some militant evangelicals have soured peoples impression of sharing their faith so much so that we can't even talk about our faith without many people making certain suppositions about our motivations.
I hope this doesn't sound like 'jumping' on you. Just know that many missionaries do what they do out of a genuine love and caring for the needs of people that their faith instills in them. |
This is a wonderful attitude to have and one that I endorse wholeheartedly. I just remember watching a documentary on some tribe deep in South America that had had very litttle contact with the outside world (the camera crew wasn't interacting, just filming) and then into the middle of the village walks a couple of young guys with dark pants, white shirts and ties, 'spreading the word'. They weren't digging wells, they weren't teaching the children, they were just inflicting their culture and belief system on a people whose way of life had been unchanged for over a thousand years.
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TOsteve
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 13:06 Post subject:
| ShannonG wrote: |
This is a wonderful attitude to have and one that I endorse wholeheartedly. I just remember watching a documentary on some tribe deep in South America that had had very litttle contact with the outside world (the camera crew wasn't interacting, just filming) and then into the middle of the village walks a couple of young guys with dark pants, white shirts and ties, 'spreading the word'. They weren't digging wells, they weren't teaching the children, they were just inflicting their culture and belief system on a people whose way of life had been unchanged for over a thousand years. |
I've been around enough inner city missions and talked to enough third world missionaries to know that for every 2 guys like you described here there are 20 who are doing what they do because they really love and care about the people they are 'evangelizing'.
There are a lot of humble, selfless and courageous people working in mission fields all over the world and they are who they are in large part, because of the faith they carry.
Sorry to belabour this point but I feel I owe it to some of the amazing people I've met while doing missions work to defend the way of life they've chosen and the sacrifices they've made without seeking reward.
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airehead
Oompa Loofah
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Posted: 05/06/05 - 13:30 Post subject:
| TOsteve wrote: |
I've been around enough inner city missions and talked to enough third world missionaries to know that for every 2 guys like you described here there are 20 who are doing what they do because they really love and care about the people they are 'evangelizing'.
There are a lot of humble, selfless and courageous people working in mission fields all over the world and they are who they are in large part, because of the faith they carry.
Sorry to belabour this point but I feel I owe it to some of the amazing people I've met while doing missions work to defend the way of life they've chosen and the sacrifices they've made without seeking reward. |
Same is true here in America. For every jerk Christian there are at least 10 more truly doing God's work the way God intended. Quietly, humbly, reverently.
We just hear the jerk Christians because they are loud mouths who love to hear their own wisdom.
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