Mission$$$

 

Broad, well watered paddy fields like these indicated
a consistent supply of food and relative wealth.

Some years ago, I read an account of the Lewis and Clark expedition as they made their way up the Missouri River seeking the Pacific Ocean. As far as European-Americans go, Lewis and Clark were blazing a new trail and would be meeting native Americans that had never before encountered “white” people. Apparently though, we of European descent already had a reputation of being people of wealth with lots of money and material goods. According to the account I read, some of the native American groups (but certainly not all), even those with no prior personal involvement with Europeans, had no interest in Lewis and Clark as people, but had a great eagerness to relieve them of their material possessions.

The reputation of being a people overly endowed with material goods and money has apparently stuck with us over the years and centuries. It is easy to understand why. Simply having the wherewithal to leave our native land and travel half way across the world indicated access to funds and resources people in remote villages in Thailand could only dream of. In the early 1980s, even having access to a vehicle owned by an organization or business was relatively rare. Personally owned vehicles were not at all common.

On the steep mountain slopes where many
Karen lived, if they had paddy fields at all, they
were often small and narrow.

Lifestyles were also very different. We westerners could get pretty much anything we wanted and our
lifestyle required plenty of “things”. Even in Thailand where we had a more modest lifestyle compared to what we might have had in the US, if we moved from one house to another, we’d need transport by the truckload. Walking the trails between villages however, we’d sometimes encounter families moving from one village to another. They would have all their possessions with them, packed in a couple hand woven baskets and carried on their backs.

The people we worked with in the mountain villages were largely subsistence farmers, meaning they grew their own food and foraged for supplemental food, building materials and other necessities. They could sell some surplus crops (if any), sell forest products, maybe do a little day labor, etc. to generate some cash income, but they mainly provided for themselves. Cash was very limited, highly valued and spent sparingly.

So here we were, a “rich westerner”, coming into a village in a nice vehicle representing untold wealth. Similar to Lewis and Clark’s experience, there were some people we would encounter that seemed to be less interested in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a lot more interested in how much money and material goods they might be able to get from us.

Fortunately, we benefitted from generations of Baptist missionaries that had been cautious about how money and goods were used and had developed policies (see post titled “Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple” about funds for church building for example) that served to focus on self-support rather than giving handouts. Still, it was a challenge. In fact, we did have a lot of wealth compared to those we worked with. In not sharing that wealth more willingly, were we encouraging self-sufficiency or just being cheap and selfish?

I was getting involved in development work and Marcia was soon to be getting involved with providing scholarships and overseeing educational programs, so we were both controlling and distributing lots of money. We really wanted to be judged, accepted and appreciated according to who we were and based on our faith in Jesus Christ. But at the same time, we had to accept that we were in fact, a source of funds and materials so certainly, we would be seen that way as well.

At the head of a path leading to rice fields, these
bamboo symbols are meant to protect the
crops from malicious spirits.

Afterall, if we had no resources to offer, why were we there? From an evangelistic point of view, one of the early lessons we learned about the Karen people was that their system of animistic spirit beliefs encompassed their entire life. If they were sick, it might be a medical problem, but it was first and foremost a spiritual problem. They had offended a spirit and now the spirit was making them sick. If there was a crop failure, sure, it might be a fertilization or disease problem, but it was first and foremost a spiritual problem. They had offended a spirit so the spirit had caused the crop failure. Presenting the Christian Gospel to a Karen animist would therefore mean the Gospel would also need to cover all areas of a person’s life. To simply preach might peak someone’s interest, but a new faith would also need to help them stay healthy, produce food, provide for their children, give them a community and provide a source of support. Some of that would take money and material support and we felt called to help.