One of the recurring themes in the story of the church is the inability to foresee unintended consequences. Good people with the best of intentions get carried away and in their desire to help others become blind to the problems they create. The results of their actions are often best seen in hindsight. When we look back through the history of the church we can see where attempts to grow the church and reach new people have come with collusions with governments and powers without proper care of the people who are governed. Missionaries have gone to faraway places with the best of intentions to spread the gospel and instead have engaged in cultural imperialism that failed to recognize the values and strengths of the people they sought to serve.

In the early 19th Century, following the famous haystack prayer meeting in 1806, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent missionaries to China, Hawaii, and other places, predominantly in Southeast Asia. The legacy of these missionaries is substantial. Schools and hospitals were started. The Bible was translated into native languages, including creating written languages in places where none existed before. We have many missionary partnerships that have endured for more than a century because of the self-sacrificing vision of early missionaries. But they also engaged in unfair land deals with indigenous peoples. The legacy is not only one of service, but also one of exporting culture, imposing rules and values that were foreign, amassing wealth at the expense of those who were served, and, in some cases, engaging in direct abuse those they sought to help.

Our work in Hawaii is a good example. Hawaii was among the first destinations for foreign missionaries sent by the Board. The missionaries taught the gospel, established schools and hospitals and served the people in many ways. They also participated in the overthrow of the historic monarchy. At one point Queen Liliuokalani was held against her will in the Congregational church while the government of Hawaii was taken over in a military coup. The illegal overthrow was undertaken in part to protect the property of non-indigenous people. Looking back, it is easy to see how the history of Hawaii was altered by the presence of the missionaries. The excesses of church people are well documented.

There is a great deal written about physical, sexual and cultural abuse that took place in boarding schools established to “serve” Native Americans and indigenous Canadians. The paternalistic approach of some of the zealous missionaries resulted in taking children out of loving families and placing them in isolation – sometimes hundreds of miles from home. Ignorance of native customs and a general cultural insensitivity resulted in destruction of families and the loss of language and other critical cultural traditions.

There are many other stories, too numerous for a single blog post, of times when good people, meaning well, participated in violence and destruction because of their cultural ignorance. Over the years many within our church have learned the hard way that there is a big difference between doing things for others and walking alongside them.

The legacy of paternalism in missionary activities continues to be a part of our relationships with Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people here in South Dakota. One of the issues that has consumed significant energy in recent years is the repatriation of land titles for our native congregations. The story is long and complex, but the titles to the land on which some of our Dakota Association churches stand as well as a few other plots of land donated to the church were at one time held in the offices of the American Missionary Association. The land was donated by native families, and sometimes by the tribe, for the establishment and support of churches. Because the newly formed congregations often lacked corporate status, the titles to the land were held by the missionary organization. In the early 1960’s the titles were transferred to the South Dakota Conference. These days it is clear that the titles should be held by the Dakota Association and the Board of Directors of the Conference has acted to transfer the titles to the Association. The transaction is not, however, going smoothly. There are costs associated with obtaining clear titles. There are encumbrances associated with some of the properties and some disputes over boundaries and other issues. It will take years to sort it all out.

A much less paternalistic style of working with people has emerged over the years. We have learned, as a church, to work as partners with others. When we walk alongside others and truly listen to their concerns, needs and wishes, we can become partners with them in doing the things that they want to do. It can be frustrating to work at the pace of a partner instead of our own. Sometimes things take longer. Sometimes the results are not the way we envisioned them. But the benefits of walking alongside others as opposed to “doing for” them are great. When we foster independence and listen to the needs and aspirations of others instead of assuming that we know what is best for them, we build healthy relationships. The process is long and requires patience. Quick fixes rarely are the right answer. God’s work happens in God’s time, not our own.

Yesterday I sat at a meeting as one of my colleagues announced that he was chairing a plan to build a new church for one of our Dakota Association congregations. He plans to do an eight-day blitz build in September. He announced the names of the people he had recruited to do the construction. I nearly wept as I listened to him talk. He was excited. The church lost their fellowship hall in a fire and will soon have funds from the insurance. Their dream is to build a new sanctuary and convert the old sanctuary to a fellowship hall. Our colleague has had a few conversations with our partners and has decided that he knows what is best for them. He is able to organize workers, import labor and materials and he has a vision. He seems to have forgotten that the insurance money from the building that burned down is not his to spend. He seems to have forgotten that the church is located in a rural area where the unemployment rate is over 80%. Importing volunteers sounds like a good idea when you don’t think of the local people who need jobs. He seems to have forgotten that the design of a church building requires careful listening to the members of the church about what they want and how they will use the building. As he reeled off the names of those he was organizing to work, he failed to notice that there were no Natives and no members of the congregation he wants to “serve” on his list. He has no idea of the on-going maintenance costs of the building he proposes. He has given no thought as to who will pay the increased insurance, energy and maintenance costs “his” new building will impose on the small congregation.

I’ve been around the church long enough to know that the enthusiasm of the moment is rarely the path to the future. I bit my tongue and didn’t speak up. I know that the long-term investments we make in on-going relationships are worth a lot more than the temporary passions of a “do gooder.” But it is frustrating to think that there are those who have learned nothing from the mistakes of the past. One thing I am beginning to learn from decades of walking and working with our partners is that the future does not rest on what happens in eight days in September.

Those who are willing to commit decades and lifetimes to on-going relationships will continue to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ. And over and over again we will repeat the painful process of cleaning up the mess left behind by the “hit and run” missionaries who show up to work for a few days and go back home feeling good about themselves.

Copyright © 2013 by Ted Huffman. I wrote this. If you want to copy it, please ask for permission. There is a contact me button at the bottom of this page. If you want to share my blog a friend, please direct your friend to my web site.