Reflections on a short-term mission

Regina

Murray and Dolores Logon and their family travelled to Thailand and Macau earlier this year to visit Mennonite missionaries working in these two countries. Upon their return, Murray Logan reflected on what he had learned from their trip:

* In Thailand, as well as in Macau, I learned that Christianity is seen as a western religion. Because of the particularly North American emphasis on materialism, money and individualism, as well as the militaristic and violent spin which they see in our movies, advertisements and products, they may be interested in the good news of Christ but they don't want the North American baggage that comes with it. They want victory over sin, guilt, fear, the law, death, and evil and meaningless existence without attachments to the "cultural other."

* Many fears accompany daily living. Many are filled by the need to appease spirits that plague them, working hard at a dead-end job to support families or buying unnecessary goods, in order to feel good and add meaning to life.

* In North America we seem to have taken the benefits of Jesus Christ so much for granted that the true meaning of Jesus Christ has become lost or buried in some sort of secular or apostate culture. We have found ourselves going the other way and embracing the very things they in Asia have sought to shed once they discover freedom from spiritual poverty and bondage.

* The Buddhist religious system suffers from the same attacks of apostate drift and indifference by the youth as Christianity does in North America.

* The social gospel-made manifest under the banner of the buzzword "peace," which pays only lip service to evangelism and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the face of real evil and poverty under our noses-will not have much success in bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ through his divinity to anyone hurting in this world, because it pays only minimal attention to the glory of God.

-Murray Logan