Anthropologists consider missionaries culturally destructive. In a sense, they’re right. Change does occur, and it should. Every missionary should leave the place and the people among whom he works dramatically improved, and their culture as well.

For six years we lived among the Daasanach people of Kenya. We saw examples of the changes that missionaries bring when they come to stay for awhile. We built a small clinic where a nurse treated the people’s illnesses. Apart from that, we simply taught them the Bible. As people began to realize the depth of their guilt before God, they were drawn into the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as they put their faith in Him, they renounced the former sins to which they had been enslaved.

	Painting of a Daasanach woman by April Birdsong

Yes, We Saw Change

A young man who formerly stole fishing nets stopped stealing and became faithful in fishing for his own family, often sharing fish with those in need as well. A former witch doctor stopped charging fees for her “healing” rituals and instead began visiting the sick in their homes to pray for them. Men and women publicly confessed their adultery and became faithful to their spouses. Murderers laid down their weapons and refused to raid their enemies any longer. Most of all, people became worshipers of the true and living God, renouncing their former idolatry and religious practices. Many Daasanach Christians are now carrying God’s Word to other parts of the tribe, saying, “Through faith in Jesus Christ, you can be free from all the sins and traditions which formerly bound you.”

When missionaries bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a new place, how could we expect no change? People in every culture, from hunter-gatherers to postmodern urbanites, are desperate for the transforming effects of the Gospel. No culture is absolutely perfect, nor is any culture totally flawed. In His mercy God reveals Himself to any culture in appropriate ways that will ultimately transform it. Inevitably, most outsiders will make cultural mistakes, for which we apologize. But we do not apologize for our basic vision for transformation. The Gospel is the very power of God giving eternal salvation. It usually makes life on earth better too.

No apologies.

Read more about the Daasanach people.

Read further thoughts on this topic written by Harold Fuller, former Deputy Director of SIM

The author and her family are former SIM workers. Her husband is now a mission pastor in the USA.