I recently read an article from Christianity Today in which Bishop Hwa Yung, a Malaysian Bishop, challenges us to rethink our motivation (or lack thereof) of our missionary efforts. Yung notes that many people today are being held back by what he calls the “Western Guilt Complex”. (1)
What is that?
He believes that the mistakes-the Crusades, the European wars of religion, and colonial expansion, plus slavery and related issues-have created tremendous angst in the minds of many Americans. “When the mistakes of Western missions are thrown into the mix, the guilt complex becomes a potent brew, contributing to the partial loss of nerve in Western missions,” he says.
Yet we need to move beyond past mistakes and boldly share the gospel.
Yung believes that the deep guilt festering over these actually points to the validity of the gospel. God’s truth has the capacity to move an entire nation to repentance-and only God’s truth can do so. As Americans, we need to travel overseas with an attitude of humility and grace.
Do you think the U.S. needs to move past its guilt? Why or why not?
(1) To read the full article, click here.
*Photo courtesy of here
Bishop Yung’s statement is spot on: “As Americans, we need to travel overseas with an attitude of humility and grace.” In fact, we need to move about our local communities with humility and grace as well! I believe that our “Western guilt” is related to both the issues Bishop Yung identifies that are specific to the ways we carry our Western selves into non-Western contexts, but we must remember that not all Americans exist within the same context either. We must bring humility and grace to the person next to us on the subway, to the person living in the street, to the person on the church pew in front of us, in the same measure that we bring it outside the 50 states.
A. Robinson-Neal, wise words! We can’t hope to practice humility and grace outside the States if we are not willing to practice them while inside.