Missions in general has many flawed aspects to it from the modern perspective. But one of the most flawed position in modern missionaries and fundamentalism is where men feel they have to have some similitude to men of other centuries. Many do what they do today in missions because of “ol’ timers” like Hudson and Carey all though they aren’t actually doing anything like them. It makes them feel justifiable in their own orthodoxy. The world was largely different then it is today. Many of these men did nothing like we do today. I mean in some cases, not one single thing! And don’t give me your typical retort back saying “God is the same today yesterday and forever!”
The way God moved with men in the time of the 1700-1920’s was not so much a testament to the men, but to the movement of the Holy Spirt of God with the world! Those men were still men and we do not follow their examples or creeds. We have our own authority. We have a book as they did, and many of those forefathers of flesh we love to revel in so much were off the on areas the same way we can be off on areas.
I am fully aware that Christian missions and missionaries for nearly 200 years have been the most redemptive force on the face of the earth. But our overall attitude of going abroad, to far away lands often times has become a Westernized, over saturating, reforming, Kingdom building movement. Not a movement for the expressed purpose of winning souls to Christ and emphasizing growth for converts. In this movement, our own American traditions travel with us to these far away lands, making real conversion much harder to convey to indigenous people.
