What Are Missionaries Like?

Okay, so like, I figure there are two kinds of people who will visit this website: 1) those who are into Jesus and the church; and 2) those that aren't. But no matter which group you fall into, you may not really have any idea what it means, in this day and age, for someone to actually say, "I'm a missionary." 

So here's the low-down:
I am a Christian, which means I'm into Jesus... and not only that, I am a missionary, which means that I have left everything and everyone I've ever known to move to Hong Kong to help further the work of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church here. 

(Sounds kind of freaky, doesn't it? Yeah, even I don't always know what all that means)... 

But there it is, it's out in the open, now you know.

But I'm warning you -- I may not fit what you think a "missionary" is supposed to be like.  

What I mean is, if you think missionaries are supposed to be perfect in every way, please forgive me -- I'm not quite there yet in the "in every way" department...  ;)

And if you think missionaries say "Thee" and "Thou" and "Thine" and all that stuff, you'll have to forgive me there, too -- I grew up in the 1980's, not the 1880's...

And if you think missionaries go around stuffing white-bread imperialist Western dogma down the throats of everyone they see (who, by the way, they refer to as "the natives")... and if you think they all wear pith helmets and clerics' collars, and that they are secretly in the "church bidness" for the money and fame, all "Heart of Darkness"-like... and if you think they really, really LOVE hearing pipe organ music more than anything else... if you think all that, then shame on you, and I say again, "Welcome to the post-modern world!"

Listen, I'm not always sure what "being a missionary" is about, but it sure isn't about that stuff.

The thing is, I believe that I have this calling, okay, and I've tried my best to follow it as much as I can figure it all out. And right now that "calling" -- as I can understand it -- is to be here in Hong Kong doing my best to teach my students English, and to love them and their parents in such a way that... well, so that they can see just how much God loves them, and that this Jesus guy, who they may know very little about, is really someone they need to know... I mean, that they REALLY need to get to know this guy... 

Okay, so yeah, that's sort of what being a "missionary" is about. 

But it doesn't mean I'm not human, okay? I like to laugh, and sometimes I get mad, and sometimes I get lonely, and I get nervous, and I get scared sometimes, and I like music, and I hope someday (soon?) I get to kiss a girl again, and I like going to movies, and I get sick sometimes, and, well, I'm just trying to say, I don't know... I'm like a "missionary" but I'm also, sort of, still "a normal guy" -- see what I mean? 

So, I hope that helps you know a little about what missionaries are like. 

Or at least THIS missionary...

Heart of Darkness, a novel by Joseph Conrad, is (sort of) about this guy who works in the ivory trade in the Congo, but it's like he gets in there, in the jungle, and kind of goes crazy, and has all the people in the jungle worshiping him and all this stuff. He kind of creates his own world with all these people where he is almost like their god and all... well, something like that. It's a deeper book than that, obviously, and that's what makes it a classic, but I'm just trying to give you an idea of the premise of the story in case you're not familiar with it. It was one of the main inspirations for Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now.
A great website for "Heart of Darkness" is HERE.

This article was first posted: 19 March 2002

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