Expectations of a Missionary: Rejecting the MHC

So, the last article I wrote concerning poverty and missionary lifestyle got me thinking about a slightly related issue I’ve been bothered with as of late.

It has to do with expectations of a missionary; both his own expectations of himself, as well as others’ expectations of him. Specifically, in regards to the concept of the “missionary hero”, and how this concept changes these expectations. William Carey. Adoniram Judson. Hudson Taylor. David Livingstone. These and more are our “missionary heroes”.

I find hearing about the lives of these missionaries to be extremely encouraging. The reoccuring theme that I find so encouraging is the constant response of faith to suffering. And so it’s interesting that the very thing I find so encouraging is also the thing that bothers me the most. And here’s why. The problem is not the missionary hero’s response of faith to suffering, and the application of that needed encouragement to my own faith, it’s this: that others expect on some level that those sufferings will be the same today (or very similar), and if they’re not, then the modern missionary does not measure up. Plus, I find that I have those same sort of expectations of myself, whether I want to or not. I’ll call it a missionary-hero complex (MHC).

These missionaries never went on furlough.

These missionaries never took a vacation.

These missionaries never saw their families again.

These missionaries lost many of their children.

These missionaries lived with malaria, and a lack of drugs to treat.

These missionaries had to travel by boat for months on end.

Etc.

Should I compare myself to this?

This is what Dr. J. Herbert Kane says:

We usually think of the missionary pioneers as making a great sacrifice when they went to Africa and Asia in the nineteenth century. This is not altogether true. When Hudson Taylor arrived in China he didn’t find any indoor plumbing, central heating, electric light, or telephone service. So what? He didn’t have them back in England either. Where then was the sacrifice?...There is a sense in which today’s missionary candidates make greater material sacrifices than their predecessors a hundred years ago. This should be borne in mind when we are tempted to criticize the younger generation for their reluctance to forego the amenities of Western technological civilization.

Thoughts? Thanks for reading.

-T.M.