'If Someone Rejects You...Leave So That Others May Come and Stay'. (Cf. Matt 10:11-14).
Date
2004
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
When I was reading some books I came across an article, which inspired me to
write my essay on the missionaries and the missionary activity of the Church in Algeria.
The article says:
Missionary, go home.. . or stay.
If you are not abie to separate the eternal Word of the Gospel from the cultural moulds
in which you azried it to these !ands and taught it with genuine abnegation: Missionary.
go home. If you are not able to identify with the events, anxieties, and aspirations of
those peoples prematurely aged by an unequal struggle which seems to have neither
termination nor hope: Missionary, go home.
If your allegiance and fidelity to your nation of origin are stronger than loyalty and
obedience to Jesus Christ who came "to put down the mighty and lift up the lowly"
(Lk.I : 52): Missionary, go home. If you are not able to love and respect as equals those
whom once you came to evangelise as "the lost": Missionary, go home.
If you are not able to rejoice at the entry of new peoples and churches upon a new stage
of maturity, independence, and responsibility, even at the price of committing errors
like those which you and your compatriots committed also in the past: Missionary, go
home.
For it is time to go home.
But if you are ready to bear the risks and pains of this hour of birth which our
[Algerian] peoples are experiencing, even denying yourself, if you begin to celebrate
with them the happiness of sensing that the Gospel is not only proclamation and
affirmation of a distant hope but of a hope and liberation which are already
transforming history, if you are ready to give more of your time, your values, your life
in the service of these peoples who are awaking, then:
STAY' There is much to do: hands and blood are lacking for an undertaking so
immense in which Christ is the protagonist and pioneer.'
This article would imply that missionaries are sent out to proclaim the Word of
God and not to preach the values of their cultures of origin. Missionaries are to insert themselves into the life of the people, identify themselves with the events, anxieties and
aspirations of the people. In a place where people are oppressed in any form such as
colonialism, poverty, diseases, illiteracy and wars, then missionaries are to take the lead
to help the people to come out of such oppression. In many places, we find that
missionaries have founded Churches, yet having founded the Churches, they are to let
the local people lead their own Churches. They are not to patronise the local Churches
as if the local peoples are not able to lead their own Churches after many years of
missionaries' existence in a particular place. Hence, this quotation is a reaction to the
practices of the missionaries, which are not in line with the Gospel. In this case, it is
better that some missionaries leave if they have misunderstood the goal for which they
were sent to the people. This quotation however is very hard on missionaries as if they
never did anything good to the people. Yet, we find that some missionaries did a lot of
good things such as education, healthy care and development. It is not just therefore to
override all these and say missionaries go home if you do not do this and that. Having
3aid that, let us see the organisation of this essay.
This essay is organised in five sections. The first section is the general
introduction. The second section deals with the history and my experience of Algeria
and the Algerian Church. The third section focuses on the theological reflection on the
mission of the Church and the process of evangelisation in Algeria. This will centre on
the reflection of the Church's understanding of her missionary activity and her
relationship with the colonial power during French colonisation in Algeria. The fourth section deals with pastoral implications and recommendations on how the local Church
in Algeria can grow. Then. a general conclusion.
Description
Keywords
Reject, Matt 10:11-14, Missionaries, Biblical Exegesis of Matt 10: 11-14, Church and French Colonial Power in Algeria., Religion in Colonisation of Algeria