It is no surprise to many that missions work is associated with colonialism, imperialism, and a paternalistic view of the “heathen.” Christianity provided a convenient excuse for especially European colonialization, from Britain, France, Spain, and other countries. Christianity and “civilization” have gone hand in hand for a long time. College students at many secular universities may take it as a given that the two are always intertwined, and that missionaries always look down on the local indigenous culture and try to replace it with their own.
But people have pushed against that mindset for a long time, too. In the 50’s, workers were criticizing and working against the imperialistic attitudes and approaches of their colleagues. One wrote, “We should learn to live Christianity before we shove it down someone’s throat.” This perspective has grown and spread so that the imperialistic approach of the past is clearly and widely seen as damaging.
On our podcast here at Zúme, Josiah, a software engineer at Renew World Outreach, spoke passionately about this topic. “I think that God is changing the hearts of missionaries and mission organizations all over the world to come in as servants, not as people trying to mandate what it has to look like and mandate their own programs and processes, but actually step beneath the people who are the Apostle Pauls of the modern missions movement, who are really planting the church.”
We strive at Zúme to empower each simple church to become self-sufficient and self-multiplying, not constantly relying on the intervention of outsiders to spread God’s Word. “We’re willing to come in low and serve and we want to see movement leaders be more productive in the ministry that they’re doing,” says Josiah. When we provide resources like Zúme and tools like those produced by Renew, that can be a way to come alongside leaders in their own cultures and support them to do well in the work that God has set before them.
Find more stories of how Zúme is used around the world on our podcast, and start our training yourself for free online. You don’t need any experience or training to lead a group—just load up the slides and click next!