A few weeks ago, a co-worker of mine who is married to a Korean Christian worker told me something interesting. She said “Korean missionaries unite around the Gospel but we bring our differences to the mission field and fight over them!”
Koreans are basically a strong militant race. They do not shun a fight. The Korean Christian population is also clearly divided into conservative Presbyterians and exuberant Charismatics. In Korea there is a clear separation between the two groups. However, Korean missionaries realize that their focus on the mission field is to share the Gospel to the lost – rather than to fight each other over their denominational differences.
I think Koreans do not even bring up their denominational backgrounds when they are on the field. I came to this conclusion because when I ask them: “What denomination such and such a Korean comes from?” their usual answer is “I don’t know!”
With missionaries of other races, they often tell you what denomination a missionary is from even before you ask. And many of them will not work with missionaries from other backgrounds. Some will not even talk to them, fellowship with them or help them – though they would freely do so with people of other religions! Worse still, many of them spend time fighting each other over their denominational differences rather than reach out to the lost. And even worse than this is the way they teach their little flock of new converts to continue their denominational battles that they have brought from their home-countries!
May God teach us, through the Korean missionaries, to focus on our objective on the mission field.
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