Basic powerpoint about the practical effects of Christianity and Christian missions

[Pergamum]

Missionaries are the destroyers of culture, and act as agents of the State as they colonize the less fortunate!

This is a common charge. It is being spread by other religions about us as well in countries that have a mix of populations.


Therefore, I am creating powerpoints about the contributions of missionaries to curb injustice, promote education and literacy, etc.

For instnace, Carey helped end sutti, other western missionaries helped end Japanese foot binding.

I need more examples.

Also, the Protestant countries became the richest in the world while Catholicism makes people poor and stupid in general (northenr Europe compared with Southern Europe).

Practical results of Christian missions....

any links, articles, examples, etc, that I can put into my basic powerpoint?

 

[Kim G]

You can't look far in Africa without seeing the work that missionaries are doing all over that continent--health workers who have educated the population in cleanliness, educators who bring their own books and school supplies to villages to teach the children to read and write, missionaries who have seen cannibal tribes stop their practices and have kept mothers from sacrificing their twins to their gods. I just don't know the missionaries names!

Or Amy Carmichael's rescue of young girls in India who were forced to be temple prostitutes, or Gladys Alward who rescued little girls in China whom no one else wanted.

Adoniram Judson's legacy in Burma includes being the first person to write a Burma-English dictionary. Every dictionary and grammar written in Burma during the last 200 years has been based on the one he wrote.

 

[LawrenceU]

Part of the problem is a modern day Noble Savage concept adopted by many anthropologists and liberals (usually one and the same). The see that the indigenous man in his illiteracy, ignorance, disease, polytheistic / animistic, infanitcideistic (!) culture is in a better situation than if he is educated, moral, healthy, and hopefully saved.

 

[Pilgrim]

Another example is curbing if not ending the practice of widows in India casting themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands.

 

[Pergamum]

Anybody else? I begin to create this powerpoint in a week.

 

[wookie]

The Church in Korea

Christian Contribution to Modern Education

The elite minority had educational opportunities to learn from Chinese classics, but the vast majority was illiterate. Pioneer missionaries translated the Scriptures into the Korean language and taught Koreans through Sunday schools. Vacation Bible schools, and Bible institutes, how to read the easy Korean phonetic script rather than the difficult Chinese characters.

Two of the best known pioneer missionaries, Rev. Horace G. Underwood of the Presbyterian Mission, and Rev. Henry G. Appenzeller of the Methodist Mission, further popularized the Korean script by starting their own respective newspapers in that script in April 1885. These were the weekly Christian News and the Korean Christian Advocate. It is not an overstatement to say that Christian Koreans were the only Koreans at that time able to read the Korean script.

A number of Christian schools were opened by missionaries. Baeje School, for boys, was started in 1886, and Ehwa School, for girls, in 1887. Korea's former president, Syngman Rhee, was a former student of Baeje School. Early in the 20th century these Christian colleges were opened: Sung Shil College (1906), Ehwa College (1910), and Yunhee College (1915). Ehwa University at present is the largest women's university in the world with 16,600 students. Yonsei University, with 19,200 students, which developed from Yunhee College, is one of the best universities in South Korea today. These two Christian universities along with others have produced a large number of Christian lay leaders in all segments of Korean society. Today there are more than ten Protestant colleges and universities. Many of the 270 theological colleges and seminaries have added liberal arts degree programs besides their theology departments.

Medical Missions

In 1884 a pro-Japanese political party incited a coup against the ruling pro-Chinese party and seriously injured Mr Min, the prince. He requested Dr. Horace N. Allen, a medical missionary from America, to treat him. Within three months, Mr. Min recovered through the use of Western medicine. As a result, Dr. Allen was allowed to start a mission hospital. This was the beginning of the well-known Severance Hospital in Seoul. The introduction of Western medicine into Korea as an alternative to traditional Oriental medicine was certainly one of the main contributions of missionaries to the Korean people.

- Bong Rin Ro, "Korea," in Church in Asia Today: Challenges and Opportunities, ed. Saphir Athyal (Singapore: Asia Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 1996), 56-57.

-----Added 1/11/2009 at 03:09:31 EST-----

The Church in Singapore

That Christian mission schools have made a positive impact on society is evident. Today, in the world of business and commerce, the professions, civil service, industry and politics, large numbers of graduates of these schools can be found and, in many instances, they have retained their Christian sense of vocation. Probably, one of the most important contributions made by these schools has been in the giving to women a status of dignity and usefulness that nobody had thought was possible at the turn of the century. Gone are the days when strong social prejudice and restraints curbed the role that women could play. This development, in no small measure, has been the result of the untiring efforts of the early missionaries.

...

From a long-term point of view, probably one of the most important contributions mission schools made was their ability to undermine the very strong psychological prejudice the Straits Chinese community had against Christianity. Although the initial spadework was disappointing, with each subsequent generation of students, the tide of resistance gradually turned and more became willing to consider seriously the claims of Christ. By the time of the post-War period, much of the battle for the hearts and minds of the new generation had been won.

- Bobby E. K. Sng, In His Good Time: The Story of the Church in Singapore 1819-2002, 3rd ed. (Singapore: Bible Society of Singapore, 2003), 157-158.

-----Added 1/11/2009 at 03:32:14 EST-----

The Church in Thailand

When the early missionaries came to Thailand, their first contact was with the highest class of the nation. Their work influenced society at large. They helped Thailand negotiate in the treaties with England in 1855 and with America in 1856. They brought modern medicine and education to Thailand. Elite schools and hospitals, mainly in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, begun by the Catholics, CCT, and SDA, continue to this day, fully indigenised. Prime Minister Anand Panyarachoon who served his country in this position until 1992 was an alumnus of Bangkok Christian College.

Since World War II the Thai government has pursued its own clear goals of meeting medical and educational needs. However, missions have continued filling gaps in medical work, especially in rural areas where there was no hospital or centre for leprosy or tuberculosis treatment other than mission hospitals and clinics. All but two-post-war hospitals and two clinics have now been put under government care. Missions were effective in developing community good will and a growing Thai Church in those rural areas. The Leprosy Mission continues many times a year to send a surgeon for consultation and a specialist in reconstructive surgery to help in both government and private institutions.

By the 1980s the government strongly emphasized the value of Christian organizations having social welfare divisions in their total work. They set out clear guidelines for new missions entering Thailand. Some Thai churches have social concern ministries for their members or neighborhood, but most of this work is run by missions or their associated charitable foundations. It increases in amount and variety almost monthly.

- Narin Sritandon, "Thailand," in Church in Asia Today: Challenges and Opportunities, ed. Saphir Athyal (Singapore: Asia Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 243.

 

[Tim]

Missionaries take non-Christian culture and turn it into Christian culture. They do not destroy it as if the locals have no choice, but instead this happens when the local people become willing (through God's work in them).