"CREATIVE CONFLICT" 111 MISSION WORK

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XX, Issue 12, 2 June 1930, Page 9

"CREATIVE CONFLICT" 111 MISSION WORK

Just recently we of Poverty Uay have been favoured by. a visit from the veteran missionary, Dr. 0. E. Fox, of Melanesia, and besides stirring up interest m the missionary work of the church he has given us much food for thought, and that too not easily digested. " I wonder if any of us, who have not actually worked m the Mission Field have ever really grasped how deep and how wide is the disintegration m thtv Jives of the natives consequent on the arrival of the white man be he Government officer, trader or missionary. Though the influence exerted may be unintentional it is never the less epoclimakins. The native mind is affected m every way, : socially, artistically and religiously. The old props of his life are not so sound an<j so sure as he had imagined they were, and it is not too sweeping a statement to make that everything m his life is touched to the foundations and he begins consciously or otherwise to reconstruct his life. Some there are who maintain that the influx of the white man has robbed the natiye of the zest for life and. m consequence, he has become decadent and without hope or a desire to make good again. Now what are we as white people and especially as Christians to say to this! Well, first of all, we are optimists and not pessimists, though we must realise the magnitude of the task and the fact that we are ,our brothers' keepers. We are optimists because we are followers of and believe m Him, who is the Way, the Truth and the "Life; therefore no room for pessimism here. Also we are followers of Him who said "I am the Resurrection and Life," not only of individuals but of peoples and

races, also. Those pf us who have read that great book 'by Studdert Kennedy entitled "The Warrior, the Woman and the Christ" will remember that the call of the book is to "creative conflict;" and that is the "call ' of the mission field to-day to each one of us Christians. Conflict is inevitable, but it must tye a creative one, or it is not really Christian at heart. And missionary work is above all things icpnsftructive and not destructive, iio ; build up and not only pull down, to impregnate all that is good, beautiful and of good report with the life of the Son of God, for He has not left Hirnseif without witness even amongst the most benighted peoples. Now Christianity supplies the constructive dynamic and recreates the; zest for lifjß m the hearts of those whose Jives feel adrift. Christianity breaks down the barriers of. distrust and suspicion; the missionary has no axe to grind and no personal profit m view, only the good of his brother man and it is not Jong before the native realises this. Note how this has been exemplified m .S. Africa m the fine stand the Christian Church !has taken m regard to the Colour Bar Bill, and the same is no less true nearer home m Melanesia m the New Hebrides Islands and Solomon Islands; though with gratitude we acknowledge the improvement m the latter sphere. But you might say what has this to do with missions and our bpuntlen duty and obligation t0... support ■ them by prayer, interest. and offerings! Why, it has everything to. do with it because the religipn of Jesus Christ alone can '•'deliver" the goods" and imild afresh the broken life of the native and supply him with the zest for life. Whichever way we regard the question oi : missions to the heathen — from an humane, empire point of view, or from the religious point of view, we feel that the Christian «eligion alone has that within itself which entirely satisfies and enriches all life, body, mind and spirit. No longer m a patrouising way- do we subscribe to missions but because we feel the necessity and the. responsibility to rebuild well and securely and to give to others that which we so richly enjoy. It. HODGSOJN.