American missionary John Allen Chau killed by Sentinelese


  • John Chau Aced Missionary Boot Camp. Reality Proved a Harsher Test.
    Just months before undertaking the most forbidding journey in his life as a young missionary to a remote Indian Ocean island, John Allen Chau was blindfolded and dropped off on a dirt road in a remote part of Kansas. After a long walk, he found a mock village in the woods inhabited by missionaries dressed in odd thrift-store clothes, pretending not to understand a word he said. His role was to preach the gospel. The others were supposed to be physically aggressive. Some came at him with fake spears, speaking gibberish. It was part of an intensive and somewhat secretive three-week missionary training camp. Mary Ho, the international executive leader for All Nations, the organization that ran the training, said, “John was one of the best participants in this experience that we have ever had.” For Mr. Chau, 26, the boot camp was the culmination of years of meticulous planning that involved linguistics training and studying to become an emergency medical technician, as well as forgoing full-time jobs so he could travel and toughen himself up.


  • Missionary’s Killing Reignites Debate About Isolated Tribes: Contact, Support or Stay Away?
    How many are there, and where? Anthropologists and activists who study the issue say it’s hard to know for certain. But based on satellite images and field research, experts believe there are more than 100 communities living in isolation. The vast majority of groups live in the Amazon basin in areas that straddle Brazil and Peru. The only relatively large community outside of South America belongs to the Sentinelese, who live on North Sentinel Island. It is nominally part of India, but technically a sovereign territory. That is where John Allen Chau, the American, was killed on a mission to convert the local residents to Christianity. The Sentinelese have responded violently to past incursions by outsiders, which has led the Indian government to maintain a “no-contact” policy. Why do these communities choose to remain isolated? Based on accounts from people who have ceased living in isolation, and those who have had fleeting contact with these societies, experts say members of these communities are fearful that contact with outsiders would bring disease and mistreatment. Native communities in the Amazon were ravaged when European settlers began colonizing the Americas in the 1500s and later in the 1800s when rubber trappers flooded the region.


  • ‘I’ve Thought a Lot About Whether I Did Good or Evil’: Missionaries on the Death of John Allen Chau
    The death of an American missionary this month has led to an internal reckoning among many of his fellow missionaries. After the missionary, John Allen Chau, a 26-year-old Seattle man, was killed by members of a hunter-gatherer tribe on North Sentinel Island when he tried to visit them illegally, we asked missionaries to tell us how they viewed Mr. Chau’s actions and how they were reacting to his death. We heard from more than 300 missionaries, primarily from the United States and Canada, who have worked around the globe. Many said they were resolute in their evangelical convictions, but others said Mr. Chau’s death caused them to re-examine what it means to be a missionary. And while some sympathized with Mr. Chau’s drive to travel to the island and minister to its inhabitants, others said they were disturbed by what they saw as recklessness.



Missionary’s Killing Reignites Debate About Isolated Tribes: Contact, Support or Stay Away?

How many are there, and where? Anthropologists and activists who study the issue say it’s hard to know for certain. But based on satellite images and field research, experts believe there are more than 100 communities living in isolation. The vast majority of groups live in the Amazon basin in areas that straddle Brazil and Peru. The only relatively large community outside of South America belongs to the Sentinelese, who live on North Sentinel Island. It is nominally part of India, but technically a sovereign territory. That is where John Allen Chau, the American, was killed on a mission to convert the local residents to Christianity. The Sentinelese have responded violently to past incursions by outsiders, which has led the Indian government to maintain a “no-contact” policy. Why do these communities choose to remain isolated? Based on accounts from people who have ceased living in isolation, and those who have had fleeting contact with these societies, experts say members of these communities are fearful that contact with outsiders would bring disease and mistreatment. Native communities in the Amazon were ravaged when European settlers began colonizing the Americas in the 1500s and later in the 1800s when rubber trappers flooded the region.

Earlier this week on facebook, I Interacted with someone who wrongly thought Jonathan Chau was trying to colonialize the Sentinelese and force his Christian faith on them and that he, as a missionary, would inevitably destroy their culture. This article from Donald Richardson (Peace Child) obliterates that popular secular argument. http://www.worldevangelicals.org/resources/rfiles/res3_423_link_1342019…

My mom was making that claim at Thanksgiving. The post-colonial narrative seems to be the flavor of the week.

Does anyone know what church he went to? I noticed he was from Seattle which is near me so I was wondering.

Joel my daughter went to Gordon and while their she befriended a young African Girl who grew up in rural poor Africa. Not isolated as much as these groups we are talking about but still pretty isolated.

This young lady was saved by IFB Missionaries which is the good part. Unfortunately these missionaries taught her a Legalistic life style. You can’t use the Internet it is evil and of the devil. Young girls wear long skirts and loose fitting clothing. No pants or shorts for girls. The whole old BJU dress code and rules. If that’s not imposing one’s culture on a native person I don’t no what is.

I completely agree. Sadly there are multiple examples of this throughout missionary history.

Does anyone know what church he went to? I noticed he was from Seattle which is near me so I was wondering.

To me, that is the million $ question. Because Biblically speaking, if he was not sent by a church, then he was not a missionary and I would consider him a lone-wolf that was disobeying Jesus even if he was connected to a Missionary Agency. Of course, we don’t know that information yet. Ed Stetzer (who wrote the Washington Post article) has stated he will be coming out with several more articles about Jonathan Chau that will divulge more information and hopefully his sending church will be identified.

Even if we can’t identify his sending church, does that make him less of a missionary than C.T.Studd, Hudson Taylor, or Jonathan Goforth?

Hoping to shed more light than heat..

Even if we can’t identify his sending church, does that make him less of a missionary than C.T.Studd, Hudson Taylor, or Jonathan Goforth?

I read an article some time on the TGC website a while back that compared those who do lone-wolf missions (without a sending church) to be as ridiculous, arrogant, and individualistic as someone who thinks its ok to Baptize themselves. While God is the ultimate sender of missionaries, he uses the church to send missionaries into the world to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. Missionary agencies are useful entities that serve the church in a number of ways, such as helping churches access, prepare, and place missionaries along with providing financial oversight, and processing donations, but they play more of a support role, although a very vital one. Rather Churches have the main responsibility in identifying, preparing, caring for, and praying for, and financially supporting missionaries that they send.

Although I have rejected the notion that Jonathan Chau was a foolish adventurer, unless he was sent by the church (because we can’t send ourselves nor has God set up para-church missionary agencies as the sender) I’d have to put him in the “something else” category. Again, we don’t have enough information to know whether he was sent out by a church so I need to be careful not to make assumptions until we know all the facts.