American missionary John Allen Chau killed by Sentinelese
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[John E.]I wrote an article for PJ Media about John Chau.
https://pjmedia.com/faith/why-are-christians-ganging-up-on-missionary-jo…
Why Are Christians Ganging Up on Missionary John Chau, Who Paid the Ultimate Price for Sharing the Gospel?
So Chau (who’s heart was right, I’ve concluded) on the beach declares “Jesus loves you” in English to a tribe that understands not a word of English; how is that “sharing the gospel”.
Perhaps we should just drop some “Are you saved?” tracts from a helicopter!?
My understanding was that he communicated in some other language that was neither English or their language.
For one thing, my editors came up with the title. For another thing, since no one was there, we have no way of knowing what Chau said or did while on the island.
As I said (somewhere above), I think we’re all a little “mad” in our own evangelistic way. Some people would consider the evangelism method I described (somewhere above) as foolish and a waste of time in the hyper-secular climate of Olympia, WA. But, I did it anyway.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
I have a very mixed view of this tragedy. If history proves to be correct, John Chau’s death in attempting to bring the gospel to the Sentinelese, those who follow Chau in reaching the Sentinelese will do the many years of grunt work in learning the language and culture. They will learn the importance of patience, and they will do extensive medical research in how to contact the Sentinelese without bringing disease to them. And God, in his sovereignty, will use this tragedy for his glory. Let me draw a parallel from tribal missions in the 20th century. In the 1940’s, 5 men from New Tribes Mission attempted to reach the Ayores Indians in Bolivia that were known for their violence towards outsiders. Similarly to John Chau, they were immediately killed. However, a self-proclaimed missionary flunky named Joe Moreno took their place and spent several years learning the culture and leaving gifts for them, which the Ayores reciprocated. Eventually after building up trust with them, they invited him into their village. He learned the language and more of the culture and the gospel penetrated this tribe. But it was a 10 year process.
By the way, I am all for risk-taking for the sake of the gospel. As an urban missionary making disciples among gang members and drug dealers, I have put my life on the line breaking up gang fights, my life has been verbally threatened several times, and I have had a gun (with its laser scope) pointed at my head. But during the 28 years of my missionary experience, I have also learned the importance of patience. Patience means more than just waiting. It includes long-term preparation for ministry and the long-term planting and sowing so that there is a harvest. There needs to be a balance between risk-taking and patience. Several years ago, I read a quote that applies to this situation. “A refusal to risk is a denial of the worth of Christ. A refusal to be patient is a denial of God’s provision.” My concern is that the risk-taking of this short-term missionary (John Chau) who knew neither the culture or language of the Sentinelese will be elevated and valued over Patience, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit and the first word to describe (by the apostle Paul) what it means to love (1 Cor. 13:4). That is why it is also important to critique Chau’s methods-for those missionaries who will follow in bringing the gospel to difficult and violent places in the world.
Well said Joel.
here’s the wiki article on the Sentinelese. More or less, nobody but them knows their language, there are only a few hundred of them, and as a result, one epidemic could basically wipe them out. I would dare say it’s a touch of a harder nut to crack than a lot of the tribes New Tribes contacts that way. It also appears that Chau did, contrary to my previous thought, have some training and partnership through All Nations, and their statement of faith appears to be broadly speaking baptistic. Chau had apparently a lot more missions experience than other news reports suggest.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[John E.]… we have no way of knowing what Chau said or did while on the island.
We know this:
- His log / journal from his first encounter. Don’t have it in front of me but in essence (in English (a language the tribesman do not speak) “Jesus loves you”)
- We know he brought gifts (ball … et al) (from journal)
- We know he was not trained to speak to them in their native language
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/11/27/john-allen-chau-bo…
An anthropologist who visited the remote Indian island where police say a remote tribe killed an American missionary using a bow and arrow formed a kind of relationship with the isolated Sentinelese people between the 1960s and ’90s.
T.N. Pandit, now in his 80s, was a part of gift-giving expeditions to the hunter-gatherer tribes of the Andaman Islands decades ago, when the trips were sanctioned by police.
After several trips nearing the island bringing gifts including coconuts, Pandit and the team were able to make close contact with the isolated people. He told The New York Times in a previous interview that encounters weren’t always friendly – describing how the tribespeople did show initial hostility, armed with bows and arrows.
But, he told BBC’s World Service, his team always backed away when they were threatened by the people he believes are generally “peace-loving.”
“I feel very sad for the death of this young man who came all the way from America,” Pandit told the BBC about the death of John Allen Chau. “But he made a mistake. He had enough chance to save himself. But he persisted and paid with his life.”
None of us know everything that transpired on that island before he was killed. And even if the only thing that he managed to do before he was killed was saying “Jesus loves you” in English, I am still thankful for his charitable courage in attempting to share the gospel with sinners.
It’s not surprising that the mainstream media and non-Christians criticize Chau, but the criticism and even vitriol directed at Chau by professing Christians baffles and saddens me.
John E, I have a few questions for you pertaining to your article.
1. You are pretty adamant that Chau was obeying Jesus when he attempted to evangelize the Sentinelese people. But can you really be obeying Jesus with the Great Commission when you are doing it outside the authority of the church? Consider Christian Historian Jonathan Couser’s view: “I don’t consider Chau a true missionary. The term itself means “one who is sent” (from Latin, missus). That implies authorization, commission from a sending church….So far as I understand, no church SENT Chau. He got it into his own head to undertake a lone-wolf mission to an isolated people.”
2. Are you ok with the unintended consequences of Chau’s actions of attempting to share the gospel? A couple fisherman that he bribed are still in jail for taking him to the island. The authorities responsible for retrieving his body have been threatened as they’ve attempted to look for the body. Does the ends justify the means when doing evangelism as long as one sacrifices everything for Jesus?
And if every Christian waits until he or she has attained a level of expertise as dictated by others before sharing the gospel, the gospel will be preached even less than it already is.
3. Is your statement historically true when it comes to tribal missions? There is a reason why NTM (now called Ethnos 360) and other mission organizations that reach out to remote tribes with the gospel require several years in language/linguistic and anthropology preparation as part of their missionary training. And because Ethnos 360 missionaries take time to figure out the language and culture (and work together in teams/small groups rather than lone-wolf), they actually communicate the gospel with remote tribes leading to church-planting movements among tribal groups. Whereas Chau’s attempt to communicate Jesus with the Sentinelese people amounted to a bunch of gibberish without any meaning and then he immediately died. It really comes across as if Chau’s impatience and eagerness to share the gospel with the Sentinelese ignored over a hundred years of missionary history and wisdom and experience that he could’ve drawn from.
The overarching fact is that a young brother in Christ valued sharing the gospel with sinners more than he valued his own life. Whether or not we would have preferred him to do things differently should submit to that fact.
He wasn’t a lone wolf. He was a missionary with All Nations. Their statement of faith is orthodox, although I’m not a fan of their ecclesiology.
Quoting my own article, “Are there better ways and methods to make contact with unreached people groups? Yes, of course.” But, as heathens pour contempt on Chau for loving the gospel more than his life, I will use the platform I have to stand with my brother in Christ.
Since John Allen Chau was killed earlier this month while trying to evangelize the isolated inhabitants of a remote Indian island, his story has stirred intense emotions, many negative. While both Christians and non-Christians have raised profound questions about the biblical and ethical appropriateness of pushing into places where you’re not wanted, much criticism of Chau has focused on what appeared to be his lack of preparation.
In his journal, Chau used the word “holler” to describe what he did after sneaking onto the beach of the remote North Sentinel Island in a kayak. The scene of the young American yelling, in English, “My name is John. I love you, and Jesus loves you,” before being killed by a bow and arrow isn’t the most sophisticated image of missionary outreach in 2018.
But new information released Wednesday paints a more complicated picture of Chau, including an interview with Christianity Today. In the interview, Mary Ho, who leads All Nations (the agency that sent Chau on missions), indicated that he was heavily vaccinated and even quarantined before going on the mission.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday night that Chau also undertook linguistic and medical training to prepare for the outreach. These new reports at a minimum challenge the simplistic image of an adventure-seeking zealot willing to recklessly risk the lives of a remote group of islanders.
Certainly, all of this needs more investigation and analysis. There are still medical and legal questions, but this new information does focus the debate more on the question of the central goal of evangelizing and less on the preparation for doing so.
Chau’s intent — according to others I’ve spoken with who knew him, went to school with him and helped him prepare — was to live among the North Sentinelese, learn their language, attend to their physical needs and then seek to share his faith with them. Obviously, the long-term strategy did not work, and Chau will become not only a topic of debate but of study for missiologists, people who train missionaries. That’s my field. I have a PhD in the subject and have trained missionaries to go to many places, including India. I am also the dean of the mission school at Wheaton College, where we unapologetically and enthusiastically train missionaries to engage their own cultures, as well as cross-culturally, from their culture to another.
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According to reports published in several places, Chau prepared several years for this mission, including training as an EMT and in sports medicine, both functions that might be helpful in an isolated missions endeavor. Much of this new reporting shows that the North Sentinelese were a long-term focus for Chau.
For some, the very idea of trying to convert others to a certain faith and taking any risk to do so is simply abhorrent. But Christians worldwide genuinely believe that people who hear and respond to the gospel are better off when they do.
After Chau’s family and friends have mourned and the media attention has died down, mission agencies need to consider the lessons from this moment. There are things that I, as a missiologist, and others prefer Chau would have done differently.
For example, when Jesus sent his disciples, he instructed them to pray and then go, while showing them how to honor the dignity and humanity of others’ choices. He also sent his disciples out two by two. The Bible has much to say about the importance of teams and community. Teams bring collective discernment and provide a safeguard against unwise attempts at missionary endeavors. According to Ho, there was a team willing to go with Chau, but he chose to go alone.
All Nations tells CBN News that Chau’s contact was legal, citing numerous news accounts published in August which report that the Indian government had lifted its Restricted Area Permit (RAP) on North Sentinel and a number of other inhabited islands.
India’s The Week magazine announced the change with a glowing headline — “the move will allow foreigners to visit these islands without prior permission” it said.
Missions organizations have also criticized Chau for traveling alone, not establishing a wide network of contacts, failing to reach out to the Indian government and potentially exposing the islanders to modern disease.
Dr. Mary Ho, the international executive leader of All Nations, tells CBN News that the organization supported Chau and his plans. When asked Tuesday if All Nations stands by Chau and his work she responded, “John Chau did the best he could, just like all of us.”
But the criticism will likely continue, as missions organizations that attempt to reach what are known as unengaged and unreached people groups and those that support them, reconsider the best ways to initially contact these groups.
Scott Hildreth, assistant professor of global studies and director of the Lewis A. Drummond Center for Great Commission Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, says Chau’s trip was “destined for failure” as he traveled solo to the island with minimal networking and knowledge of the culture.
“Success for a missionary cannot be limited to initial points of contact but rather the establishment of relationships that allow room for the gospel to be heard and observed,” he wrote in a Religion News Service op-ed.
SEND International, which oversees 500 missionaries in Asia, Europe, Eurasia, and North America, also disagrees with Chau’s strategy.
Michelle Atwell, the US director for SEND, told CBN News, “We would never condone the kind of approach that John engaged in.”
Atwell said that SEND places a high priority on researching a remote culture, its language, and its health before it attempts to enter. It also values networking and building trusting relationships.
David Holsten serves as president of Mission Aviation Fellowship which works closely with missionaries to fly aircraft in support of poor communities across the globe. He told CBN News that he had serious reservations with Chau’s approach.
“I think John Chau’s manner, while motivated by a lot of passion—to me there’s a lot of red flags all over it,” he said.
Holsten cited the value of years of networking in a region, following the laws and making important government contacts. “We have found that if we can work well with the government and support a lot of their efforts, it will open up the door for a much more sustainable model of ministry,” he said.
Ho acknowledged that All Nations did not reach out to the Indian government as Chau planned his trip and said she’s not sure what local authorities did or did not know about his work.
But she praised what she described as years of focused preparation on reaching the islanders. “Every decision he’s made in the last 8 or 9 years has been to equip him to love and to care for the North Sentinelese,” she said.
Ho cited Chau’s training as an EMT, education at Oral Roberts University, additional readings on missions, personal fitness, and preventative health measures. She said Chau received 13 immunizations before leaving and also quarantined himself before going to the island.
Dr. Craig Story, an immunology expert and biology professor at Gordon College, told CBN News that Chau did the right thing in receiving extra immunizations and quarantining himself.
But Story said that while such measures would have minimized the risk of exposing islanders to modern diseases, it’s not clear that it would have eliminated it. “You just don’t know what the status of their immunity is,” he said. “How horrible it would be to go there with good intentions and have half the population die off.”
Ho praised Chau for exhibiting humility even as he followed what she described as a “bold call” on this life. “He set an example,” she said, “for all of us to follow the purpose that we were created for—to follow the calling that is on our lives and to be fully prepared.”
Oral Roberts University also praised Chau this week, citing his missions activity both as an undergraduate and while serving on the ORU Missions & Outreach staff in 2013 and 2014.
Bobby Parks served as ORU’s missions director while Chau was on staff. He said, “he was always the most thoughtful, loving, compassionate and prepared servant leader I ever served Jesus and others with.”
Parks said Chau’s focus was clear and that his life proved it. “John knew the worth and value of Jesus and His Gospel of love for all—so much so that he wanted to share that love with the world, no matter what it cost him,” he said.
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