Summary: Actual complaints from a disgruntled Peruvian. The following statements are not necessarily true. The pastor who wrote this just wanted to cause trouble and was not good Christian however I believe that we can see a few things here that we might be careful about in our own ministries. Never saw the missionaries passing out tracts, visiting mission works etc. Heard the missionaries preaching warmed over messages. Saw a lack of evangelism and discipleship performed by the missionary. Missionaries gossip about their workers. There were racist tendencies. This was due to the fact that the missionary does not believe in interracial marriage. Did not explain tithing to the people. In other words the missionaries want the people to tithe but they don’t practice it themselves. The reason is many times that they send it to their home church but the people don’t understand. We need to let them know how we are participating in the work of God financially in our area. They won’t do what you teach but what you do. Another problem is that missionaries are famous for paying all the bills and never teaching the people to tithe and carry their own responsibility. In Peru many pastors will say that they do not want to pastor a church where the missionary has been because he will not have taught the people to tithe, care for their pastor, give to missions, etc. If God is really with the missionary why is there no success in his work. Advice from a Latin American Below you will find the counsel given by Emilio A. Núñez C. and a group of his former students at the Central American Theological Seminary in Guatemala. I do not necessarily agree with everyone but since they were each stated by nationals I believe that they deserve your careful consideration. SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW MISSIONARIES AND THEIR ADAPTATION TO LATIN AMERICA 1. Remove from your head your great American ideas of how things should be done here. 2. Do not think you have come to work with uncivilized people. 3. Do not teach so much theory, but practice your teaching in your life. Show us how it works in real life as you model the truth. 4. Read about Latin America and my country. Find out who our best authors are. 5. Have more contact with the people, not only in the churches but in your social life. 6. Live at an adequate level, neither too high above us nor too low below us. Adapt your life-style to the people with whom you work. 7. Do not talk in English when there are people present who do not understand it. This is rude on your part, and we tend to suspect that you are talking about us. 8. Do not impose your American customs on us or belittle ours. Do not try to make us into little North Americans. 9. Do something to meet the social needs of our people, whether it be literacy, relief, or development projects. 10. Do not feel that you are superior to me. We can sense pride even in small amounts. You came to serve in humility, and it is best that you not compare cultures, trying to prove yours is better. 11. Show love to people as you do in your country, and then learn how we do it here. 12. Learn our language well: our sayings and proverbs, our youth slang (if appropriate), our subjunctive, our regional and national accents. 13. Try to learn our language so well that you speak without a foreign accent. 14. Read about our continental and national heroes: Bolivar, Miranda, Juárez, San Martín, and others. 15. Be willing to accept our suggestions. That may hurt, but we want to help. You have to accept them with humility. Learn the meaning of Proverbs 27:6 and 17. Proverbs 27:6 Faithful [are] the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy [are] deceitful. Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. 16. Watch the way you speak to us. We are very sensitive to the tone of voice and the choice of words.
