There is a great difference between how past foreign missions were done overseas and today’s online missionaries. I understand that Church history speaks also about some outstanding missionaries in the past but as a rule of thumb most operated as outlined below.
- They came in ships and planes, but we come riding the waves of the new technologies the Lord has opened for our use.
- There was an unspoken attitude that the white missionary was somehow better than the heathen negro or indian they were ministering to. Native churches were usually referred to as mission posts instead of churches. We today, on the other hand serve without racial prejudices and treat all as brothers and sisters.
- The mindset above gave rise to control and the visiting missionaries lording their positions over the native people. Many times, they came from the very imperialistic state that governmentally ruled and took advantage of the native people and their land. Today’s online missionaries like the Holy Spirit are called to come alongside the native people.
- Being pawns of the sending government and particular denominations, many in the past came to stake their claim to the land and its people. If religion could control them then the Imperialist could take advantage of the land and its resources. In short, they came to take. Online missionaries come to give. Freely we have received freely we give.
- In the past missionaries came with their bibles which according to them gave them the right to rule over the native peoples. Online missionaries lead with love not as duty but from the very heart of compassion of Christ.
- In the past as soon as the missionary came ashore they brought with them their dogmas, doctrines, music and liturgies. Today’s missionaries understand that the Lord gives the native leadership what is needed for their country. We are sent today to model freedom in Christ by way of the Holy Spirit and be walking examples of the love of God.
- We don’t come to preach to your people we come to help you preach to your people. In the past many missionaries with weak ego’s came to foreign lands to preach to the heathens and to send back pictures of their “accomplishments.”
- In the past as soon as the missionaries disembarked from the boats or deplaned, they unloaded on the native people their religious viruses. The same spirit of division that separated their particular denomination from the rest of the Body of Christ in their home country was kept alive in the foreign fields. We on the other hand come to unite. We are not held together by some doctrine but by Christ’s love for each other. We have no practice to conform to but instead flow with the Holy Spirit as He leads.
- In the past the visiting missionary had to make reports and send pictures if they wanted to continue to receive funds from those that sent them. Most came as delegates of a particular Mission agency or Denomination few were called the the nations they ministered in. Today’s missionaries are sent by the Holy Spirit, trust in faith for their finances and thus report only to God. This is not to say they don’t have oversight, but it is without dependency, manipulation and control.
- We don’t come to give the heathens another religion or to teach them to worship a God who has a hidden agenda. See below
When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had our land.
Desmond Tutu
We come to model the relationship of love found in the Godhead. God is love. On earth as it is in Heaven.
Jose L. Bosque
This is not about a better way to “do church.” After all, church is not something that can be done; it can only be lived by those who have become the church through a vital, growing love relationship with Jesus Christ. Those who love him grow in love for one another and become the expression of his heart for a dying world.
David Fredrickson
The above was shared 8/3/2026 at the first International Leadership Roundtable on Zoom. We pray it will be a blessing to you.
