Order this book now While paying high tribute to pioneers of the past, and expressing appreciation for their labors, this 285 page book declares that a new day has come in foreign missions. It shows how indigenous missions do 90 percent of the work with less than 10 percent of the total funds given for missionary work. The time has come, Bob Finley declares, when traditional missions should share their wealth with some of the 400,000 native missionaries now serving on foreign fields, particularly those who have no support at all. Most unreached people live in countries where American missionaries are not allowed. So 90% of American missionaries go to countries where churches are already established. There they compete with local believers in order to gain a following, thus causing divisions. They often hire away the workers of indigenous missions and devastate those ministries. Change is much needed in the way foreign missionary work is carried on today. Upon request, Reformation in Foreign Missions is distributed free of charge to all persons who contribute to Christian Aid. Simply add a note requesting a copy when you send your next contribution. Additional copies may be purchased for $15 each, postage paid.

THE MISSIONS COMMITTEE of a Presbyterian church in the Midwest which has supported my ministry for more than 50 years wrote us an interesting letter. "We have determined," they said, "to end our support of Christian Aid." The reason they gave was due to our "statements about supporting native missionaries instead of supporting American missionaries. We are doing both," they said, "and do not want to support a ministry that seems to be against doing both."

Is Christian Aid opposed to the support of American missionaries overseas? It depends on where those missionaries go and what they are doing. In some cases God is using them for His kingdom. In other cases their presence hurts the cause of Christ more than it helps.

The discussion of this subject is called MISSIOLOGY. Some Christians think we should make positive statements only, and eliminate any of the negative aspects of present-day missionary operations. But to do so would cause us to be unfaithful to God. We must speak out regarding both sides of this critical issue. The following are excerpts of my reply to that Missions Committee.

When I went to China in 1948 I had little previous knowledge of what was happening there. Communist propaganda was sweeping the country, and foreign missionaries were being branded as "spies sent by the CIA."

Our presence was an embarrassment to Chinese Christians, some of whom had the courage to tell me that it would be far better for the cause of Christ if we weren’t there.

Chinese believers study God’s Word at an underground Bible institute started by native missionaries supported by Christian Aid.

History has clearly demonstrated the answer. The greatest period of church growth in all of history has taken place in China during the past 60 years. And missiologists will tell you that it could never have happened if the foreign missionaries had remained. Just as surely as there was a time for Christian missionaries to go to China beginning 200 years ago, it was time for us all to leave in 1949.

My hope when I went there in 1948 was to be able to establish a Bible institute in China during my lifetime. But God had a better plan. He brought Dr. Freddie Sun and his wife Dorothy onto the staff of Christian Aid 40 years later and they have distributed funds to establish 139 Bible institutes in China. Those schools have trained and sent out more than 40,000 native missionaries.

To help you understand what is taking place in foreign missions today, I am sending you copies of REFORMATION IN FOREIGN MISSIONS which I have written especially for members of missions committees in churches like yours. I would urge all of you to read it, especially Chapters 4 & 9 where I explain what happened in China.

There was indeed a time when missionaries from America were used of God to translate His Word into Chinese and other of the world’s major languages, and to start churches where none existed before. But 90% of American missionaries who go out today go to places where churches already exist, and most of them engage in competition with those existing churches.

To keep quiet on the subject of missiology today would be the same as if John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Knox and others had kept quiet on the need for reform during the Sixteenth Century.

And just as my presence brought suspicion, embarrassment and persecution upon Christians in China 60 years ago, so do many American missionaries today, especially in countries where Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism or Communism are dominant. Our fellow believers who suffer persecution in those countries have begged us to speak out on their behalf; before God we dare not keep silent.

When I was working with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in 1946, they appointed me as a vice president of the Student Foreign Missions Fellowship. In one of the training sessions our leader, Stacey Woods, told of a Christian graduate scholar from India who was asked, What is the greatest problem faced by Christians in your part of India? "Oh, it’s the presence of the foreign missionaries," she replied.

I would later meet with hundreds of local Christian leaders during my seven visits to India who shared how they breathed a huge sigh of relief after India gained independence in 1947 and all of the "rich foreigners" were put out of the country. The explosive church growth which has brought millions of Indians into the kingdom of God during the past 60 years could never have taken place if the foreign missionaries had remained. The multiplied branches of their respective foreign denominations were looked upon as being "the last vestiges of colonialism."

Dear friends, we thank God for your "fellowship in the gospel" as you have sent love offerings for God’s servants in the poorest places on earth. It brings sadness to my heart that you no longer wish to do so. And it brings even greater sadness to think that you do not appreciate the things we have been trying to teach regarding the need for REFORMATION in the way foreign missionary work is done.

What would Martin Luther or John Knox say if they were living today? In the Sixteenth Century hundreds of reformers gave their lives for proclaiming that change was needed in what was being taught in the churches. We follow in their train.