After reading "The Shaman's Apprentice" by Mark J. Plotkin, I have questioned the Christian mission of converting other cultures to our faith. The author saw that the conversion of the South American natives brought Western culture to natives of the underdeveloped Third World. These converts then turned their backs on their own history and culture. The shaman's knowledge is now being lost! We have made a lot of scientific discoveries to help fight cancer because of the knowledge the shamans have ... we are losing a precious resource. Please help me understand and reconcile what God would have us do here. -- J.W.

A: Your question reaches back to the very purpose of the Gospels. The Gospels themselves were written, according to the author of the Gospel of John, "so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life the way he personally revealed it" (John 20:31, The Message). Even the written gospels themselves had as their purpose converting hearers and readers to the belief that Jesus was the expected Messiah. So the culture of conversion is intrinsic to the ways Christians have received faith from its first days.

From Christianity's earliest days, Christians embraced the idea that telling others about Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah is a good thing to do. But I think you are asking about the climate of cultural imperialism, which, it can be argued, played a role in defining the purpose of Christian mission (from a Western perspective) during the 19th and much of the 20th centuries.

Christians in Western nations sent missionaries as well as money, people, food, technology, language, etc., believing that their interpretation of Christianity was superior to whatever indigenous faith expressions already existed.

The book you mention suggests some natural outcomes (not all of them positive) of imposing a mind-set of superiority or imperialism on a native culture.

Thankfully, in recent years this notion of missions as a vehicle primarily for cultural superiority and expansion has given way to a more profound recognition of valid faith expressions of indigenous cultures. Missionaries in many denominations today express respect for indigenous experiences of faith and endeavor to learn as much as they teach.

Most modern missionaries embrace the concept of partnership in the gospel, recognizing that we have as much to gain from Christians in other contexts as we have to offer them.

Many Christians are embarking on short-term mission projects that take them to places, people and cultures previously unexperienced, and upon their return they are quick to say that they received so much more than they gave. I think this points to a growing respect for the ways Christianity is expressed throughout a variety of cultures and a lessening of the presumption of Western cultural superiority.

It is a constant challenge and tension for the church: How do we live out our understanding that Jesus is unique and yet still value the faith expressions of other people? I hope we start with a basic respect for those experiences and allow our understanding and experience of Jesus as Messiah to bring us closer to those who also call him Lord.

Today's question was answered by the Rev. Claire Mc- Keown, the pastor of Carrboro United Methodist Church. McKeown is in her 22nd year of ordained ministry as an elder in the United Methodist Church.

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