Misyoner versus Missionary

Turks are quick to tell me what a “misyoner” is; they all know and none of them like it.  A misyoner is a foreigner who comes to Turkey (or any other Muslim country) pretending to do something safe and good like teaching English or starting a business while covering up the real objective, which is to divide the country by forcing people to change their religion.  Such definitions are found in school text books as well as newspapers, popular non-fiction books, political tracts and television exposes.  They are so common as to be unquestionable.  You may be pleased to learn that in my many years working with Christians in Turkey I have never yet met anyone who meets the definition of a misyoner!

The word is, of course, a transliteration of the English word “missionary” and it has just enough in common with the original to cause a lot of trouble.  A missionary is someone who responds either to a direct call from God or to the teachings of their faith to go and help others spiritually and physically, by preaching the Gospel, helping the poor and encouraging justice, often helping those in other countries.  It should be that every Christian is involved as a missionary in some sense of the word, whether at home or in another part of their own country or “in the uttermost parts of the world.”  It’s the calling of Jesus to all of us in Acts 1, just prior to his ascension.

So what happened to this very nice and respectable word?  I’m afraid at least a part of the answer is thoughtless or otherwise misguided actions by some of our predecessors coupled with a local predilection to see a conspiracy in every action they don’t understand.  The Protestant missionaries of the 19^th century did a lot of good in Turkey and left a legacy of churches, hospitals and schools.  But some of their teaching and practices also opened the way for nationalistic rebellions (see the book Power, Faith & Fantasy by Michael Oren or Protestant Missionaries To The Middle East by Peter Pikkert for some specifics) which really did lead to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire.  As a consequence, foreign Christians who are at all evangelistic are assumed not to be “missionaries” but to be “misyoners” and this puts their ministries (and sometimes their lives!) at risk while putting a damper on the effectiveness of their work.

So what is a Christian running a transformational business to do?  First, it’s good to understand this dynamic as fully as possible – know what your Turkish friends, customers and government inspectors mean when they say “misyoner.”  This allows you to distance yourself from misunderstandings.  You can explain what you’re doing in a way that is clear and that does not get you labelled as a “misyoner”.  Secondly, we need to live as Peter suggested in 1 Peter 2: 12 “Live such good lives ... that thought they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God...”  Actions can speak louder than words and we need to make sure our actions are preparing a way for us that is accurate and positive.

I’ve had lots of discussions with Turks in various capacities who will talk about the “good foreigners” and the “bad foreigners”.  The latter are those they would call misyoners and the former, the good ones, are the foreigners who do real work and don’t force their faith on people.  The funny thing is that I’ve yet to meet a Turk who claims really to know a misyoner!  The people they get to know are almost always classified as “good foreigners”.  This demonstrates the power of relationships.  Turks like the foreigners they know, the ones with whom they have relationships.  They fear those they don’t know, the “others” who do those terrible things written about in the school books.

Part of the goal of any Christian living here should be to build good relationships with many, many people.  We need to let Turks know who we really are, to know how our families function, to see how we work with customers and employees, to see us struggling with ethical and moral issues and dealing with anger and pain.  The more we are known and the more we know the residents of this country the less will be the tension between us.  As the tension subsides words become welcomed and we can explore the Gospel, talk together about the truth and perhaps make some changes that will allow the kingdom of heaven to grow a little bit more in this country, not for its division and destruction, but for its growth in grace and truth.