Avatar: The block buster movie and being missional minded.

James Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar is setting all kinds of box office records. It is a very well crafted and fascinating movie, but what does it have to do with being missional? While we might not agree with parts of the movie’s storyline, elements of it are profoundly missional, as they speak to assimilating into another culture.

History is full of not-so-great stories about how missionaries have gone into another culture with way too much of their own cultural baggage and done far more harm than good, Avatar points this out in a profound way. Jake Sully’s mission is to live with and learn all about the Na’vi people and gain their trust. When he first gets to Pandora, the place where the indigenous Na’vi people live, he struggles to fit in. Neytiri (in the photo) says to him: "You are like a baby! Clumsy! Loud!" When Jake asks to be taught the ways of the Na’vi, Neytiri’s mother says: "We have tried to teach the Sky People (those from Earth). It is hard to fill a cup that is already full."

Historically, missionaries or those being missional, while full of passion and great zeal, have been guilty of what both of the quotes refer to, an ethnocentric missional model. In a recent article in the Lausanne World Pulse, the author wrote this:

A missiologist I admire and respect read a paper at a conference. He decried an ethnocentric missionary practice in a remote Asian village. He mentioned, almost as a footnote, that the village had recently received a road for the first time, and westernization was flooding its pristine culture. The main point was that the missionary wasn't doing enough to ensure that a context-ualized Christianity would root. At the very end of the Q&A, somebody asked the question on my mind: "What about the inevitable advance of westernization into this village because of the road? How should that affect the practice of the missionary?" The presenter replied, in so many words, "I have nothing to say about that."

Sad to say, this reality is repeated more often than we would admit. An example of how 'missions' has been done without thinking through the impact of the actions. However; it does point out the need, our need to first assimilate into another culture first, through listening, learning, observing and then after we really understand the complexities of that culture, begin to reflect Christ in and to it.

We can avoid mistakes that were illustrated in the movie and in this article, whether we engage in being missional overseas, or engaging in other cultures in the US. We can all learn from the words of Moha, one of the Na'vi people, who said: 'Do as we do, and learn it well. Then we will see if your insanity can be cured'.