Missionaries are ambassadors representing Christ. They either present the ugly face of the home culture as a mask for the gospel or present the glorious gospel of the King.

Almost all missionaries have been told to respect culture at one time or another. A veteran missionary introduced me to the idea in an anthropology course in 1965.

The modern mission compound is alive and well. Its walls aren’t of stone or mud brick, but they are just as real. The distance between missionary and local is just as great, and the unintended insult is even greater.