AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE
STUDY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS
SESSION ONE 
THREE BASIC QUESTIONS
What picture comes into your mind when people talk about missions? Is it a vision of a man in shorts and sun helmet talking to a bunch of naked savages? That's what it is to many people. And we can't blame them. What if it isn't a true picture of most missionary work? After all, it is hard to put missions into a picture. And maybe that picture can serve as well as any other to tell the story of Christian missions.
What story does the picture tell you? You know, we often say that "a picture is worth a thousand words," and "good pictures tell the story." But really a picture tells a different story to everyone who looks at it. It depends on our background and experience. The picture of a mountain lake attracts the artist for its beauty. The fisherman sees it, and right away he wonders how the fishing would be there. But there may be a parent who shudders when he sees it. He remembers a son who was drowned trying to swim in the frigid waters of such a lake. The story is in the viewer as much as in the picture.
What story, then, does your vision of the missionary tell you? Why is he there? What is he talking about? Would you like to be in his shoes? Or do you think the whole thing is rather silly and presumptuous? Does the strangeness of the scene attract you? the romance? Or are you looking below the surface? What is your idea of missions?
Now let me give you mine. No, I ought rather to say, let me give you the view of the man in the picture, the missionary. What does he think about it? What does missions mean to him? And to that basic question let's add a couple of others that need to be answered. What is the difference between "home" missions and "foreign" and why do some people oppose missions?
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