Jamie Wright is not the very worst missionary, despite her self-effacing blog and book. In The Very Worst Missionary: A Memoir or Whatever, and the blog that inspired it, theveryworstmissionary.com, Wright writes about her faith and the Christian life, especially the five years her family spent in Costa Rica as missionaries. Her stories are funny and relatable throughout, and you can't help but love someone who is as comfortable mocking herself as she is. This is the kind of book that will make you feel good by affirming that someone else, even a published author and actual missionary, has some of the same struggles and quirks as you do.
One of Wright's major themes is criticism of the missions "industry," which keeps "sending the wrong people to the wrong places to do the wrong things." In her estimation, Costa Rica can do just fine without white, evangelical Americans moving there. She extrapolates her family's experiences to the whole of American missions. She calls out a "system that paves he way for any who feels like it to move to a foreign country, and then gives them permission to do virtually whatever they please under the loosely defined title 'missionary.'" She says that "if you raise your hand (and have enough cash), someone will send you out."
Wright's disparagement of missions and missionaries goes beyond the "whole bunch of . . . unqualified/ill-equipped missionaries" she was "surrounded" by in Costa Rica, but to the whole of American foreign missions. She says she has "tons of ideas about how to improve Christian missions (most involve gasoline and a match)." Her attitude and conclusions are ungracious and unhelpful. Sure she gets a good laugh out of her own foibles and the personal observations of some of her fellow missionaries. But I think of missionaries I know who are: opening coffee shops where Christians can befriend Muslims and share the love of Jesus; translating the Bible into languages and dialects that have no Bible; developing businesses that can provide alternatives to opium cultivation and export; rescuing women from sex trafficking; planting indigenous churches; training pastors and church leaders from rural African churches; teaching in seminaries; providing medical care in underserved regions of the world ; and other productive, loving, kingdom-building endeavors. It pains me to see their faithful, sacrificial, God-honoring, culture-honoring work being harshly criticized by this arrogant, foul-mouthed, judgmental former missionary.
(Yes, foul-mouthed. I don't want to make a big deal out of her language. She uses R-rated language for shock value and entertainment value. It doesn't help her case, except to build her "rebel Christian" persona.)
No church is perfect, no missions agency is perfect, no missionary is perfect. But Wright's critiques come off as flippant and mean-spirited. It carries into her overall critique of the church. As a young Christian, she talks about conforming to the conservative values of her fellow church members, including wearing a "gold-cross necklace," cutting her hair in a "mom bob" and talking in "cheap, cheesy platitudes." Now she has tattoos and piercings, showing that she rejects Christian mainstream culture. And she cusses to show she's not bound by language hang ups. The problem is, her judgmental message is that if you don't cuss, if you wear a cross necklace, if you wear your hair in a bob, you are clearly a cultural Christian who has a shallow, cultural faith. This is insulting to Christians whose fashion choices Wright rejects but whose faith is deep and sincere.
On a more theological note, she counseled a gay teen in her church's youth group to be "wholly herself" because "the Bible has been translated for us and taught to us mostly by straight white dudes, and I wasn't sure if I fully trusted those interpretations." These days, Wright is certainly not alone in affirming homosexuality as acceptable to God, but her shallow counsel to the teen be "wholly herself," because "she was exactly who God had made her to be" ignores a long biblical and historical tradition and reflects the self-centered, emotional response to temptation that we hear more and more of.
In spite of her entertaining writing, laugh-out loud, self-effacing humor, and legitimate challenges to genuine faith and foreign missions, Wright's weak theology and judgmentalism left me with a bad taste in my mouth.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
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