A Western missionary came to live in a Two-Thirds World country. Unlike most houses in his neighbourhood, his did not have walls. Dogs were not valued in this society but the missionary, a lover of dogs, had one and furthermore allowed it to run loose.
When the local postmaster told him he was asking people for help because a neighbourhood dog was chasing his chickens at night. The missionary expressed doubt that it was his dog but said he would tie it up at night anyway.
A few days later the postmaster was much more direct and stern, insisting that the missionary’s dog must be tied up at night because it was still killing his chickens. The missionary had been tying up his dog at night, but sometimes it had got loose. When this continued the missionary found over the next few weeks that postal workers were obviously cold, no longer giving him prompt help, making him wait longer. The missionary angrily berated them for not doing the jobs they were paid to do.
Eventually, the postmaster openly confronted the missionary telling him he would do something if the dog kept killing his chickens. That same night the missionary tied his dog up but at midnight he heard a shotgun blast from the direction of the post office. Thinking it had nothing to do with him he went back to sleep. The next morning his dog was not there, but he decided the dog would turn up later.
When the missionary went to the post office everyone was very friendly to him, with the postmaster being unusually kind, warmly inquiring about his family, church and life in general. The Westerner went home puzzled by this strange change in attitude. Later that night he realised the shot he had heard the night before was that of his dog being killed after getting itself loose and disturbing the postmaster’s chickens. The missionary decided not to make an issue of it and shortly after this the postmaster became a regular participant in church.
Summarised and adapted from Duane Elmer’s recounting of this story: Cross-Cultural Conflict. Building Relationships for Effective Ministry (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 1993) 113-115
1. Put yourself in the missionary’s shoes. How would you have felt and how would you have reacted when you discovered your dog had been shot?
2. Compare and contrast the attitudes towards dogs and chickens of the missionary and the locals.
3. Compare and contrast the different conflict management strategies employed by the postmaster and the missionary.
4. What does the missionary need to learn from this experience?
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