Reports from Tibet suggest that Evangelist missionaries have increased and diversified their long-term activities in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet because of the closer interaction between Tibetans and foreigners operating in Tibet. Seemingly undeterred by the authorities, European, US and increasingly Asian missionary organisations are involved in official and semi-official educational institutes, in business activities and increasingly in the recruitment of young, bright people for training and employment purposes. The two main centres of missionary activities appear to be Lhasa and Xining, the capital of Qinghai province at the outer north-east fringe of Tibet. Young people arriving from poor rural backgrounds seem to be specifically targeted by missionary activities. In the absence of secular youth schemes, they receive much sought after assistance in their schooling from the missionary agencies. Typically, recruitment happens first as a personal connection, growing into a proposal to become a Tibetan teacher or a translator, sometimes with the prospect of studies abroad. As they start to work closer with missionary agencies and their staff, however, the recruits are gradually encouraged to embrace Christianity and abandon their Buddhist beliefs. Although many Tibetans acknowledge the positive impact of foreign charitable projects, the current situation has raised suspicions of such projects in general, regardless of whether they intend to evangelise or not. It has also raised concern among Westerners operating in Tibet who find their work itself disturbed by Evangelist activities and themselves falling under suspicion.
A young orphan from Lhasa told TIN how he was identified by Korean missionaries who made visits to his school and developed a personal relationship with him. They supported his attendance at IT courses, but what first seemed to be selfless generosity soon turned out to be a plan to employ him as a translator and editor of Christian texts into the Tibetan language. They soon took him to villages around Lhasa as a translator and encouraged him to explain to the villagers about the word of Christ. The boy describes how he gradually realised that their aim was to convert young Tibetans like him to Christianity and employ them in their missionary work. “It was extremely embarrassing particularly to be put in the position where I was supposed to explain about this foreign belief to elderly Tibetan villagers who have much faith in Buddhism and who derive much strength out of their devotion. As it became clear to me that they wanted to convert me, I became really sad and angry. I was particularly worried to see how many young Tibetans start going to their Sunday services and picnics”. The young man was also encouraged to help distribute books with parts of the Bible translated into Tibetan. “Monks would tear up such books, and our teacher had earlier warned me against the missionaries who had been visiting our school”. Personally, the boy never felt that his own religious convictions would be weakened by the influences of missionary activities, but he expressed the fear that many young, poorly educated people from rural areas are vulnerable in the light of activities that first indicate practical help but that are eventually aimed at conversion.
Missionary activities in Tibet seem to remain at a relatively rudimentary stage, and organisations active in evangelical missions themselves admit that they have to tread ‘carefully’, though the future aims are often clear. In a report dated 20 July 2001, the US based ‘Mission Network News’ quotes Dave Bast from ‘Words of Hope’ (WOH): “Bast says they have big plans for these new believers (…) The goal is to raise up a future generation of leaders for the churches that we hope will be planted among the Tibetan people”. WOH, a member of the ‘Gospel Communications Network’, in partnership with ‘Far East Broadcasting Asia’ produces the daily Tibetan radio programs called Gaweylon and which are broadcast in Tibetan areas in China as well as areas with concentrations of Tibetan refugees in India. WOH reports in May 2003 that their radio broadcasts are “particularly welcomed in the remote, un-reached areas of this region” and that “listener response has been unusually strong with over 22,000 responding last year”. Traditionally, missionaries have been distributing written and recorded materials, particularly in important centres such as Lhasa, including the large monasteries. Recently though, involvement in the establishment and funding of schools is reported both from the TAR as well as from Amdo (Qinghai and northern Tibetan areas of Sichuan).
While many Tibetans perceive foreign Christian missionaries and the Chinese Authorities as having the common aim of reducing the influence of Buddhism on local people and society, and tacitly supporting each other in this endeavour, the missionary organisations themselves show a degree of uneasiness in their relationship with the government. However, they do openly mention that the influence of the Chinese Communist State over the years has in fact opened the way for future conversions. The website of ‘Mission Network’ carries a quote by Lee DeYoung from WOH saying that “We do see that the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism show signs of serious erosion. Ethnic Chinese, for example, now outnumber Tibetans four to one. Tibetans encounter increasing difficulty finding jobs. Chinese officials have been meddling in Tibetan Buddhist religious affairs”.
