OBVIOUSLY, Indonesians should speak about this theme. The western, middleclass, male, missionary syndrome is a thing of the past. The only excuse I have for my anachronistic transgression into somebody else’s territory is the following combination of facts:

I was born in Indonesia of missionary parents and grew up there;  studied in a missionary training institute preparing for service in my mother—country; hominum confusione et Dei providentia “because of the confusion of humankind (wars, etc.) and the providence of God,” I have only been able to serve in various short-term ministries in Indonesia. So I do not pretend to be an expert. In the true sense of the word, I consider myself to be an amateur.