W. D. Graham is a missionary of the Free Church of Scotland in South Africa. In an address reported in the church’s March, 1983 Monthly Record, he said:

There are many problems in South Africa, just as there are in India, Peru, Scotland. We can try to solve problems in different ways. But I go as a Gospel missionary, the Gospel being my message and my authority for its proclamation. I am given access to a country not my own, and I am given access on certain conditions. If I do not honour the conditions, then my permission will be suspended. Now as far as I am concerned, the conditions laid down for my work in South Africa are not restrictive—have every freedom and have received every encouragement to pursue the work I went out to do. I have gone to minister among the Xhosa people, and to minister to them in the situation in which they find themselves. The Gospel is practical; it affects the way we think, act, live, vote, work. It will cause reactions—and our African brothers and sisters must be helped to see t he full implications of the Gospel for life as they have to live it. And here is a problem for the missionary. I am White. My people are Black. Many Black people think that God is the White man’s God. “God is irrelevant to the Black man in South Africa today.” This is a statement made by some, especially young, Black people. Why? Because they identify the Gospel with Whites and with White politics which they reject. How must I react in this situation? Do I become involved in politics in order to identify with the Black people? My own answer is “No.” I do not become involved in politics—Black or White. The missionary has to distance himself from politics, to stand alone if need be, but he has to be a neutral bridge politically in order to remain free to work as a Gospel emissary. This, I believe, was the apostles’ way. “Love never fails.” This remains true. If I love my Black brother, I suffer with him under his trials, and as I am able, I must help put the injustices to right. I am not free to interfere politically (either in Black politics or in White), but I have no restrictions regarding loving, caring for and helping my people. Love is a most effective bridge bringing us together (the young man worried about this—problem of God being irrelevant to the Blacks sent a gift for our own furlough). It is our genuine character and love and commitment to our people which will carry weight with them rather than political involvement.

Well then, as we go back to South Africa we go under the constraint of God’s love. We are grateful that God loves us and that He has given us a love for the Xhosa people. We are of the same fallible clay as the rest of you. Our failures are manifest and humbling, and the shortcomings of the church at home are so often, and sadly, mirrored in us and in our missionary church. But I believe God has a real purpose for the Free Church there in South Africa. There is a tremendous potential.