Is David Livingstone the greatest missionary as many would like us to believe?

2013 marks 200 years since the birth of David Livingstone. Born in Blantyre Scotland and died in Africa where he spent most of his last 30 years of his life, but doing what?  His favourite name for himself was missionary-explorer(as a hyphenated word). He is remembered as the great missionary but in fact he did very little in the way of conversion. He is accused of compromising his message  in a sense by collaborating with slave traders and slave owners to get around.  He spent his last years searching successfully for the source of river Nile. He was apparently an inept leader. A contemporary writing of Livingstone willingness to listen to other people wrote,'I can come to no other conclusion than Dr. Livingstone is out of his mind and the most unsafe leader." But he was great Victorian hero and his body is buried in Westminster Abbey in London.

So what is the truth about Livingstone and what is his lasting achievement. In the early years of 21st century Livingstone was named as one of the 100 greatest in Britain.   David went to Africa in 1840, he was allegedly the first white man to see Victoria falls. He journeyed across Africa. He preached a christian message but he did not force it on reluctant ears. he searched for the source of River Nile and during that search he lost contact with his homeland for six years before he was discovered by Stanley and he died from Malaria and internal breeding in 1873. 

Reading good chunk of Livingstone letters and books about him I wonder whether we should rewrite his history. Does he deserve this high reputation? Should we rewrite his history? From a Christian perspective he remains one of the greatest missionary of all time but from a more secular perspective and particularly from a post-modern western perspective a lot of things have been put into the mix. For instance, the way he neglected his father, family and kids. The fact that his Zambezi expedition geographically was not a great success. the fact that some more critics of his work in Africa argues that he was a precursor of colonialism means that the balance of his reputation has gone down considerably. 

David Livingstone is said that he was not good at converting people. I totally disagree with this view. A lot of people think missionary work is purely geographical and he did that. He pushed doors, opened opportunities in Africa but also as Jesus said, ‘I am with you to the end of the world’, means it is generational. David Livingstone because of what he did, he may not have converted great waves of population but he opened doors for later people to go in and become more successful.

In conclusion, though David Livingstone had his many short-comings but Africa will always see him as a John the Baptist-figure. He prepared the way for other people and Africa is forever grateful that at last the Christian message reached to us too! Though Livingstone body rests in Peace at the center of London his heart is still with us in Africa! Thanks Scotland for giving us such a gift!