Kenneth Grant Fraser - A Clear Missionary Strategy

A Clear Missionary Strategy

The way the church developed in Moru country resulted from the strategy that Dr Fraser applied, interacting with the nature of the culture of the Moru people, and guided by the Holy Spirit. Dr Fraser's strategy reflected his experience as a soldier, together with his skills as a doctor, a teacher and a preacher. The work he was involved in shows an understanding of the completeness of man combined with a clear strategy of reaching out to the people God had given him to work with. Dr Fraser was a strong man with a strong character, and as a keen hunter had important characteristics respected by the Moru people. He was also seen by them as someone who was close to God.

As a medical doctor, Dr. Fraser began work on the hospital immediately he arrived, so that he managed to complete the first temporary buildings within five months of arrival. Even before the hospital building was completed the Frasers began to build a small temporary school building, and started teaching a few boys. Alongside they started preaching and bringing the gospel.

An important part of Dr Fraser's strategy was moving out from the centre into the whole of the Moru, and neighbouring Jur and Avokaya areas, and he did this as soon as he had local people to do so. When work was started at a new centre two people were sent together. One of the pair was a dresser and the other a teacher, but working closely together. On Sundays they would both work together in preaching and establishing the local church. Dr Fraser provided them with standardised medical kits and specific routines and procedures were established. The teams were required to send back reports to Fraser at Lui hospital at regular intervals. By his death in 1935 Dr Fraser had managed to get a coverage of what is now Mundri county, with eleven dispensaries, based at the chiefs' areas. The foundation had been set for a policy that, with slight modifications, continued to be the basis of the mission work in Moru country up until the medical and educational work was taken over by the government in 1957 and 1958.

This strategy has led to a number of important effects in the way Moru society has developed and the way the Moru view development.

o Local Missionary Outreach. Local people were used as missionaries and managed to spread the work throughout the district with no missionaries outside Lui. This helped make it truly Moru.

o Self-Reliance. Dr Fraser delegated much of the work from an early stage, making maximum use of those who had been through the school in Lui from an early stage. This helped foster a sense of local ownership and self-reliance.

o Cover of the Whole Moru Area. Unlike some other areas of Southern Sudan, one does not find that all the educated Morus come from one part of the area. Education and development spread throughout the area.

o Unity of the Moru People. In only a relatively few years the Moru people moved from disunited, fearful groups to being united as Christians and have maintained a cohesiveness ever since.

o Reaching the Whole Man. Dr. Fraser's approach of bringing together the church, the school and the hospital has been seen as a strategy reaching out to the whole man. This can be seen as ministering to the body (hospital), mind (school) and spirit (church), in a holistic way. It is probably this factor as much as any other that has influenced the Moru view of development.

o Importance of Medicine to the Moru. Medicine has been closely associated with education in the mind of many Morus. The result has been many Moru medical personnel, (as well as other scientific disciplines) and a great respect for medicine as a calling.

o Significance of Individual Christians for Local Development. It was the teachers and dressers who were the first animateurs for development in most rural communities, while also bringing the gospel with their work. Key Christian individuals are still important in bringing change and motivation to the various communities.

o The Church as an Internalised and Indigenous Structure. Throughout the turmoil that has effected Sudan on and off since the 1950s the church has proved particularly significant as the one structure that is indigenous and continues regardless of what is going on round about.

o Social rather than Economic Development. One of the very few criticisms heard of Dr Fraser from any Morus was that his work was devoid of any economic development programme. This however may reasonably be seen as outside the scope of his work.