Andover Newton Seminary and Yale Divinity School have historic partners in Hawaii, as the vibrant Congregational movement of that state began with the help of missionaries from those two schools. Andover Newton became an embedded partner in Yale Divinity School (YDS) in 2017, but in many ways, the early 19th Century Hawaii missions were our two schools’ first joint project.  

 

We, the Andover Newton at YDS of today, want a real relationship with these partners, and they want a real relationship with us, but forming one is complicated. Our historic missionaries did some wonderful work, yet they also paved the way for imperial domination and injustice. Today, much pain remains, unacknowledged and unaddressed.

 

Complexity is nothing new to our partners in Hawaii. Congregational missionaries arrived in Hawaii 200 years ago at a time when whalers and other tradespeople were coming to the island to take, take, take… not connect. Missionaries, their successors, and their descendants brought and cultivated life-giving values, such as health and learning. We celebrate their contributions, while we also take seriously the reality that Christian missions led to both positive and negative consequences for Hawaiian communities.

 

Throughout the US, relationship-building across lines of indigeneity, race, and class is fraught in ways our Hawaiian missionary forebears could not have imagined. But we at Andover Newton Seminary at YDS have a job to do: we educate future ministers. 

 

Future ministers need to learn relationship-building practices if tomorrow’s communities will have a prayer of bringing about the peace and reconciliation so badly needed in our world. Therefore, we at Andover Newton at YDS are going to try to build a reciprocal, respectful, and vibrant relationship with our historic partners in Hawaii, with whom we have a unique opportunity to reset old, historic patterns and create something new. 

 

We will engage in a pilot community-building initiative there during the week of August 15, and we will welcome Hawaii partners to New Haven this October. We want to expand this relationship over years to come so that future ministers may learn to build community in a way that is steeped in theological reflection and resurrecting love.