The Holy Spirit and the Nineteenth-Century Mission to Hawaii

Abstract

This article explores the missionary successes and failures of nineteenthcentury Hawaii. It then explores the Holy Spirit connection to these successes and the lack of such a connection regarding the failures. It suggests missionary failures in the area of supernaturalism and Holy Spirit listening, failures to which the missionaries were particularly prone given their almost mono-focus on “civilization” and “education.” It then suggests native Hawaiian failures in, first, addressing their depopulation problem and, second, in attaining their aspirations of economic progress. Finally, facing these failures, it probes certain Holy Spirit perspectives as their potential solution. What(Happened:(The(Positives( The mission story of nineteenth-century Hawaii is one both of exhilarating successes and crushing disappointments. Ever since Captain Cook first made Western contact in 1778 with a previously isolated Hawaii, Hawaii had increasing and plentiful contact with Western traders. It was only in 1820 when seven missionary couples and four Hawaiian boys were sent out from Boston by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) that the gospel first came to Hawaii. But already in 1824 and 1825 they were reporting “the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the islands” that “brought thousands . . . into praying circles or societies.”1 Spiritus(5.1'(2020)'75–98' http://digitalshowcase.oru.edu/spiritus/' ' ©'The'Author(s)'2020' ' Reprints'and'Permissions:'Spiritus@oru.edu'