This article by Stephen E. Saint is a little out of date (1998), but suggests unfinished business. Saint says that there were many conversions among the older generation, who appreciated the arrival of a force that ended the constant rounds of killing, and appreciated things such as medical help. However only a handful of the younger generation is interested in Christianity. Saint says that the arrival of Christianity has led to a culture of dependence, with most churches relying on outside leadership, although this may be changing slowly.
The view of anthropologist James Boster on the impact of Christian missionaries is at variance with that of Saint, because he suggests that "the 'pacification' of the Huaorani was a result of 'active effort' by the Huaorani themselves, not the result of missionary imposition. He argues that Christianity served as a way for the Huaorani to escape the cycle of violence in their community, since it provided a motivation to abstain from killing." This view means that the impact of Christianity has been far less positive that the missionaries would like to believe, and may be a better explanation why Christianity has failed to set down deep roots among the young.
It seems that Christianity is not so much a way of life but, for many, a poorly understood faith system. Saint says that when he was a teenager living among the Huaorani, a friend that he was baptised with led some other young boys in killing a shaman's son. So, several young Christian converts believed that killing the son of a leader of the old religion was good Christian conduct. Some of the older Christians decided that the murderer should be punished, and they prayed for God to carry out this purpose. He died shortly after.
Laura M. Rival (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers (published 1999), page 103) says that most Huaorani today say they are evangelical Christians, but that "the way in which Huaoroni people talk about God, select stories from the Bible or preach shows that they have certainly embraced Christianity on their own terms."