Fireman, policeman, teacher, IT worker, missionary, nurse, farmer, carpenter, which do you believe from this list needs occasional updating on their skills and/or knowledge to remain effective? No doubt some professions require at least annual retraining, other professions need upgrading several times a year. Wait a minute; what’s a missionary doing on this list?
I was visiting a colleague recently on the importance of training missionaries. He has the unenviable job of trying to convince cross-cultural workers their need for being taught in the skill of their profession. As we talked about the challenges of his task we identified some obstacles of missionaries, new and old, buying into the idea they need for pre-field, post-field and ongoing training. Some of the obstacles are philosophical; other areas of resistance are practical.
Philosophical/Theological Opposition
Missions is not a profession, it’s a calling.
No matter how you view career missions a person still must learn some basic skills for cross-cultural work. Being called doesn’t mean that God is supernaturally going to make a person better in relating to culture, make them more linguistically equipped or how to communicate the message of Christ culturally relevant to people who are of a different faith worldview. These skills still need to be taught.
Missionaries have the Bible, they don’t need anything else.
While knowing the Scriptures is foundational for every missionary, most missionaries are taught (a) from a mono-cultural and Western perspective and, (b) taught Scripture from a theological/hermeneutical grid. Since Scripture is as much a multi-cultural book as it is God’s Word, missionaries need more training on how to present the Gospel in their context, not just merely how it is interpreted from one’s own cultural context. Context gives meaning. The words one uses, even God’s Word, have little to no effect until it is put into context.
More education doesn’t make one more effective.
I’m not sure if this is “ignorance is bliss” argument or just an anti-education bias. This is like the 1 Timothy 4:8 argument, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things.” Yes, compared to godliness physical exercise is less important, but exercise does profit a little. Though more education doesn’t insure success, the lack of understanding of culture is, in my opinion, has a greater risk of failure in ministry. The issue is also not how much knowledge but what type of knowledge that is needed for the task at hand. Having a MDiv., with a good working knowledge of Greek is helpful, but how does one utilize that knowledge speaking to illiterate people in the bush of Africa or the polytheistic Hindu in Nepal is the real issue.
Practical Oppositions
Time. It has already been a long process in getting to the field, adding another 2 – 3 months of training is a hardship.
Learning a new computer program is time consuming. A person has three options: Just don’t learn a new program and stay with the outdated system and not fool with the new; install it and play around with it until you figure it out; read the manual, take a class.
As with illustration above, missionaries often just ignore training, believing that what they have learned in ministry and life thus far is sufficient for overseas work. Cultures, like operating systems, are different and changing all the time. Just ignoring this reality will retard missionary effectiveness.
The “learn as you go,” might work but more times than not OJT ends up taking longer to understand culture and how to be effective. Sadly, many people give up on missionary life because frustration sets in when they are on the field and, rather than working through the issues they just go home.
Training, like reading the manual, takes an initial investment in time but the end result is that a missionary will be able to enter culture armed with at least some understanding on what to do and how to do it among the people they have committed themselves to serve.
Money. Raising money for training just delays getting people to the field.
How much is preventive medicine worth? It’s probably a whole lot less than going to the ER.
Career missionaries spend a ton of money for everything from plane tickets to flat-screen tv’s and I don’t begrudge them one bit for money needed to live and survive on the field. But a significant number of those people raising money will come home after their first term on the field and many others will remain on the field not making a significant impact on those who have never heard the Gospel. Money spent on being fully equipped for cross-cultural service is not a waste. I would argue training is an investment for family and God.
