Training Missionaries
Barbara Helen Burns
(Given at a meeting of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, date and place unremembered)
Introduction
Missionary training usually refers to a period of study understood as sufficient to prepare a future cross-cultural missionary for his work. It can include years of formal study, but in many cases lasts for only a few weeks, or is even omitted altogether. People who arrive in complex cultural situations unequipped for cross-cultural understanding, living, communication or ministry often yield little or no results.
In the World Evangelical Alliance study, Too Valuable to Lose (William D. Taylor, ed. World Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commission, 1997), one of the major causes for missionary attrition is lack of training. This has been seen as the primary cause of attrition in some countries, like Brazil.
The WEF study revealed that worldwide statistics attrition caused by lack of training are as follows: in old sending countries lack of training contributes to 2.7% of attrition. In newer sending countries it contributes to 4.5%. This seems small until you look at the other reasons for attrition, many of which are directly connected to training: lack of cultural adaptation, spiritual immaturity, problems with national leaders and linguistic problems. Adding all these training-related reasons together leads to 60.8% in newer sending countries and 83.8% in older sending countries (Bruce Dipple in Taylor, p. 188).
These statistics clearly demonstrate that missionary training is essential to long-term permanence and in-depth contribution to the missionary outreach of the Church. Jesus certainly thoroughly trained His disciples for mission. His was not a short-term course, but a transforming experience as the disciples accompanied Him day by day, learning from His teaching, example and guidance in their own developing ministries. With the exception of James, they all eventually became cross-cultural missionaries.
People cross cultures for different reasons and ministries. Their training must be as varied as their gifts and calling. Thankfully formal schooling is only one part of a far more extensive training program, sovereignly directed through the candidate’s family, school, church and life experiences.
I. What is Missionary Training?
Biblical guidelines are foundational for defining missionary training. Added to this are the essential ingredients of the missionary’s own culture, and the nature and context of his or her anticipated work.
- Missionary Training is Defined by Biblical Guidelines
The first place to look for definitions in missionary training is the Bible itself, where there are an abundant number of examples, directives and goals.
2. Biblical examples of Missionary Training
If we examine the lives of Biblical missionaries such as Barnabas, Paul, Timothy and the disciples of Jesus, we will see the depth of their preparation before they embarked on their missions to the lost world.
Barnabas was an active, respected and giving member of the Jerusalem church since its beginning. He was an encourager, exercising his gift in a way especially significant when, with insight and courage, he accepted Saul and presented him before the apostolic leadership. So high was his recognized capacity for discernment that he was chosen for the task of evaluating a new and shocking church in Antioch which included gentiles. After years of fellowship, learning the “apostles doctrine,” prayer, participation in the welfare of all, miracles and aggressive evangelistic outreach in dangerous Jerusalem, now Barnabas becomes the leader of a new church, teaching and helping the church grow. He is a humble man, willing to share leadership, and a man ready at a moment’s notice to leave all and follow God’s commission to the outside world.
Christian maturation and ministry in the church, practical ministry experience, theological underpinnings, a life of prayer and sacrifice, humble promotion of others, even a cross-cultural childhood in Cyprus, were all preparation for the more difficult cross-cultural task.
Paul was well prepared before his commissioning in Acts 13:1-4. He too had some time at least in the important and cultured gentile city of Tarsus. He learned the Scriptures so successfully that he gained a seat at the feet of Gamaliel, the most respected rabbi of the time. He was certainly proven in his knowledge, life and ministry during his three years in the desert and up to ten subsequent years in Tarsus. Paul’s training continued at Barnabas’ side in the context of the Antioch church’s dynamic, teaching and evangelistic community.
Timothy was also trained and proven before he was sent to Ephesus and other places. He studied the Scriptures from his childhood, grew up in a home with a cultural mix of a gentile father and Jewish mother, was chosen to accompany Paul and his missionary team, and was recommended to the church in Philippi as a faithful and trusted servant (2:20-22).
These first missionaries had profound Scriptural knowledge which they seriously applied in daily life. They were apprenticed in the church and in practical ministry. They had cross-cultural experience and sensitivity. They certainly were not neophytes, just racing out to “do God’s will.” Under the power and direction of the Holy Spirit they knew how to evangelize people and plant new viable churches wherever they went. These same goals for missionary training are essential for us today.
The disciples of Jesus afford the greatest Biblical example for missionary training. In a three-year period Jesus lived and worked with this group. His was a discipleship of the road, not from a pulpit, in an office, or in a classroom alone. He did not just tell people how to minister; He ministered among the people and they along with Him. Occasionally He sent them off by themselves and when they returned, he corrected, praised and enhanced their learning.
Jesus’ training style was interactive, practical and deeply theological. He continually related his teaching and practice to the Scriptures and Israel’s history. The Scriptures had to be completely fulfilled and God’s will faithfully followed.
Jesus is the master model for what we call “integrated training.” He had no dichotomies. He did not separate the social from the spiritual. Theory was totally applied in practice and practice based on theory. True theology had a missionary outcome and missiology never stood alone without its foundational theology. Character was as important as knowledge or capability. Humility was repeatedly emphasized – servant leadership.
Missionary training in any part of the world still needs to rest on these Biblical principles, resisting negative elements of modern and post-modern worldviews which have a tendency to create activistic, pragmatic and superficial models of training.
3. Biblical Goals for Missionary Training
We can see some essential goals for missionary training in these models. Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus directing them to make disciples that would in turn disciple others. These disciples were to be:
3.1 Men and women who could discern false doctrines, myths and futile rules compared to love, purity, good conscience and sincere faith (1 Tm 4:6-8, 11-16; Ti 2:1-9). True disciples, certainly including missionaries, cannot be like those who “do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently confirm” (1 Tm 1:3-7). They must be able to retain their deep convictions of the truths of the faith (1 Tm 3:9). They should be able to teach (1 Tm 3:3) with a view to the ongoing expansion of the same faith (2 Tm 2:2).
3.2 Men and women who have healthy family relationships (1 Tm 3:12), who are temperate, self-controlled, respectable and hospitable, not violent or drunk. In other words, missionary graduates should be above reproach in their personal lives, with good reputations and without arrogance (1 Tm 3:1-5; 6:11-12; Ti 1:6-16).
3.3 Men and women who have been tested and approved (1 Tm 3:10). Missionary wives should experience training along with their husbands.
3.4 Men and women who continue to grow (Cl 1:9-12). Missionary training does not give closure but provides a foundation for expanding gifts and knowledge. The missions student must learn how to learn.
To carry on the work of these early missionaries, the goal for all missionary training is to send people who will fulfill the Great Commission and glorify the Lord of all the nations in their lives and work. Cross-cultural missionaries are people who will make disciples, teaching people to know and obey “all that Jesus taught” (Mt 28:18-20). To do this they will need knowledge (just what was it that Jesus taught?), wisdom (how to teach people of other cultures) and, as so clearly and forcefully spoken by our Lord in His last minutes here on earth, the power of the Holy Spirit. The central goal in missionary training is to lead people to full obedience to God’s will so that His name will be exalted in all the earth (Is 42:6-12; 2 Ts 1:11-12).
II. Missionary Training is Defined by the Missionary’s own Cultural Context
Missionary training should not only be Biblical but also culture-specific. Importing missiological curricula, or sending people to other countries for training, is often not helpful. Every culture has its specific strengths and weaknesses. Positive cultural traits should be enhanced and applied, negative traits confronted and diminished. Classical missiological subjects, such as Anthropology, History of Missions, Theology of Missions, Cross-Cultural Communication, Contextualization, Church Planting and Growth, Missionary Strategies, etc., need cultural coloring and application, with other relevant subjects included in the overall curriculum.
Taking these things into consideration must make us flexible about the time needed for missionary preparation. Some cultures with strong discipling churches will need less time. In cultures where the churches and schools (including seminaries) are weak, more time will be needed. There are no time or curriculum formulas that can be passed from one country or culture to the next.
III. Missionary Training is Defined by the Reality of the Receiving Field Culture and Ministry
Each missionary field and type of service holds its own challenges. Preparation must take at least the following factors into consideration:
- Health, family and community safety. Depending on the field of service, medical knowledge and care can help impoverished communities and the missionary and his family.
- Levels of cross-cultural distance in living and communication. Culture shock and communication stress occur on all levels of cultural distance. Anthropology, religious phenomenology, ethnological studies, and methods of communication and contextualization reduce distance and enhance the well-being and effectiveness of the missionary.
- Differing ministry needs. Some places are pioneer fields that need apostles to translate the Bible and plant the church, as well as meet medical and educational needs. Some fields already have churches with structures and leaders. Other fields may need help with teaching, mechanics, medicine, agriculture, piloting, and in general aiding the mission and church organizations, without creating dependency or weakening the national Christians. Missionary strategies must be understood in their historical and contemporary contexts.
IV. Who Does Missionary Training?
- The Lord Does the Training
The missionary’s entire life is a preparation for his or her work. Family, school, church, friends and enemies, and personal experiences of all kinds are all instruments in God’s plan for training, just as in the lives of Barnabas, Paul and Timothy.
Second Thessalonians l:11-12 is a magnificent text about training: . . . that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and mightily bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every act inspired by faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (NEB). In these few short words, we can see God’s gracious work and purpose for His disciples.
Colossians 1:9-12 also describes the cycle of discipleship and training. It starts with knowing God’s will (Biblical knowledge) and doing God’s will (obedience), leading to a growing intimate relationship with God Himself. In turn, the Lord strengthens the missionary so he can meet any situation with fortitude, patience, and joy… (NEB)
In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul clearly explains that the missionary is nothing but a mud jar (doesn’t sound as good as “earthen vessel”). Training should lead the missionary candidate to a recognition of the fact that God alone can produce fruit. Jesus repeated to his disciples time after time the need for humility and a spirit of servanthood. We must be careful that missionary training does not do the opposite – give the candidate a sense that he is now prepared intellectually and able to meet cross-cultural ministry challenges because of his studies alone.
2. The Church Does the Training
Life-long attitudes are formed as people participate in the local church. The church serves as a model for missionary work and life, imparts knowledge of all kinds, especially in regard to the nature of Biblical truth, Christian life and service, community relationships, and practical ministry development. A school cannot accomplish these requirements, although it also is very important for specialization and maturation in areas where the church has no expertise.
3. Missions Schools Do the Training
Missionary training in formal schools has been a reality for centuries. We have no space here to discuss this history of formal schooling, except to say that at the present time there is a danger of fragmentation between theology and missiology. Theological training without missiology is a well-documented ongoing problem. Missiology without theology is a more recent phenomenon, but even more serious. Missionaries are in danger of creating a good-looking missiological curriculum, but when they arrive at their destination they find they have no Biblical content in applying it. Jesus’ Great Commission sends people to make disciples, teaching them to obey all that He taught. To do this the missionary not only needs to know how to teach the people in their language and culture but what to teach. How can we create a missionary training program that is Biblically faithful and culturally relevant?
This means that the missions school must verify the level of Biblical knowledge each student has and how much he will need in his geographic and ministerial area. Some students will need very good theological preparation, and others less. One thing is a must – each one must be a growing Christian and one who is diligent in seeking to know and obey God’s will.
A training school should be a model of good missionary theory in its “hidden” curriculum as well as its content. Any teaching institution must realize that its informal program teaches more than instructional classroom content. Relationships, administrative and leadership styles, monetary policies, didactic methods will all be copied on the field.
Formal curricula content must also reflect Christian values. God’s Word and missiological studies should be integrated, one constantly woven into the other, as should be the reality of missionary life and work.
4. The Missions Agency Does the Training
The missionary sending agency also participates in missionary training. At least field orientation and introduction to the ethos of the mission are included. On-going education is very important for the missionary and should be provided for and encouraged by the agency and the churches. The first stages of training should lead to a desire and capacity for a continuous lifestyle learning process.
5. A Cooperative Effort for Missionary Training
The churches, schools, and agencies should communicate and plan together for missionary training. Biblical guidelines for life and practice, field necessities, ministry specifics, and agency ethos should all be taken together for well-rounded missionary formation.
V. What Else?
In the school where I teach we recognize that our program is insufficient, in spite of a full year of formal and non-formal training, emphasizing academic excellence based on previous theological studies, times for group and individual devotional life, opportunities for practical ministry, community living and discipleship and health and community development. Jesus did this with His disciples, but that too was not enough. He knew they were not ready for missions. After three years of the best Bible school possible, the Disciples were told to wait for the Holy Spirit who would supernaturally empower them to be testimonies, spreading the Gospel to needy peoples in the whole world.
Missionary preparation is not complete if the students do not realize that they cannot depend on their “training” or themselves for cross-cultural work. The goal for missionary training must be the formation of men and women who, with humility, will exercise wisdom and spiritual power in bringing glory to God, in manifesting His redeeming love to the peoples of the world, and in making disciples of the nations by baptizing and teaching them to obey all that Jesus taught.
References
Burns, Barbara Helen. “Teaching Cross-Cultural Missions Based on Biblical Theology: Implications of Ephesians for the Brazilian Church,” D.Miss. Project. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Chicago:1987.
Bruce, Alexander Balmain. The Training of the Twelve, 2ª Ed. New York:Harper and Brothers Publishers, nd.
Conn, Harvie M. and Rowen, Samuel F. Missions and Theological Education in World Perspective, Farmington, Michigan: Associates of Urbanus, 1984.
Eisner, Elliot W. The Educational Imagination: On the Design and Evaluation of School Programs, 2ª Ed. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1985.
Ekström, Lars Bertil. “A Formação de um Currículo de Missões” in Capacitando para Missões Transculturais. Barbara Helen Burns, ed., Journal of the Brazilian Association of Missions Teachers (APMB). (nº 5, 1997).
Famonere, Bayo. Training to Die: a Manual on Discipleship. Jos, Nigeria, 1989)
Ferris, Robert W., ed. Establishing Ministry Training: A Manual for Programme Developers. Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1995.
Medeiros, Elias dos Santos. “Missiology as an Academic Discipline in Theological Education” D.Miss. dissertation. Reformed Theological Seminary, jackson, Mississippi, 1992.
Taylor, William David, ed. Internationalizing Missionary Training: a Global Perspective. Exeter, U.K.:The Paternoster Press, 1991.
________Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition. World Evangelical Fellowship Missions Commission, 1997.
Woodberry, J. Dudley, Van Engen, Charles and Elliston, Edgar J., eds.
Missiological Education for the 21st Century: the Book, the Circle and the Sandals. Essays in honor of Paul E. Pierson. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1996.