Wednesday, 23 April 2008

• 25 Days and 7 Years

  According to a recent study of North American Protestant mission agencies, the average length of time spent in pre-field training of new missionaries is 25 days.  On one hand, this mortifies me.  Taking the gospel into another culture is incredibly complex.  Just living in another culture is too much for many.  How are 25 days of training going to prepare someone adequately to even begin this process?  Have we lost our minds?   Are we playing games with other cultures?  On the other hand, I guess the truth is that much is learned on the ground anyway.  However, I'm still appalled.  Think of what medical people go through, or even military personnel.  Isn't the task of missions just as complex?  Shouldn't we require more front-end preparation? 

  This reminds me of the faith missions that began after the Civil War.  "Faith missions" is sometimes seen as "dumb missions" in that many people ventured out without much planning and training.  Yet for all they lacked in such training and education, they made up for in devotion and incredible perseverance.  Was there a lot of zeal without knowledge?  You bet.  Did they do many dumb things that set back the progress of the gospel for decades?  I think so.  But they persevered.  The founding of agencies like Africa Inland Mission and Sudan Interior Mission are good examples of this.  To many observers, the founders were fanatics, taking unnecessary risks and causing unnecessary loss of life.  But the rest is history.  Both groups went on to become major players in Africa.

  The most important ingredient for a missionary is "it".  People either have "it" or they don't.  Unfortunately, I have no idea what causes some people to get "it" and others not.  "It" is mission passion and vision, that basic mission motivation that isn't distracted by the world.  Some have it and some don't and no matter how hard I try I just can't figure out how some get it and some don't.  Maybe God wants it that way.  If we knew how to give "it" to people, we'd screw it up somehow.

  The same report said that the average length of service for long-term missionaries is 7 years.  Again, I'm scandalized by this.  Many missionaries will tell you it takes that long just to begin to really understand a culture.  Three or four years to really learn a language well and begin to grasp the idiosyncracies of a particular culture.  Maybe this is one reason why some missionaries never have the kind of success they had hoped for.  They leave before they've been able to sink down roots.  Related to this, it seems a lot of the best missionaries leave great ministries in order to come home and get a PhD or something.  How many missionaries do you know who've spent 20+ years in one area?  I have to really think hard to think of one.

  Again, if the people have "it", length of time is somewhat irrelevant.  Some missionaries can do incredible things in just a few years.  But for most, not even having "it" will make up for long-term presence.  I wish people would have more pre-field training (INSIGHT students are better trained in basic missiology than most missionaries!).  I wish they would stay longer than 7 years.  But above all, I wish they would have "it".  If we could just give "it" to people in a 2-hour seminar, I'd be rich and the kingdom would be way ahead of where it is. 

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