Principles for Pre-Field Missionary Training
by Bill TaylorEquipping for the Long Haul: Guiding Principles for Adequate Pre-Field Missionary Training
Seek equipping/training specifically applicable to your ministry goals. Choose your missionary ministry: evangelist, church planter, relief and development worker, leader developer, youth worker, tentmaker, teacher, coach/men-tor, writer, nurse, doctor, medical technician, graphic artist, computer wizard, radio/television producer—whatever. No matter what you desire to do, you’ll need training in order to serve with long-term effectiveness and fruitfulness.
Karl and Susan’s target population and ministry goals called for them to seek further training beyond the university that would equip them well for cross-cultural service. For this reason, they sought a graduate school/semi-nary with a strong missions curriculum. I remember the long hours Susan worked in the hospital to put bread on the table and pay Karl’s school bills. Later I admired Karl’s commitment to paint houses and hang wallpaper for a year in order for his wife to reach her dream of intensive biblical study. Together they would serve in the Muslim world, and they wanted extensive knowledge of Scripture, theology, and missions before embarking on their career overseas. I won’t forget Karl’s statement to me, “It will take me 10 years to get proficient in Arabic, and I want to know the Koran thoroughly in order to effectively communicate the story of Christ.”
If you want to be a church planter, seek a team with a strong combination of gifts and training. All team members should have strong church experience in their home culture, including a supervised internship. Some team members would benefit from one to four years of solid biblical/theological/missiological study.
They will never regret the years spent in preparation, particularly when they see that study applied in a variety of ways on the field.
1. Into what kind of ministry do you feel God may be leading you? Why?
2. How did you come to these conclusions? What confirmations have you seen already?
Seek equipping/training that will shape you in three major areas: character, skills, and knowledge. These three components woven together will equip you for significant ministry.
Many people think that a Bible college or seminary will do the complete job of preparing them for missions service. It won’t. Most formal schools tend to focus on knowledge first and secondly on skills for ministry. Very few have distinguished themselves for their commitment to character development, spirituality, and relationality.
You do need a strong component of knowledge for effective ministry. But it should be knowledge that is directed to produce godliness, character formation, spirituality, and ministry skills. Ask your pastor or spiritual mentor how best to prepare for missions. In addition to the profiles on the previous pages, here are some “competency categories” to keep in mind:
Character: Personal walk with God, spiritual discipline, self-discipline, personal and spiritual maturity, moral purity, personal and family wholeness, a servant’s attitude, teachability, adaptability, compassion, spiritual gifting.
Ministry/competency: Relational abilities, evangelism and discipleship gifts, church planting and development skills, language and culture training, communication aptitudes, leadership/followership ability, practical talents, professional/vocational expertise.
Knowledge: Biblical and theological truth, culture basics, communication and language-learning principles, ministry and missions foundations, leadership/followership develop-ment, an understanding of global partnership, a basic grasp of human personality and health issues, professional/occupational training, and bivocational issues.
1. In which of the character traits above would you say you are relatively strong today?
In which do you need strengthening?
2. In which ministry skills are you strong today?
Which skills need strengthening?
3. In which knowledge areas do you feel you are rather strong?
What knowledge areas need strengthening?
Mark and Mary’s target population required them to enter the country as professionals working with a corporation. Their academic preparation as an engineer and a teacher opened doors, facilitated visas, and legitimized their “work” through a high theology of vocation. Their years of practical ministry had honed their spiritual skills and endurance. And their years of preparation equipped them for the discipline of two years’ study in their adopted nation.
Seek equipping/training in non-formal, formal, and informal contexts. All three of these aspects of learning are very important, though we tend to think that training must come in formal school contexts.
Non-formal education refers to out-of-the-classroom learning, yet it is designed and purposeful. It includes supervised field trips, internships, and discipling/mentoring relationships. Some non-formal equipping is taught; some is simply “caught.”
Informal education refers to the dynamics of living, observing, and learning within community. Much of this is “caught.”
Formal education is what we know best. It’s what we call “school” - planned, supervised, academic, primarily theoretical, classroom oriented, graded by examinations and graduations and degrees. Certain components of knowledge are best and most efficiently communicated in formal settings.
Where can you get the necessary educational balance? First, use the worksheet below to think through your own best learning and experiences and identify in which category (non-formal, informal, formal) they fall. Notice that some learning experiences overlap into two or even three contexts.
Now think in terms of seven different learning contexts that mold a future missionary:
1. The home shapes us.
2. The job/marketplace teaches and hones skills.
3. The church stimulates development of character, ministry skills, and a degree of important knowledge.
4. Formal schools focus on knowledge and some skills.
5. Mission agencies take a careful look at character, skills, and knowledge and may offer their own specific equipping.
6. The future national church you may serve with will shape you in all areas of your life.
7. Other kinds of interpersonal relationships mold us.
Now go back to the character, skill, and knowledge dimensions. Where are these best learned in relation to the seven learning contexts? This exercise can help you determine the best route to follow in your own equipping/training process as you contemplate missions.
1. In which informal contexts have you learned important lessons?
What lessons did you learn?
2. Which non-formal contexts have provided significant learning for you?
In what areas?
3. List the different schools you’ve studied in, and total the years. That’s the part of your life that you’ve spent “institutionalized.”
In what ways has this been good and/or not so good for you?
4. What other kinds of formal learning contexts could be valuable to you as you prepare for cross-cultural service?
Finally ...
“Just a minute!” you might interject. “This seems to be only for the long-term missionary! What about those of us who are committed to short-term missions? We’re open to long-term, but we want to start short-term!”
Well, it depends on how long your short term is, where you go, what you do when you get there, whom you go with, and how old and how mature you are.
If you’re going for a prayer journey into the 10/40 Window, you definitely need preparation in certain character, skills, and knowledge. Make a list of which competencies you need in these three areas.
If you’re going to do mime and street evangelism for a summer, you also need specific preparation/training in character, skills, and knowledge. List here which competencies you need in these three areas.
If you’re going to teach English in Hungary or China for a year or two, if you are going to help construct a church or school building or service computers, again you’ll need specific prepara-tion/training in character, skills, and knowledge. Make a list of the competencies you need, and take the initiative for developing in each area you identify.
1. What kind of short-term ministry do you see yourself moving into in the near future?
2. What specific kinds of equipping will you need in the following areas?
a. Character/spirituality
b. Ministry skills
c. Knowledge
3. Where do you think you can acquire the preparation you need?
Why Am I Telling You All This?
What I’m trying to establish is that we need effective (and efficient) equipping/training for all types of cross-cultural ministry. And the longer the ministry time commitment, the more serious the equipping/training must be. Don’t try to cut it short!
I’m not saying you have to get a master’s or doctorate in missions before you can serve cross-culturally. But I know of very few experienced missionaries who regret their training, even if it meant years of study, discipline, and waiting. It taught them perseverance and spiritual maturity, equipping them for effective, hang-in-there, cross-cultural ministry.
(Be aware, however, of the danger inherent in getting further training too soon. I have friends who became sidetracked and lost their passion for the world. Some bought into the “American dream” so much that they gave up their original vision.)
Years of training have equipped the long-term missionaries I know for long-term, cross-cultural ministry. And they were there long enough to enjoy the fruit of their work. Of course it was tough. Yes, they got sick. What did they expect? But they saw God at work, and heaven will be full of worshipers of the Lamb who are there because someone left home for years and crossed geographical, language, and cultural barriers to present the powerful, supernatural, living Jesus Christ to people who had not known Him.
My friends Mark and Mary, Karl and Susan all had significant short-term experiences before heading into long-term service. Their short-term service called for short-term training, and they were thankful for it. Their long-term training took more time. But if you ask them whether it was worth it, they respond with a resounding, “YES!”
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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