From a Chinese missiologist:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jacksonwu/2018/12/11/missionaries-undertrained-john-chau/
I'd point out that historically, many missionaries were poorly prepared. It was on the job training. They learned about the unevangelized by living and working with the unevangelized. They learned how to do evangelize by hands-on experience.
1. I wonder how well trained the Back to Jerusalem missionaries are.
ReplyDelete2. Even pastors aren't trained as much as this guy suggests.
3. If pastors experience the phenomenon of "they didn't teach me this in seminary," then missionaries experience this even more so. There's only so much training that is useful. The best training is hands-on. Jackson Wu might be a missiologist, but seasoned missionaries are hardly advocating for more education up front for new missionaries. The best specialized missionary training is done in the field.
Great points!
DeleteI'd say Jackson Wu speaks to an ideal, but that's not always possible.
ReplyDeleteSure, it'd be great if every Mt. Everest climber was a veteran mountaineer who was born and raised in the mountains, taught by brilliant commanders like Sir Edmund Hillary, supported by helicopters and medical teams, scaling under perfect weather conditions, etc. But that's not always possible.
And even the best training can't always prepare for whiskey tango foxtrot situations.
Steve and commenters -
ReplyDeleteexcellent and true. I can speak from experience that "on the job training" is true. If we wait until we think we are fully 100 % prepared, no one will go, for ministry, whether in the USA pastoral ministry, or in a cross cultural kind of ministry - it is always "on the job training" - even until we finish or die or "retire".
There's a clear trend in the West generally (which we've been busily exporting to other parts of the world): in the past, learning how to do something was something you do via an apprenticeship under a skilled master, hands-on. Now, learning how to do something is largely thought of in terms of how much theory you ingest before you head out to do it (at which point you're thought of as more-or-less fully qualified).
ReplyDelete