History's longest, fiercest war rages on! All
Christians everywhere are involved in it whether they know it or
not. But soldiers need preparation to be effective in battle.
Here we will consider what preparation they need–a
checklist. Christians who are just beginning their education may
want to incorporate most of it, while people in mid-career may
need only pieces to upgrade their training.
Tentmaker preparation
We could talk about secular and spiritual training. But, although we often use these terms, we should
not divide life into these categories. Because we belong
to Jesus Christ, all that we do becomes a spiritual
matter. God cares about how we study lit or history or calculus
and how we do our paid job at the supermarket or car wash, and
later, our accounting, chemistry teaching, pediatric medicine,
office management or housing construction.
Whatever we consciously do for God becomes worship!
This has inevitable consequences in us and in the people around
us, and can turn even hard or boring study or work into an
adventure!
If you wish to do tentmaking, some of your
preparation will be formal–college classes for credit. Some
will be non-formal, like your student teaching or a forestry
internship,and some informal–what you read or pick up by
experience. Your religious training will also include all three
kinds.
This paper outlines the kinds of training
needed for tentmaking and suggests ways to obtain it. But how and
when to fit in the pieces is ultimately up to each prospective
tentmaker.
When should you begin? How about yesterday? In
fact, you may be confident God has already been building the
right pieces into your life! You need to prepare now to be the
most useful to God no matter where you will go. Some of the same
basic training is needed whether you will serve him as a
missionary or tentmaker overseas, or as a witness and
"sender" at home. The training will enhance your
present ministry on campus!
In fact, the best preparation for the next step
in our lives is always to be faithful in what God has assigned us
to do now in the circles in which we currently move: family,
neighborhood, campus and workplace. Mt. 25:21- 23.
The tentmaker's work
1. Choosing a vocation.
Your vocation
matters. On a bad day a middle-aged dentist said, "What
right did that 18-year-old kid have to decide that I should spend
my life as a dentist?" Present choices have consequences. No
vocation is perfect–all have advantages and disadvantages.
All involve work. The difference between work
and play is not the amount of energy expended, but the fact that
we play when and how we want to, and we work to fulfil a
commitment when we feel like it and when we do not.
But work is not a consequence of sin. God
designed it before the revolt in the garden, and he pronounced it
good. Six days of work are as important as the one day of rest,
and all seven belong to God. Work is one way we fulfil our
cultural mandate (Gen. 1:28), one way we can care for our earth,
one way we can demonstrate God's love for people. Work is also
our main context for witness.
Young graduates often make job changes, looking
for work that is fulfilling. But few jobs can bring fulfillment
to us. It comes through what we bring to the job–our
motivation. Paul says we should serve our employer with the same
care and enthusiasm we would show if he were Jesus Christ! That
rule held even when the worker was a slave and the boss a harsh
master! Win your colleagues and let your collective testimony
convert the boss! If you do your job for God and with his help,
even a hard or boring job becomes spiritual ministry. But it does
not take the place of telling the gospel.
So ask God to help you choose your vocation.
Get information on a variety of careers during your first two
years of college. Get vocational testing and guidance counseling.
(Your college probably provides this.) Talk to Christians in
vocations that interest you.
Students should ask themselves: 1) What are my
best aptitudes, gifts and interests? What do I like to do?
What do I do well? Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire), the
Scottish world class runner who later died as a missionary in
China, said, "I have to run because God made me fast."
2) What vocations are helpful in a needy world? 3) What skills
are marketable in my target country? 4) What career will enable
me to support a family, and make me marketable at home and
abroad?
Excellent workbooks can help you plan for the
future, like Life Planning by two Christian counselors,
Farnsworth and Lawhead (IVP). Others help you work out your
vocational profile.
If only one vocation is right for you, God will
lead you into it. But he will usually let you choose because you
can serve him equally well in various vocations.
If you are a senior or graduate and have
already made your choices, do not assume you have made a mistake.
You probably chose something compatible with your abilities and
interests and those are good clues to a good choice.
About 50% of college graduates never work in
their field. However, their training isn't wasted because skills
overlap.
2. Vocations needed.
Governments issue
work permits only to foreigners with expertise their country
needs. About half of all positions open to Americans are
in education at some level, from elementary school to
university, and for most subjects. There is demand for high
school math and science teachers. Also needed are professionals
in teacher education, curriculum development, media technology,
library science, etc. Other large categories are health care
of every kind, engineering and technology, the sciences,
agriculture and related rural specialties, business and
finance, computer science, and transportation and tourism. There are fewer openings in the
social sciences, athletics and the fine arts, etc. But we have helped quite a few
people get jobs in these fields, also. There are even jobs in
scuba diving! See Tentmaking
and the Global Job Market
About four million Americans work in other
countries, with much turnover. There are at least 50,000 to
60,000 positions open at any one time. But it is still not easy
to find an opening for which you qualify, with acceptable terms,
in the desired location, at the right time! You have to make the
effort to acquire information and trust God to guide you!
GO can help.
Students should select solid majors, like
physics, English litersture, civil engineering, computers or nursing.
Recent exotic majors, or majors that are too specialized, are not
even recognized in other countries as valid degree subjects.
Develop a specialty within a broad major. Get a degree in nursing
and then specialize in ICU, supervision or nursing education. One
of our applicants qualified only for mountain climbing.
Possibilities were limited. But a degree in physical education
with a specialty in climbing would have been good. Openings for
music therapy are scarce unless you also take occupational
therapy or music education. The right double majors also enhance
marketability but are not practical for everyone.
3. Are degrees needed?
Because countries
import only expertise they lack, most positions require at least
a bachelors degree. A masters degree improves your chances. Often
a doctorate is required. The two-thirds world countries are often
more degree-conscious than westerners. Sometimes, experience
counts more than a degree. Plumbers, electricians, etc., are
marketable if they are certified. The owner of a successful farm
may not need a degree. Nor a professional diver. Nor an oil well
driller with 15 years experience.
Only mineral-rich or other affluent countries
with low or moderate populations hire unskilled and semi-skilled
workers. But they recruit these from poor countries. So a
Westerner applying for such a job would be highly
suspect–and unhappy with the pay and conditions.
4. Terms of employment.
Most positions
for fully qualified people include round trip travel for the
family, good salaries and health insurance. Some jobs provide
housing and schooling for the children. However, many tentmakers
take less well-paying positions if these are more conducive to
the ministry they envision. But to take a minimal job that does
not support your lifestyle undermines your credibility.
Yet every vocation is different. University
teaching is often part-time, but foreign faculty either receive
full pay from a foundation for teaching and research, or are
permitted to earn half time as private consultants.
You usually get better terms if you acquire
your job while still in your home country. Or go abroad to do job
hunting before your employment at home ends. Otherwise people
wonder if there is some sinister reason behind your unemployment
and your desire to work abroad. Also, if you are hired while in a
foreign country, you are usually considered a local hire and
receive lower wages without benefits or international travel.
5. Work experience.
How much is
needed? There are a few entry level jobs in many fields. But
generally you need one to three years experience. We hesitate to
help new teachers get first time positions abroad because if they
have a rough first year they may give up teaching. But–it is
possible to do student teaching abroad under qualified master
teachers in English language schools.
How can you gain experience?
You have
several options:
1) Do a work and study program. Ask your
faculty adviser about the possibilities. Your employer gives you
part-time practical experience in the field for which you are
preparing. There are many patterns for combining or alternating
work and study. By the time you graduate you are more marketable
than other students, and you avoid the debt students often incur.
2) Seek a job after graduation, like 2 or 3 years in
teaching or nursing. If you are in business, apply to
corporations with overseas branches, and let them know you are
interested in an eventual overseas assignment.
3) Seek a
modestly paid internship abroad after your junior or senior
year, with IAESTE, AIESEC, Carl Duisberg, Rotary or many others.
Because business and most other vocations have been globalized,
the number of internships abroad have increased. Some
universities will not let you get an MBA without overseas
experience. An internship gives you a start on a language and
culture and looks great on a resume! Some internships turn into
long-term employment. You can already do low-key evangelism in
the context of an internship. 4) Serve with Peace Corps, in
any one of 100 countries and several hundred careers. Half are in
teaching. The head of the international staffing department of a
multi-national corporation said they look for people who did
Peace Corps and enjoyed it. Multinational corporations report a
30% failure rate among their expats. Each failure represents
enormous expense. So they care not just whether you can do the
job, but whether you can adjust to a foreign culture. Get GO's
paper on Peace Corps if you are considering this option.
Mennonite Central Committee is another
option that provides modestly paid work, and encourages
evangelism as well. It was the first cross-cultural aid and
development agency ever! Pres. Kennedy patterned Peace Corps
after the MCC.
6. Language learning.
Must you learn a
language? Many positions abroad can be done in English, because
it is the world's trade language. Many other jobs require fluency
in the local language. But even tentmakers who can work in
English should get to work on a local language to enhance their
own cultural adjustment, to gain the confidence of local people
and to sensitively share the gospel. A start on the language
gives you an advantage over other job seekers.
People who took a language in high school have
a head start, regardless of which language. It will be useful and
it will facilitate learning another one. If you know where God
wants you to serve, try to take a relevant language in college,
where you can use language labs, etc. Or buy language cassettes
and books. Or find radio or TV programs in your target language.
Or exchange English lessons for the language of an international
student. Or do all four!
Once overseas, U.S. consulates provide classes
or refer you to local language instructors. Employers
often pay for lessons for the expatriate and his family.
It is ideal to learn the language and culture
at the same time. The Brewsters' LAMP method helps you do
that. This Christian couple wrote a book now used in many
universities. You learn the phonetics of the language and some
sentence frames, and then use them daily in real life situations
to acquire new vocabulary and phrases.
The same language can vary so much from one
country to another as to be almost unintelligible. Most Arabs
cannot understand colloquial Egyptian. Jordanian Arabic is
preferred because it is more classical. Costa Rican, Colombian or
Peruvian Spanish are more acceptable than Argentine or Mexican.
(Unless you will work in Argentina or Mexico.)
7. Finding employment. How do you find
an overseas position?
You should begin this search about a year
before your estimated departure date. We had a well-qualified
civil engineer on his way to Saudi Arabia two weeks after he
applied. But it usually takes longer.
a.) Your own college department may know of
openings. b) Consult your professional journal for ads. c) You
can do your own research in newspapers, magazines, the Internet
and a variety of other sources. But you will probably find it too
costly and time-consuming. Global Opportunities provides
information on job openings through an Internet site and
counseling in the job search process. GO does job referral, not
placement, so you retain the initiative in contacting employers.
GO also helps you evaluate your readiness for tentmaking, and
makes available job and missions counseling, training, prefield
orientation and liaison with tentmakers already in your target
country. GO has 20 years experience helping people go abroad .
It is usually costly and futile to apply to
commercial overseas placement agencies. Most care only about
executives and top paid professionals that provide them a
significant financial cut. Most ask a considerable price up front
and then take a substantial cut out of your first year's
contract. By law, if you turn down three jobs they think you can
fill, they are free of further obligation.
Not every job is suitable. Christians will want
to ask many questions and be sure a job is conducive to the
ministry they anticipate. Also, is the salary adequate for the
cost of living? What benefits are included? Is there schooling
for the children? Etc.
Networking is vital. Only about 5% of
the overseas jobs open to Americans are ever advertised, so
competition can be intense for certain ones. Usually God is
already preparing us for our next assignment as we fill our
present one. So build relationships now with people around you
and people you meet. Your college faculty often know about
openings and can give references to overseas employers they know.
I heard about my teaching position in Peru from a missionary
couple.
Befriend international students! Bob Rutz, at
the U. of Nebraska in the >50's, found himself surrounded by
Iranian students, and he spent much of his time with them. It is
no surprise that God led him to Iran as a tentmaker! There the
students' wealthy parents treated him royally. The students later
held important positions. These friendships opened all kinds of
doors for Bob as he started several businesses!
8. Starting your own business.
Some
tentmakers prefer to start their own businesses abroad. One
couple started an English language school in Spain. A couple in
Brazil opened a yarn shop with stitchery courses. One exported
handmade rugs from North Africa. Several Christians design
software applications for businesses in a Muslim country. A large
construction engineering firm and a manufacturing firm–both
run by Christians in the Middle East–have been vital
witnesses for Jesus Christ. It is hard to overestimate the
positive influence of a good business. It can demonstrate
Christian values, provide jobs for needy people and bring hard
currency into a country. But you usually need experience and some
capital. Phantom businesses sooner or later bring shame on the
name of Christ. Most Christians want their own business so they
will have more time free and will be able to bring in more
Christians tentmakers. But your own business usually takes far
more hours than a salaried position and the government will
expect you to train and hire local people. There are also
problems of red tape, excessive taxation and in some countries,
protection money to pay to mafia types. But we need more
Christians who can start businesses in needy countries, and help
local people to start them.
9. Additional practical skills.
Tentmakers
should also have practical skills that are not job-related but
enhance daily living. They will be fine if they live in
Switzerland where everything works with the precision of a Swiss
watch. But in the two-thirds world, only some things work some of
the time. Many people learn practical skills growing up, but some
miss out.
It depends on an attitude to life. At 12, Mark
was a jack-of-all-trades, because he helped his do-it-yourself
Dad make home improvements and do appliance repair. Before Don
was old enough for a drivers license, he had already turned a
junk car into an attractive, smooth-running vehicle! (And worn
out his mother's driveway !) No wonder he went into the
automotive business! (I know about Don because he was my little
brother, and I financed his first car–total price: $6!)
It used to be shameful if girls of marriageable
age had not learned cooking, sewing, homemaking and child
care– from their mothers. In today's feminist, politically
correct world, many young women who have these skills are ashamed
to admit it. You may be able to have household help overseas. But
hospitality is such a big part of a Christian's ministry that you
should develop skill in cooking and baking (without mixes). Then
it will be easier to improvise ingredients, learn foreign recipes
and use an oven without a thermostat. (Take one with you!) I was
so grateful that I had volunteered to help with quantity cooking
in Inter Varcity Christian Fellowship conferences.
In most cultures, men and women must fill traditional
male and female roles and the unisex model is offensive. Still,
both men and women should learn something about building, home
maintenance and auto repair.
Your skills can also help other people. Someone
wrote from Tanzania that if you know shoe repair you become a
national resource! Do you have skills that could help a man or
woman earn a living for a family? Can you repair autos, bicycles,
TVs or other appliances? Take along some how-to books.
Practical skills make great bridges to
cross-cultural relationships. I taught women in Spain to bake
cookies and cakes with measuring cups and spoons and they taught
me to make Spanish entrees with a kitchen scale. Marisa was
distressed when she splattered bleach on two new pairs of
slacks–a big loss for this student. She was delighted when I
salvaged one pair with a floral stencil and fabric paint and the
other with embroidered braid. In fact, she liked the
postoperative versions better than the originals! Carol, unable
to practise engineering in her new host country, repaired the
sewing machines of her Muslim neighbors and they taught her to
sew their long, colorful gowns. Practical skills can help you
make friends in another culture and earn the right to talk about
the Lord.
Tentmakers should do what they can to gain
practical skills and improve them. What about helping parents or
friends with projects? Or working on your own car with guidance
from a friend? Or taking a course on construction or auto
mechanics?
10. Recreational skills.
Sports and
hobbies are also valuable bridges! When June went to teach
international business in China she took tennis balls and
rackets, and her friends laughed. But the same Chinese people
came to the courts at the same time every week just to play with
her. She was able to give them the good news about Jesus Christ
along with her friendship. Doug joined an amateur neighborhood
soccer team in Saudi Arabia. The Kerrs have won 75 Japanese to
the Lord, partly because Pam's needlepoint attracted Japanese
women! All kinds of hobbies and arts and crafts are valuable.
Christian life and ministry
Tentmakers' jobs are a vital part of their
ministry, but are only one component. Tentmakers must be
spiritually prepared to live out the gospel and to share it with
people.
1. Relationship with God
Everything flows from the quality of your
relationship with God. "It is not so much great talent that
God uses as great likeness to himself." (Robert M.
McCheyne.) You must nurture your inner life. Weeds grow without
effort–arriving via TV, advertising, books, cultural values
and pressures and our own deceptive hearts. But it takes effort
to cultivate desired character qualities. Work out the practical
implications of passages like Rom. 12:1,2 so that you build a
pattern of constantly being transformed by renewing your mind.
Your relationship to God deepens as your concept of him is
enlarged. You relate to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in their
different roles, as you learn about them from Scripture. Your
relationship deepens through prayer, and through joys and trials.
God never promises freedom from pain in a fallen world, but peace
in the midst of it as we trust him. Without problems, we would
never know firsthand how loving and powerful God is.
Many of us have sought one great spiritual
experience to forever lift us to a higher spiritual plane, but
there is no such thing. Some of us had an unforgettable
experience when we first learned about the Holy Spirit's role in
our lives. Some speak of this as a baptism of the Spirit and
others call it his infilling. Billy Graham says, "I don't
care what you call it, but get it!" Then we need to
keep on being filled.
Once or twice a year we should evaluate our
spiritual life with a checklist (go through Ephesians), to
confess our sins and renew our commitment. Or we may be led to
renew our commitment in an especially moving church meeting. Or
at Promise Keepers, etc.
One experience can be life-changing, but
nothing can take the place of daily renewing our
relationship with the Lord. Keep a daily quiet time, ideally in
the morning, to talk to the Lord and listen to his word. At
bedtime, think through your day, confess sin and prepare for next
day. (See VIP's Quiet Time.) Because this is so vital, it
is where Satan will attack over and over. Maintain the discipline
of time alone with God when you feel dry and mechanical, just as
you when you feel warm and prayerful. "If you draw near to
God, he will draw near to you," whether you feel
his presence or not. (James 4:610)
Daily devotional reading and prayer are
foundational to Christian character and daily living. Nothing can
make up for a regular discipline of time alone with God. Use
meditation questions like IVP's Search the Scriptures or
devotional books like Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His
Highest. Read slowly through Packer's Knowing God or
John White's The Fight.
2. Relationship with family
The family
is an ideal, although difficult laboratory for working out
relational problems. We know each other too well and take undue
advantage of each other's sense of obligation and love.
Relationships between parents and children and between siblings
often need improving.
If you are married, you will want to read
Christian books about marriage and family, and maybe attend
seminars. These are not just to save troubled marriages, but to
enhance good ones. Also, don't be afraid to seek counsel from
sharp, godly couples you respect on how to deepen your marriage
and family. You will face great stress in a new culture. You will
need all the advantage you can get in family life. As you learn,
think how you could use the same materials to help couples in
your target country. (And materials on parenting!) Set a pattern
of working proactively on your family life.
3. Relationships with others
A regular devotional time will do much toward
producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. It consists of
love, which, like light, is broken down into its rainbow
qualities: joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Gal. 5:22, 23, 1 Cor.
13) These are indispensable for our relationships with family
members, Christian coworkers, other church members, and the
nonbelievers we seek to win–in the home, neighborhood,
campus and workplace.
One of the greatest needs of missionaries is
coworkers. Yet one of the biggest problems for missionaries is
their relationships with each other. All serve at considerable
sacrifice, have strong goals and strong feelings about how to
reach them. They may feel incompatible with coworkers assigned to
them. Many work under cultural stress. Mainly, Satan tries to
undermine the work by causing disunity.
Some mission agencies give potential candidates
excellent help in relational skills in their orientation courses,
assessing how they relate to others during the course. (Do you
notice when someone at the table needs a refill of iced tea?) It
would be great if this kind of training were a part of all
Christian student leadership training camps and conferences!
Because we often deceive ourselves, it helps to
do journaling. In a notebook record each day's
happenings–good things, problems, failures, devotional
thoughts, etc. Be ruthlessly honest. Then two prayer partners (of
the same sex) share with each other weekly from their diaries.
Ideally, they learn to trust each other enough to exchange
diaries. Spouses should partner with each other and periodically
with another couple.
When a larger fellowship is made up of such
partnerships of two, the quality of the whole fellowship quickly
deepens and their ministry is empowered.
Tentmakers must find or form a team for
fellowship and accountability in their new country. Why not start
now to develop this kind of honesty and openness with one other
person? A good place to start is with a small group in your
campus Christian fellowship.
If several of you hope to serve in the same
country, form a team now and take the next steps together. Not
all of Steve's team went to southeast Asia, but those who didn't
became his best prayer supporters–the "sending"
half of his team.
Team building is an essential skill for
tentmakers. And the heart of teamship (being a team) is working together
for common goals above personal ambition or pet ideas and
opinions. It is crucial to begin building this skill before
arriving overseas.
In addition to relationship and team building
skills, tentmakers need conflict resolution skills. Because
people are different, conflict is inevitable. Do you know how to
defuse a tense situation to avoid conflict? Without resolution,
conflict will undermine a team. How do you handle differences of
opinion, of strategy, of doctrine, etc.? How do you handle
putdowns, competition, dishonesty and even betrayal? When must
you confront? When extend grace? When apologize? How can you work
issues through?
4. Bible knowledge
The Bible is our sword! Christians who
do not know the Bible are caught in the worst war in history with
neither armor nor weapon! They cannot help themselves or others.
How can you gauge whether or not your Bible
knowledge is adequate? It is not enough to know "Bible
trivia," facts like–Samuel's mother was Hannah, Paul
was shipwrecked on Malta. These facts show you have had a few
years of Sunday school, but tell little of your Bible knowledge.
Here are a few of the questions I would ask on
a test. Since the Bible is all one story, how would you summarize
the whole story in a few sentences? Can you summarize the book of
Nehemiah in a few sentences and tell how it fits into the whole
story? How many other books of the Bible can you summarize and
correlate in this way? God miraculously rescues disobedient Jonah
from death and then uses him to bring wicked Nineveh to
repentance. Why does the story end with successful Jonah
pouting, and God chiding him? (Why was the story
recorded–who was to benefit?) How was the plight of God's
people similar in Exodus and Ezekiel? What similarities do you
note between the early chapters of Genesis and last chapters of
Revelation? What connection is there between Haggai and
Zechariah? Where would you find stories about Caleb?
Do you know two or three O.T. prophecies about
Jesus that were fulfilled in the N.T.? (There are at least 65!)
How does each of the four Gospels present Jesus in a different
role? Where do you find data about Jesus' birth? List the
chapters of John's Gospel from 1 to 21, and after each write
anything you remember from its content. Do you recall something
from each? What two or three verses in the Bible could help
someone receive Jesus Christ? What passages would comfort a
bereaved person? Make a plan for regular, daily Bible study, and
you will be surprised at how your Bible knowledge will grow!
5. Bible memorization
It is not enough for a soldier to know how to
use his sword–he must have it with him! Satan makes surprise
attacks. There may not be time to hunt up a Bible nor find an
appropriate passage.
The only good way to have your sword always
ready is to memorize significant passages. Then the Holy Spirit
can help you recall them at crucial moments. But how can he
retrieve from your mental computer storage what you have never
stored there?
Bible memory also facilitates cross-cultural
ministry. Knowing where the passages are in your English Bible
helps you locate them in your foreign language Bible. They
provide you with the right vocabulary for talking about spiritual
matters. It is always hard to learn to pray in another language,
but if you memorize a few key verses from the Psalms, you will
have proper sentence frames into which to substitute current
concerns.
The secret to enjoyable memorizing is regular
review. Navigators have a great system designed to fit into our
odd moments. It comes complete with verse cards in a little
packet. See Bible
Memorization: Benefits and Methods.
6. Inductive Bible study skills
Why inductive? If you examine Bible study
methods you find they are all different ways to deal with data
you have found in a text. But most Christians suffer from habit
focus and see only the same surface truths they always see. So
they find little new data, the studies are superficial and
boring.
Only the inductive method helps you dig
below the surface for the details to interpret and correlate. It
is the only method guaranteed to help you see new things every
time you return to a familiar passage. It helps you get at the
meaning of difficult passages, because it is the only method that
takes the literary character of the Bible seriously. God chose to
give us his revelation in the form of literature, so we must
approach it like any other ancient literature–like Greek
tragedies. But it is more than literature, so we study with
prayer, depending upon the Holy Spirit.
Most people jump immediately into the
application of a passage, omitting two crucial steps. Inductive
study consists of these steps: 1) Observation: What
does the passage really say? You ask the content questions: Who are the main characters?
What is
the main action? When and where does it happen? How does it occur? Why does it occur?
What are the
consequences? Then you ask composition questions,
looking for literary devices like: repetitions, comparisons,
contrasts, figures of speech, quotes or allusions, unusual
words, logic, proportion and others. 2) Interpretation:
What did the passage mean to the writer and to the
first readers? Why did the writer record this passage? Why did he
place it in this context? What kind of literature is it? Then you
use the text, immediate context, cross-references, dictionaries,
Bible dictionaries, atlases, etc. for word meanings, cultural
background, etc. Then correlate your findings. But do
not consult commentaries until you have completed your own
study. 3) Application: What does this passage mean for me
today and how can I apply it to my situation? 4) Final form:
How can I arrange the data to facilitate sharing it with others?
You will probably turn the study into a Bible study guide.
Learn to make good questions to help people to see the
implications of the details, and to arrive at right conclusions.
Not easy! Or turn the material into an inductive sermon, a
magazine article, a story, a letter, a poem or a song.
Inductive Bible study is essential for
tentmakers. High school science teacher Mark, in Kenya, was asked
to preach every third Sunday in a village church! In parts of
China or a Muslim country, where there is no church, the best
spiritual nourishment you will get may be what you dig out for
yourself! It may also be the best nourishment your family, your
team members and your local converts will get! When the Saudi
Arabian government ordered the 300 Christian expats in Riyadh to
cease worship meetings, they divided into little house
fellowships. The leaders met every week to pray and to prepare
the next week's sermon together. Who led these preparation
sessions? An agricultural engineer! The house churches
became more effective than before!
Your personal Bible study must be
regular–either 20 to 30 minutes a day or a three hour period
once a week. It is more valuable to spend a week studying one
small passage, than to do larger portions superficially.
IVCF puts strong emphasis on this kind of Bible
study, often using Paul Byer's manuscript method. (See GO's Inductive Bible Study: How
to Prepare a Passage, complete
with sample study.
7. Leading Bible study discussion
Bible training should be provided during the
student years in a variety of ways already suggested in this
paper.
The group discussions should also be led
inductively, whether evangelistic or for discipling and
fellowship. Instead of giving a talk, ask questions to help
participants discover quickly what it took you longer to
dig out. There is joy in discovery! Participants remember longer
what they find for themselves. It is an ideal method for working
persons whose peers do not consider them religious authorities.
But ask questions that help people draw
conclusions from the details–not questions that only test
ability to read. Hundreds of study guides are available, but many
have poor questions. Two series are consistently good–IVP
and NBS (Neighborhood Bible Studies). Many of these guides are
also available in foreign languages. Have you developed skill in
firmly but flexibly leading Bible study discussions? Do you know
how to adapt your leadership to a group made up entirely of
nonbelievers? See helpful suggestions in Jim Nyquist's Leading
Bible Discussions, IVP.
8. Investigative Bible studies
Investigative Bible studies are for
nonbelievers. I have seen more people find the Lord in IBS's than
any other way. But inviting a couple of nonbelievers to a regular
Bible study doesn't make it evangelistic. A true IBS has a
majority of non-believers, so they don't feel pressure from a
Christian majority. You prepare an environment in which they feel
comfortable. You lead a discussion of the passage with questions.
They give answers from the text, not mere opinions. You use
mainly Gospel narratives–the Bible's evangelistic
literature. You help participants observe Jesus in action and
interact with him vicariously through the characters in the
stories. The seekers discover who he really is and commit
themselves to him. I cannot imagine a fruitful tentmaking
ministry without IBS's! Have you ever tried this? GO also
provides training in IBS's. See Investigative Bible Study Discussions.
9. Christian doctrine
You will learn doctrine in your Bible study,
but for the purpose of teaching and evangelism, you should also
learn the main Christian doctrines as propositions with
supporting passages. You may think you know them, but what would
you include in a half-hour talk about God? Or justification by
faith? Or the incarnation of Jesus? Or the meaning of his
resurrection? Could you make it interesting and fresh? What
passages would you use?
You can read books on doctrine, like Hammond's
classic In Understanding Be Men. But try putting yourself
through a workbook on doctrine, where you are given all the
pertinent passages and you make your own doctrinal formulations.
Gordon Lewis's Decide for Yourself, IVP, is very good. In
Brazil I had each new IVCF-IFES student group make up its own
doctrinal statement this way, and then study the wording of
prepared statements of Christian organizations, to see what
heresies they were guarding against.
10. Defending the faith
Wherever you go, your Christian beliefs will be
challenged. How do you answer when someone says that there is no
God? Or there are 33 million of them? That all religions are
basically the same? That the Bible is not true? That there is no
absolute truth? That the Koran supercedes the Bible? That Jesus
was a great man but not God? That he never rose from the grave?
That prayer is self-suggestion?
Do you need more preparation in apologetics? You may want to make your own little notebook or file box
with hard questions you encounter, or fear, and file your best
answers and verses. Then seek out and record better answers. I
learned more this way than just reading a book. But why not do
both? See Evidences that Demand a Verdict by Josh McDowell
(Campus Crusade for Christ) and two books by the late Christian
Islamicist and London Univ. professor, J. N. D. Anderson: Christianity
and Comparative Religions and The World Religions. Study
the passages and formulate your own answers, with Lewis's
workbook, Judge for Yourself.
11. Evangelism–learn to fish
This is usually the tentmakers' most important
ministry, because of the long hours they associate with
outsiders. They spend most of their time on the frontlines–with
non-believers, in spiritually hostile environments, under the
pressure of non-Christian values, and dealing with the challenges
of false religions. Most missionaries do much of their work in
the churches, behind the lines.
Many Christians fail to evangelize because they
believe it should be left to people with a special gift for it.
It means they are on a fierce battlefield but do not know how to
fight! In wartime, inaction is a kind of action–it is
helping the other side! Jesus said that all who are not gathering
new believers with him are actually scattering them (Mt. 12:30,
10:32, 33).
But most Christians avoid evangelism because
they are uncomfortable invading the privacy of strangers and
imposing on them unwelcome religious conversation. Most
Christians who evangelize at all tend to hunt–press
spiritual conversation on people. But hunting is too
aggressive for the workplace or campus–it turns people off.
It is too risky for hostile countries.
Both Peter and Paul describe evangelism as answering
the questions of people who ask about God. They are seekers,
who have been made hungry for God by observing Christians around
them and listening to their occasional comments about God.
(Col.4:5,6, 1 Pet. 3:1416.) What matters is the Christian's personal
integrity, quality work, caring relationships and fitting
words about God. You fish out the seekers and engage
them in your friendship evangelism.
This always includes instructing the new
believer, because the Great Commission tells us to make disciples,
not mere converts. We do this by teaching them all that the Lord
has taught us (Mt. 28:1820), helping them reach spiritual
maturity (Col. 1:28,29) and become useful members of a good
church (Heb. 10:24, 25).
Why go overseas if you cannot evangelize at
home? Yet evangelism is where most Christians feel the weakest.
How often do you speak to people about the Lord? Have you ever
helped someone receive Jesus Christ? It is not easy to find good
training in evangelism, and especially, fishing
evangelism. GO has a good paper to help you develop this skill.
You learn evangelism, like swimming, by doing
it. A secular college or university campus is an ideal place to
learn. Not only can you seek to win your own compatriots, but
also international students. Campus fellowships also give some of
the best training in Bible study and in Christian leadership.
Would you know how to start a student group in a foreign city
that does not have one? Christians can also do cross-cultural
evangelism in their workplace and neighborhood. See Workplace Evangelism.
12. Church-planting and other ministries
Self-reproducing, indigenous churches are the
ultimate goal of missions. But church planting is no great
mystery! If there is none among the people where you work, let
your IBS (evangelistic Bible study) grow into a DBS (discipleship
Bible study)–then into a small house church! If two or three
tentmakers join their DBS's, a small congregation can result! Or
start a children's club, then invite parents and grandparents to
come hear them sing and recite, and then add a weekly preaching
service.
But what do you know about baptism? About
serving communion? About church leadership? What are the
essentials of a church? When does a group become a church? How do
you start a culturally indigenous church? (George Patterson has
written excellent material on this subject.)
It is ideal to gain experience before going
overseas. Is there a new church project going on near you? Do
your international friends need a church? Would your home church
like to start one for an ethnic group in your community? Could
you and friends start a children's Bible club in a needy
neighborhood? Can you join a summer church planting team
overseas?
One summer, several students and I helped a
missionary couple in El Salvador start a church in a new part of
the city where there was none. We canvassed the area, going door
to door, discovering where people were spiritually. Many let us
lead them in a 20minute Bible study. Several shared painful
problems and wept as we offered counsel. Mainly, we invited them
to an all day Saturday picnic in a nearby park and to the first
Sunday service. We got that new church off to an excellent start!
Your home church is a great place to acquire
other ministry skills. As with practical skills, some Christians
take every opportunity to learn–to give a talk to the youth
group, to help put on a skit, to teach a Sunday school class, to
lead an evangelism project, etc. They may not know how to do it,
but they seek orientation from people who know, so they learn.
But other Christians are so cautious and afraid of failure that
they turn down every opportunity unless they feel certain they
can do it . Pride hinders learning.
What kinds of ministries do you think you could
do in another country, in addition to evangelism and small group
Bible study? Can you preach a sermon? Can you teach children? Are
you good at drama? Do you sing? Play an instrument? Have you ever
taught in a Vacation Bible School? Could you organize and run
one? Does your church have a prison or hospital or social work
program, where you could gain experience? Can you learn how to
start a women's group abroad? Or a men's group? Can you learn
something from Promise Keepers, Christian Businessmen, Full
Gospel Businessmen or Gideons?
13. Spiritual warfare
In a war, not all soldiers need officer
training, but all had better know how to fight! Unfortunately,
some Christians risk the danger of "practising the presence
of Satan." You can also blame everything on him and fail to
take personal responsibility. Sin and temptation assault us also
through the evil world system and our own sinful vulnerability.
Paul says to think about things that are true and lovely and pure
and good (Phil. 4:8). James 4:7, 8 says to resist the devil and
he has to flee from us! Draw near to God and he draws near to
you. I never talk to the devil. I ask the Lord to oust
him!
It has become popular to emphasize the more
exotic aspects of spiritual warfare– identifying evil
spirits and expelling demons. But basic spiritual warfare is not
exotic. It is skillful use of the sword of God's Word, for
self-defense, for destroying the arguments of the enemy, and
persuading rebels to change sides. It is all we have already
talked about. Paul urged Timothy to be a good soldier of Jesus
Christ and to lay aside civilian pursuits until this war is over!
(2 Tim. 2:17)
Paul insists that we put on the full
armor of God. This suggests that maintaining these qualities is
not automatic. He mentions the breastplate, shoes, helmet,
shield, etc. (Eph. 6:1017) When you remove the military
metaphors, you have left: the assurance of salvation, faith in
God's power and love, truth in our heart and speech,
righteousness in our conduct, and readiness to give out the
gospel–to answer questions. But we are not just to
acknowledge these qualities, but to wear them! A Christian friend
visualizes herself putting on her armor each morning as she
dresses, reminding herself of what must characterize all her
personal encounters that day. Verse 17 adds prayer–our
personal hotline to Headquarters!
But the same passage says we should not be
ignorant of the devil or his tactics. We should know all that the
Bible says about him and learn from others how he attacks. The
gospel curbs the devil's ability to deceive the nations, so if
you go to a country where God's Word is hardly known, you may
encounter more overt demonic activity. That is true also wherever
voodoo and other forms of demonism are practised, like Haiti,
Brazil, Africa. Learn to distinguish ordinary physical or mental
illness from that caused by demon activity. Learn the signs of
demon possession and how to deal with it. But never attempt this
alone–always have another Christian with you!
A few Christians make direct attacks on the
enemy their main ministry. God has greatly used Neuza Itioka in
Brazil to lead the defeat of satanic forces in the voodoo culture
in Brazil. But this should not be the main focus of most
believers. Instead, focus on the enemy's victims, rescuing them,
occupying territory and building Christ's church!
Tentmakers need understanding and experience in
spiritual warfare. How can you learn more and build it into your
life?
14. Missions training
How much do you know about the following? 1) The
biblical basis of missions. What does the O.T. tell us about
missions? The N.T.? Why should anyone take the gospel to another
culture? 2) The history of missions. How did the church
begin and how did it spread for 2000 years, and how has it spread
during the last 200 years? 3) The geography of missions. Where
in this world is the church strong and where is it weak or
nonexistent? How fast is it growing? (Patrick Johnstone's Operation
World helps you to pray around the world about one and a half
times a year!) 4) Trends, issues and strategies in missions. What
past mistakes should you avoid? What current ideas should you
try? 5) Cross-cultural living and witness. What do you
know about culture shock and culture fatigue and how to deal with
them? About learning a foreign culture and language?
An excellent way to acquire this knowledge is
through a Perspectives missions training course. These are now
given in over 100 U.S. locations and are usually scheduled one
evening a week for students and working people. Or you can take
it as a summer course. A second best–do it by
correspondence. A last resort–study the textbook on
your own.
It is also good to become familiar with your
own denominational mission agency and a few nondenominational
ones. See Marc's Missions Handbook in a church library.
This thick directory allows you to choose agencies according to
their countries or the services they perform. For example, you
can find the ones that work in Togo or Ireland or Nepal, and
those that hire pilots or gym teachers or graphic artists or
radio engineers. You can also find the same information on about
200 agencies in the Urbana exhibitors guide. Write for their
publications. Correspond with a few individual missionaries.
You should also get firsthand experience in
another culture, if possible. Mission agencies have several
hundred summer service programs, where you work along with
missionaries. The programs vary greatly in quality, from mere
building construction, to evangelism and church planting. An
excellent one is LAM's Spearhead in Mexico and Central
America–a summer program and a one-year program. You can
also learn from missionaries as you do tentmaking–earning
modestly through vacation jobs abroad, or doing the study abroad
and paid internships already mentioned above.
All this may seem a little daunting, but the
pieces overlap, and some of it can be acquired informally. Most
important, winning this war deserves our greatest effort and
preparation! But we must now consider formal training. How much
is needed and where should you go?
Where to prepare
Because you need both academic and Christian
ministry training, most Christian leaders would tell you without
hesitation to attend a Christian college or university. But the
answer is not that simple. It may or may not be the
best place for you.
What are some pros and cons of getting your
academic and spiritual preparation in Christian educational
institutions? What are the pros and cons of getting both in a
secular college or university? Lastly, what about combining the
two?
1. Christian institutions
Academic preparation. A big advantage in
a Christian college is hearing classroom lectures on science and
philosophy, etc., from a Christian point of view. You also have
access to a wide variety of Bible, theology and missions courses.
You may be able to study under highly qualified, highly committed
faculty. But sometimes academic or spiritual excellence have to
be sacrificed to budgetary considerations. Sometimes the secular
views being contested are not accurately presented and the
"Christian" answers are inadequate. Many of the
"answers" I was taught in my Bible courses did not hold
up in college because the professor had never properly understood
what non-believers were saying.
Only certain majors are offered in Christian
colleges. Most do not teach agriculture or aviation, for example.
Though LeTourneau University does.
Spiritual preparation. Another advantage
is that you can take courses in Bible at the same time that you
pursue your vocational studies. A Christian campus might seem an
ideal place for spiritual growth. Unfortunately, that is not
totally true. Some students attend because of a deep desire to
serve the Lord. But many have little spiritual interest. They
attend: 1) Because of pressure from parents who hope the school
can straighten them out spiritually. 2) Because they want a
clean, safe campus rather than a dangerous, secular one. 3)
Because they want to find a Christian spouse.
Two other factors complicate matters. 1)
Because so many students have no strong Christian commitment,
administrators make many rules. The bad conduct of weak students
must not be allowed to mar the institution's public reputation.
The bulk of the students then resist the rules and seek ways to
break them. 2) Chapels and certain other activities are made
compulsory, which is usually counterproductive and increases the
rebellious spirit.
A student who had won friends to the Lord in
high school said about her Christian college, "If you want
to be popular here, you have to bend over backwards not to
associate with the squares who go to prayer
meetings." I lower my expectations when I go to speak on
missions, knowing that my listeners are probably attending a
compulsory activity. This atmosphere is not ideal for spiritual
growth, though some years revival improves a campus for awhile.
I am referring only to genuinely evangelical
institutions. The situation can be worse in denominational
colleges. My friend, a new believer, had her spiritual
expectations crushed on her Christian campus by the immorality
between students and faculty.
But even where the teaching and the atmosphere
are excellent, students are isolated from secular society and
disengaged from non-Christians. This undermines the value of the
training. Consider Christian colleges as a good option, but have
realistic expectations.
2. Secular universities/colleges
Of
course, secular campuses are far worse! You will find blatant
immorality, cheating, drugs, etc. But these do not take you by
surprise. If God leads you to do your academic preparation there,
it need not be damaging, because you know you are going into a
mission field. You join forces with the other spiritual warriors
on this battlefield, to help each other, and you watch God use
you over and over for his glory.
Academic preparation. It can be
advantageous to do your vocational studies in a secular school,
because it is likely to have better name recognition
overseas–even state colleges. A state college will be
recognized as part of a well-known system. You can choose from
the whole range of careers.
But don't let yourself be cheated. A newspaper
article on the current dumbing down of U.S. higher
education, says many institutions no longer recognize degrees
from the New York State University system because it has
capitulated to today's politically correct philosophy,
which is really a kind of atheistic neofascism. They have
abandoned most of the objective core content traditionally
considered higher education. Some reject Western civilization and
substitute racially-based mythology. That kind of degree will
prove useless in other countries.
U.S. News and World Report does periodic
evaluations of which universities are best for which vocations.
They may give you access to better research possibilities and to
overseas internships. Most secular institutions have a certain
percentage of Christian faculty. But most of your courses will be
presented from a secular and even an anti-Christian view.
However, Christian students do not usually lose their faith on
campus; they lose their parents' faith which they had adopted
without thinking. As they find answers to the hostile attacks,
they develop a strong personal faith in God and in all facets of
his absolute truth.
Some Christian students do poorly because they
feel that secular study is unspiritual. Not so. Paul says that
doing our secular work well is an essential to our Christian
witness on the job.
The young hostage, Daniel, began as a study
abroad tentmaker, in the the liberal arts college of the
University of Babylonia. Imagine having to do daily studies in
the literature and philosophy and astrology of this demonic,
pagan, immoral, idolatrous land! But Daniel and his friends
graduated summa cum laude! They knew that to do the
studies well did not mean they approved of them. But it helped
them understand this wicked culture and gave credibility to their
witness.
Furthermore, all truth is God's truth.
He is in the truth business and the creation mandate gives us the
task of pursuing truth about his creation. The university's
mission is inherently legitimate–just distorted. This simply
means we have to work harder to think critically and develop
a Christian view of basic intellectual issues and of our
field in particular.
How can you keep this daily bombardment from
undermining your faith? How can you grow and even thrive on a
secular campus?
Spiritual preparation. Ideally, you join
a campus Christian fellowship and make full use of its training.
Your life depends on them! This in-service training is not
just for the future, but for now. You are already on your
first mission field! It is as important as any other you will
ever have. A secular university is a microcosm of our
multicultural, spiritually hostile world. It is hard to
imagine a more ideal place for missions service and tentmaker
training.
It is a tough place to live a genuinely
Christian life, and you survive only by constant personal and
group Bible study, personal and group prayer and fellowship with
like-minded believers.
This is why a campus Christian fellowship
usually consists of committed, growing Christians, all of whom
attend only because they really want to. There is no
parental pressure. In fact, their participation in the Christian
group can be costly and subject them to ridicule from students
and faculty. It costs to let others know you are a
convinced Christian.
These Christians value Bible study and
evangelism training. They learn small group and large group
leadership. Camps and conferences provide excellent training.
Often there is a steady stream of conversions, so there are
always new members to disciple and train. These can be exciting
groups!
But all campus fellowships are not the same. 1)
Some are not much more than extensions of a local church, led by
a youth minister, with the same monastic mentality. If they do
any evangelism it consists of an occasional hit-and-run raid,
with little positive effect. 2) Other campus groups are missions
to students. Staff workers are assigned to do campus
evangelism and put on activities for students. This may draw
students for awhile, but when the staff workers leave the groups
usually collapse. 3) The best kind is a student movement, with
emphasis on student initiative. Staff workers may be able
to do the ministry better, but instead they train students to do
it. Instead of putting on evangelistic blitzes, they train
students to win and disciple their friends, to nurture each
other, to plan and carry out small and large group activities.
Students are allowed to learn from their mistakes. They learn to
trust God, not the staff person. Campus fellowships of several
hundred are often divided into two or four subgroups, to give
more students leadership experience.
Many years of campus ministry have biased me
thoroughly in favor of the student movement. The best
example is IVCF and its sister movements in the IFES family
worldwide. In the long run, it is far more effective in producing
Christian leaders for national churches and international
ministries.
A secular campus gives ample opportunity to
learn to relate to non-believers in an uncompromising, but
attractive, nonjudgmental way. For instance, what do you do when
your roommate brings in a friend of the opposite sex to spend the
night? Many Christians win their roommates to the Lord. Often two
Christians share a dorm room or several share an apartment. But
there is always ample opportunity for living out the gospel and
speaking about Jesus Christ in a tactful, nonjudgmental way. You
do friendship evangelism with the seekers you have fished out.
Since both Christian and secular schools have
pros and cons, why not get the best of both worlds?
3. Why not combine schools?
The best academic and spiritual training for
many students will occur on a secular campus, but supplemented
with Christian training courses. Then you get the benefit of
Bible, theology and missions training while serving on the front
lines. You get both kinds of training and the Christian courses
are much more meaningful.
The Christian college is an American
phenomenon, existing primarily in our country and where our
missionaries have started them overseas. In Europe and elsewhere
there are a few Christian schools for theological studies, but
not for academic study.
There is another problem with Christians
attending Christian schools. so Most secular institutions have so
few Christians that it seems sad to withdraw them into another
Christian ghetto! It leaves no one to represent God on secular
campuses! This cannot be God's will. It is the same monastic
principle which plagues the church, and is utterly unbiblical. 1)
It short-circuits what God wants to do in the university. (I have
been saddened to see this happen in several unevangelized
countries.)
2) It also short-circuits what God wants to do
in the Christian students. If their job is to count for Jesus
Christ in the university, then that is where they will grow
best–as they are obedient to their calling. People who have
attended a Christian elementary and high school, a Christian
college and then maybe a seminary., are poorly equipped for
missions. Pius Wakatama, a Christian professor in Zimbabwe who
studied in the U.S., writes that many American missionaries
adjust poorly to a new culture because they never adjusted to the
culture of their home country. Instead, they lived isolated lives
in semi-monastic communities.
A separate Christian school education can also
cause problems getting into a country. Foreign employers know
Purdue and Ohio State, but might balk at hiring someone from
Messiah Bible University. Most Christian schools have more
religiously neutral names. But your transcript can cause
additional problems.
1) An American employer may reject your
application outright, or he may hire you in the hope that you
will be conscientious and will fit better into a Muslim culture
than others who chafe under Muslim no alcohol laws.
2) A potential Muslim employer in Saudi
Arabia may take one look and reject you, or he may think all
westerners are Christians anyway (as all Saudis must be Muslims),
and not be surprised at your Christian alma mater. But he will be
put off by a transcript showing evangelism and missions courses.
A chronological resume must show where
you worked or studied each year. A functional resume need
mention only what is pertinent to the job requested. This can
play down Christian courses, but sooner or later a full curricula
vitae will be requested. It is bad if a discrepancy between
them makes it appear that you lied. But if you study in a secular
institution and supplement with courses from a Christian college,
that data need not appear, because it is taken concurrently with
your secular studies. You could also do graduate studies in a
Christian institution, concurrently with a secular job. So it can
be advantageous to combine both secular and Christian
institutions.
Possible combinations. 1) You may live
where you can take classes at a secular institution and a
Christian one at the same time. Does a Bible school or Christian
college near you offer night classes? 2) You might meet your two
years of lower division classes in a Christian college, including
as much Bible as possible, and then transfer to a secular
university. 3) You might do four years on a secular campus,
taking advantage of all the training of a campus fellowship, and
then do a year of intensive Christian studies.
Applicants often ask if they should go to a
theological seminary? It depends on their immediate and
long-range goals. Usually, they want help with Bible study and
evangelism and are disappointed to find the studies too academic
and impractical for their needs. There are four kinds of
Christian study programs for college graduates.
1) Theological seminaries.
They provide
training for prospective pastors, and include courses like
exegesis, hermeneutics, homiletics, church history, Hebrew and
Greek, pastoral theology, etc., resulting in a Master of
Divinity, or with further study, a Master of Theology, a Doctor
of theology or a Doctor of Ministries. Seminaries have been
academic and content-centered, but are slowly becoming more
ministry and people-centered.
2) Graduate schools of theology.
They provide academic study in Old and New Testaments and a wide
range of theological subjects for Christians who are called into
education, law, the arts, sciences, industry, government,
teaching, etc. and who wish to integrate their faith and their
academic disciplines. This usually results in an MA in Religion.
Regent College in Vancouver is an excellent example. They deal
with secular ideas in the light of our Christian world view.
3) Bible college
Intensive one-year study
programs for graduates may lead to an MA in Religion. Colleges
like Multnomah in Oregon and Columbia Bible College in South
Carolina have great, intensive programs.
4) Graduate schools of missions.
You
study subjects like the biblical basis for missions, church
history, methods, issues, trends, problems, and may have a strong
emphasis on anthropology and linguistics–resulting in an M A
in Missions. Further study leads to a Doctorate in Missiology.
These courses are found in Christian colleges or in seminaries.
But many schools acquired their names years
ago–so names do not indicate the courses offered. The
Seminary and Graduate School Handbook, an annual magazine of
Berry Publications, provides information on scores of Christian
educational institutions. You can write the schools for more
information.
Tentmakers need excellent academic training and
excellent spiritual ministry training. They have a dual vocation.
A mission agency's minimum requirement is usually a year or two
of Bible in a Bible school or college. Tentmakers should have the
equivalent whether acquired formally or informally. Some may have
received good training in their churches or in a campus
fellowship.
4. Financing your education.
Mission
leader Ralph Winters says the biggest problem in
recruiting new missionaries is "college students who are too
burdened with debts to allow them to go into missions." Most
give up the idea entirely. College costs have gone up by three or
four times in the last few years. They feel justified in raising
prices because loans are available to almost everyone. A couple
may have $30,000 to $40,000 in joint loans to repay (the average
is $11,000 per person), and an additional amount in credit card
debts! They find themselves in this hole just a a time when they
are eager to go abroad, or to establish a home or start a family.
But they have mortgaged their future, and are not free to go
where the Lord calls. There are ways to avert or diminish this
problem. See our GO Paper, Students and Graduates: Financing an Education.
5. How long will it take?
Several mission leaders have written that it
takes 12 years after high school to be ready to serve as
missionaries! I am thankful for well-prepared missiologists. But, not every soldier needs officer training!
But all must
have spiritual maturity, cultural adaptability, and skills in
evangelism and Bible study.
Ralph Winter considers the long years of
academic preparation the second biggest problem in getting people
overseas. During the years of study, students lose their
missionary vision.
We believe that all of the pieces mentioned
above can be fit into four or five years, if the student takes
advantage of all the learning opportunities available. God sends
no finished products overseas, because he has none! When I see
individuals add course after course to their doctorates, I wonder
if they will ever go abroad. If they do, will they feel any need
of the Lord?
Also, God does not give us preparation and then
send us out to see what we can do with it. Rather, he takes us by
the hand and leads us out, step by step, and teaches us as we go.
We have suggested a reasonable amount of preparation to get off
to a good start. But you will constantly supplement your
learning, and will have opportunities for further formal
training, too. This later training is often more motivated and
effective. Some decide after a couple of years abroad that they
do need a doctorate in a secular or a ministry field. Usually,
there is a way to do this.
The mission leaders who said it would take 12
years to be ready have it all wrong. It seems too long. But in
another sense, 12 years is not nearly long enough! It takes a lifetime!
God will constantly give you new assignments, greater challenges,
and you will have to keep learning! This is one of the exciting
aspects of our Christian life!
Resolve in your heart never to stop learning.
Make plans for your self-education. Learn to love books. Skim
some quickly, picking out their main ideas. Read others slowly,
devotionally, to savor every page. Study others. As I read
through certain key books, I memorize the outline and make up
test questions for myself. I have asked my students to memorize
the outline of Stott's Basic Christianity and know the
passages in each, because I consider it that valuable for
evangelism. I read secular and Christian magazines. But I can
rarely take the time to look up articles in old issues. So I
always read with a pen and an exacto knife in my hands, to mark
up and cut out articles I wish to keep in my subject files.
In conclusion, remember that the war is not
just out there somewhere, but is global. You do not have
the luxury of peaceful preparation before you go into battle. You
are in the war now. Your Jerusalem (Acts 1:8) is where you live,
work and study now. It may not be where God wants you six months
from now. Ask him to guide you according to his will. Your next
assignment will almost certainly depend on how faithfully you did
your present one. God does not require success, but he does ask
faithfulness. (Mt. 25:21-23)
God has also designated your team
members–those Christians around you, whether you feel
compatible or not. Pray together and help each other to stand
firm in the faith, and to fight this spiritual battle, lovingly
rescuing the rebels from the enemy's hand.
At the same time, because you love God, you
must care how the war is going on other more distant fronts. Keep
the communication lines open–read reports, write to
missionaries and tentmakers and pray for them. Keep the supply
lines open, sending money where it is needed. And be prepared to
be sent out yourself to where the battle is fierce.
Jesus has already won the decisive battle! We
are making great progress in occupying the countries of his world, and
persuading rebels. In Latin America the church is growing three times as fast as
the population, and in parts of Africa five times as fast! In Buddhist South
Korea, two in five
are evangelicals! The momentum matters. As we near the end of
this century and this millenium, we can see the finish line! This
is not the time to hold back, but the time to press ahead with
all our might! Prepare first, while you hold down the fort here,
and be ready to go where God calls!
–Ruth E. Siemens
Copyright 1997 Ruth E. Siemens
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