Page 22 - Cross_Booklet ver1.2

NEED FOR PRE-FIELD TRAINING

Considering guage learning), and Fort Sherman
the goal of (Kidnapping and Ransom). There
church plant- are very few organizations that can
ing, pre- field offer all of those skills/disciplines/
training is one training in one program.
of the most
crucial aspects Another key component to pre-field
to any aspiring missionary. North missionary training are the
American missionaries in the past methodologies being advocated
30 years have found it increasingly and trained into the potential
difficult to adapt to new cultures, missionary. There are a variety of
gain language fluency to a world- approaches to planting churches
view level, and stay longer than two among unreached people groups.
Newer methodologies tend to
years on the field. The struggles of
so many come from unrealistic ex- prioritize speed and pragmatism
pectations that can be crushing resulting in rapid multiplication.
once the on-field realities become
known. Serious pre- field training
helps the potential missionary cali-
brate their expectations, develop
crucial skills needed for long-term
church planting, and think through
key issues.
Topics that should be taught in pre-
field training include: Cross-cultural Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
Church Planting, Culture and Lan-
guage Acquisition, Business for
Missions, What does Finishing Re- But, these methods can have long-
quire, Cross- Cultural Communica- term affects that weaken the
tion, Theology of Suffering, High- church and ultimately prove detri-
stress Marriage and Parenting, mental in many ways. Historic
Being Sent Well from your Local methods, by historic missionaries (
1,
Church, Safety and Security, Team- such as Adoniram Judson Hudson
3
2,
work, Literacy, Introduction to Bible Taylor John Paton ), lean more
Translation. There are others, but toward slower but stronger long-
these would be among the most term church growth. Skills such as
important. learning the language of the people
group to full fluency, teaching in the
Some sending organizations will native language, and staying for
conduct limited training (two longer periods of time to teach,
months or less), others will out- disciple and train are historic meth-
source training for specific skills to ods that have seen slower but
specialized training schools such longer-term growth. It is wise to be
as Wycliffe (translation), MTI (lan-
trained in more than one methodol-