Beginnings (Entering)
The entering stage begins when your mind is unpacked, and it lasts until you are fully involved again. Just crossing the border into your host country does not mean that you have really entered the culture. It takes time and energy to enter the culture and become a part of social groups there. In the last chapter we saw that the Israelites were to “take possession” of their passport country which “God was giving” them. God was giving it to them, but it was not theirs until they took possession of it. It took them several years to do so.
A Long Entry
In preparing Joshua to help the Israelites enter their host country, God gave him several wonderful promises in the first five verses of the book. He followed these up with several commands.
The Israelites had seen God’s power displayed as they left Egypt by walking on the dry ground at the bottom of the Red Sea (Exodus 14). They saw it displayed again in a similar way as they entered the country by walking on the dry ground at the bottom of the Jordan River (Joshua 3:14-17). God had them build a memorial from stones taken from the river bottom so that their children would remember it forever (Joshua 4:20-23).
God told Joshua, “I have delivered Jericho into your hands”—and then told Joshua what he had to do for the next seven days to actually take the city (Joshua 6:2). It was a “done deal”—as long as he obeyed. Joshua obeyed and reminded the people about keeping away from the “devoted things” that were to belong only to God, and they had a wonderful victory as they took the city. Unfortunately, Joshua 7 begins with, “But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things.” The ups and downs continue during the entering stage as well.
Of course, the Israelites did not receive a warm welcome when they moved onto the west bank. In fact, most of the people there prepared to go to war with them (Joshua 9:1-3). Likewise, you may be disappointed in the welcome you receive in your host country.
One thing that happened to the Israelites was that a group of people deceived them. Those people pretended to be from far away and spoke favorably about God. The Israelites made a peace treaty with them without consulting the Lord and later realized they had been tricked. You may well be disappointed in people in your host country even if they do not deceive you.
Again and again Joshua comes back to what God told him at the beginning. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 10:25). This is a great verse to remember as you go through the entering stage yourself.
Entry Today
Though it took the Israelites about seven years to enter their host culture, it usually takes at least a year, a full annual cycle, and many times it takes several years. Of course, things will never be the same as they were in your passport culture, but if you remain long enough, they reach a new state of equilibrium where you may feel “at home” in your host culture.
After the newness wears off and you are no longer operating in “tourist” mode, you may find that being a missionary there is not what you expected. Perhaps you expected help from your field director and you feel like all you got was criticism. Perhaps you expected you would have won at least one person to Christ, but you feel like you are accomplishing little of real importance. Let us look at such expectations, their importance, and the possibilities for doing something about them.
What are expectations?
An expectation is something you believe will occur, any event you anticipate happening in the future. You may expect either good or bad events. Hope is expecting good, and dread is expecting bad. Paul’s famous expectation in Philippians 1:20 was that Christ would be glorified in him.
Expectations are often stated as goals or objectives. We may set these for ourselves, or others may set them for us. In either case we evaluate what actually happens on the basis of the expectations. When our expectations are appropriate, we have feelings of excitement, satisfaction, accomplishment, and success when we reach the goals. If our expectations are slightly high, they may inspire us to work harder and achieve more than we would have with lower expectations. The problem comes when our expectations are too high.
Why are expectations important?
Since we use our expectations to evaluate what happens, the same event may bring opposite reactions in different people. One church planter may be thrilled when 25 people attend because he was expecting 10. Another may be discouraged with 25 because he was expecting 250. Unfulfilled unrealistic expectations may result in many negative emotions.
· Failure. You did not live up to your own expectation.
· Hurt. Your fellow missionaries did not help you as you anticipated they would.
· Confusion. God called you, but it seems like nothing has happened to advance his kingdom as a result of your obedience.
· Frustration. You had such a vision for what could be done on your field, but that vision has not become reality.
· Anger. You have sacrificed to help the national church, but now they have rejected your help and leadership.
· Bitterness. You left a beautiful home and a fruitful ministry, but so few have come to Christ here. If you had stayed home, you probably would have won hundreds to Christ.
· Depression. You begin to think that it was not worth it. In fact, you just feel like giving up, giving up on everything!
All of these feelings, and many more, may be the result of unrealistic expectations. Others may feel excitement and satisfaction when exactly the same events occur if their expectations were more appropriate.
What if I don’t have any expectations?
Impossible! Everyone has expectations. And even if you do not have them for yourself, others have them for you. Expectations come from many different sources.
· Past experience. People with successful ministries are chosen to go, and such people believe they will have good ministries as missionaries. They would not go if they expected to be failures.
· Home church. Your home church is supporting you with prayer and much money. They expect to see some return on their investment.
· Fellow missionaries. They eagerly anticipated your coming to make their load more bearable. The one who wrote your job description seemed so spiritual when he interviewed you, but now you find he is a workaholic and expects you to be one too.
· Administrators at home. They set unattainable goals for you and your field. Those people seem so different now as your bosses than they did when you were a candidate.
· God. He called you to this ___________ (field, people, language, country…), and he expects you to produce ___________.
Sometimes others do have such expectations; however, at other times you only believe they have them because you misunderstood what they wanted. Likewise, you may have misunderstood God’s call. He will not ask more of you than you can actually do. Many times, though not always, the same is true of others in authority over you as well.
How can I set realistic expectations?
Goal-oriented and time-oriented people are most likely to suffer from the effects of unrealistic expectations. Remember that God molds servants, not bosses. Rather than directing others, servants trust the Leader and stay in the background, perhaps washing feet! The fruit of the Spirit, as well as the gifts of the Spirit are found in such servants.
In 1967 the director of Missionary Internship, Fred Renich, suggested six attainable objectives for the first term (EMQ, Summer 1967).
· Learn the language. He noted that the two largest language schools in Latin America (in Costa Rica and Brazil) said that lack of motivation is the real problem in language learning. Most of their students had a good aptitude for language acquisition, but they just did not see the need for taking all that time to do it. This seemed to be less important than saving souls. Renich urged a good foundation in the language, possibly even proficiency. They needed to be able to function well in daily life with people they met as well as in their field of service, such as teaching or speaking in the language.
· Adjust to the field. In addition to learning how to get around, adjusting to the food, live in the climate regardless of the heat or rain, adjust to the noises, and so forth, first-term missionaries need to learn about the history, customs, culture, economics and so forth of the host country. They need to get to know the nationals as people, to relate to them as friends, and to find points of common interests whether or not those nationals are interested in the Gospel.
· Learn about the agency. Of course, flow charts and descriptions are included in orientation, but the new missionaries will learn which people are really the best ones to see about a given situation. They may find that administrative assistants are more likely to know than their bosses. They will learn which means of communication work best with specific people. Some respond best to email others to texts, others to telephone, and yet others want a printed letter. In addition, the new missionary will find how the field applies the vision of the agency to the nationals on the field.
· Understand the field. The new missionaries should gain a broad view of the field where they are serving including both the negative things and the positive things. Seeing both aspects they can sharpen their ministry goals to fit in with those of the agency. Thus the missionaries can see how their work fits in with that of the overall vision of the agency.
· Find how ministry gifts fit. New missionaries may discover new God-given ministry gifts that will be of use in reaching the goals God has given them. As they see these strengths, they can see where they fit in with God’s plan.
· Confirm the missionary call. New missionaries can experience the satisfaction of knowing what God expects of them and that they belong in God’s work. They can become inwardly at peace with the whole direction of their lives in God’s service.
Notice that none of these objectives say anything about how many souls came to Christ, how many sermons were preached, how many classes were taught, and so forth. These things are often in the expectancies of their agency or their supporters, but they are much more important.
These may not seem like much to accomplish in several years, but it is plenty. Here are several suggestions to keep your expectations reasonable.
· Ask others. You are not the only person involved in missions—ask those who are in the positions you anticipate filling. When you get answers about what to expect, do not think it will necessarily be different for you.
· Develop a long-term view. Remember that we all stand somewhere between the first three chapters of Genesis and the last three chapters of Revelation. God has been working on his plan of redemption for thousands of years, and you will not accomplish the redemption of the world alone in one lifetime.
· Remember that everything takes much time. Learning a language and culture are long term projects never really completed. Relationships are important and take time. The hassles of daily living in many cultures take time. Paper work is necessary and takes time. Contact with supporters takes time.
· Learn interdependence, not independence. Rather than trying to do things yourself, realize that you really do depend on other people, and they depend on you.
· If you must set time frames and goals, be sure to set sub-times and sub-goals as tiny steps to get to the larger ones. Estimate how long it will take you to reach the goal; then at least double the time and triple the cost; then feel successful if you achieve that.
What if I still discover I have unrealistic expectations?
That is almost sure to happen. Since we are often not consciously aware of our expectations until they are not met, we are likely to have some unrealistic ones. When you realize that you have them, taking the preventive steps mentioned above may also help eliminate those that discourage you.
You may find yourself in conflict with others about what is realistic and what is not. In such cases you will need to use some conflict management skills.
Of course, God may give you some very high expectations in your call to missions, and be careful not to dismiss God’s call as a human miscalculation. Likewise, remember that you are in a spiritual battle, and Satan may give you unrealistic expectations to discourage your work for God’s kingdom. Spiritual discernment is necessary to make these kinds of decisions.
Models and Mentors
One of the best ways to achieve the objectives of the first term of missionary service is for new missionaries to have models and mentors. Bonnie and I have done that during several transitions in our lives. When we retired, we asked Harry and Ann to have lunch with us every couple weeks for a year so that we could ask questions and hear their advice. We did not want to be like the couple in which the wife told her newly retired husband, “I married you for better or for worse, but not for lunch” when he was too hovering over her too much.
Some people think of mentors as teachers but mentoring is more than the delivering of facts. Mentors are really more like coaches who not only deliver facts, but are available to watch how the facts are applied, are available to answer questions, and are available to walk through the activity with the person giving advice and evaluation.
In 2008, about 40 years after Fred Renich suggested first-term goals, John DeValve suggested a good way to help reach those goals. He titled his article “Mentoring new missionaries: A neglected ministry” (EMQ, January 2009). He suggested that the mentor needs to have proficiency in the language, experience living in the country, and knowledge about the history and customs of both the country and the agency work there. The mentor must be willing to spend the necessary time with the new missionary dealing with “simple” things like rudimentary language and filling out forms, and listening to the frustrations of a new person without becoming critical. Finally, the mentor needs to live near the new missionary so that they can do things together.
DeValve went on to suggest that mentors should do six things. Over time, and a little at any time, mentors should do the following, and note how these compare to the goals.
· Procedures. They need to orient the new missionary on how to do routine things both in the agency and in the culture. Each agency has written and unwritten procedures about how to file reports, get reimbursements, write support letters, and so forth. Each culture has procedures to follow to pay due bills, file accident reports, get vehicles repaired, and so forth.
· History. Every country and every people group have histories of their own. New missionaries need to know why nationals celebrate on May 5 or why the square in the middle of the city is named Plaza 24 de Septiembre. These new missionaries need to know the history of the local church and the basics of the indigenous church.
· Practical. New missionaries need to know how to get the basic necessities of life. What water is safe to drink? What does one do about all the sand that blows in everywhere during the dry season? What does one do when the power goes out? How does one hire someone to clean the house, care for the children, or care for the yard?
· Information and practice. Even more than acquiring information the new missionaries need someone to show them how to put it into practice and observe them patiently as they do so. This often takes much time and effort on the part of the mentor.
· Accountability. New missionaries and their mentors need to meet periodically, at least weekly if possible at first, so that the new missionary is held accountable in terms of not only their work, but of maintaining their spiritual and relational lives.
· Advice and direction. New missionaries need to be open to advice from their mentors. They need to know how things are done differently in their host cultures and how to do those things even if it seems so odd or even “dumb.” They need to seek direction and accept it graciously even if they do not understand.
Of course, the relationship between new missionaries is crucial. Sometimes new missionaries seem to be “randomly” paired with mentors, and one or both do not like the situation. When this is the case, it is usually best to allow them to switch as soon as possible.
Pollock’s transition model gives a good summary of people in the entry stage. While entering, people are marginal and feel uncertain about what they are to do and only tentatively accepted. Relationships are often temporary, and the new missionary may misinterpret behaviors and signals. They are more often observing than doing, and may respond inappropriately. They often feel vulnerable, fearful, depressed, and ambivalent. But with time they will become more confident and more affirmed and secure.
Several brochures on related topics are available free of charge on www.missionarycare.com.
· A brochure about depression at http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures/br_depression.htm
· A second brochure about depression at http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures/ss_depression.htm
· A brochure about stress at http://www.missionarycare.com/brochures/ss_stress.htm