Missionary Training

2009-03-04T01:19:00.003-06:00

This is NOT a telephone conversation

2006-05-12T15:04:00.000-05:00

Ministry in another culture often gives us insight into who we are and our own relationships. Recently a friend and I were talking about phone calls. I said that I really don't like them, I would much rather meet face-to-face. He told me of a common saying he picked up in another culture where he was working as a missionary. They would say to him, “This isn’t a telephone conversation!” meaning, of course; “this is important, it isn’t the type of thing we would discuss on the phone, it demands your attention.” I like that.

The lack of visual and contextual cues does in fact limit a sense of the intimacy--and therefore importance of a conversation. If I can see your face, feel you there with me, then the conversation takes on, at least for me, a more “real” dimension. I feel more satisfied, more certain of the outcome. As I have been using instant messenger a lot to talk with BCOM students out on Global Internship around the world, I have noticed that I tend to put an image of their face in my mind, and then I try to imagine their reaction as they see my words and write theirs. When they use an emoticon of some sort, I try to picture them using the same emotion. I want that personal touch!

It really is much the same when we pray. Prayer—our communication with God, is also an intimate and face-to-face issue. I imagine that many of my prayers in the past have been more like a text message on a cell phone; type it in as few words as possible, choose "God" from your contact list and hit send, then go back to your "real" work. The reality is that my communication with God is like all my other communication, I get the greatest satisfaction out of it when I put the most into it, when I give Him time, when I stop long enough to see His face (a concept which screams for further explanation, perhaps another time), when I let Him talk, when I expect Him in fact to answer, and when I am very aware of His presence.

So, slowly, over time, I am learning what I wished I had learned before I myself went out as a missionary, and what I want this generation of missionaries-in-training to know and understand. Prayer, our communication with God, isn’t a telephone conversation. It isn’t an online chat or a series of text messages. It is and should be far more—an intimate engagement with a God who wants me in His presence more than I am yet able to desire, who patiently, lovingly draws me toward Himself. It demands that I set aside time, not just minutes here and there, but significant pieces of time, in order to meet Him, to be with Him long enough to hear His voice, to know His presence, and to be confident in His words. We don't just need a message from Him...we need Him.

“My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, LORD, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger” Ps 27: 8-9 (TNIV©.)

Responding to love, not duty

2005-09-29T17:49:00.000-05:00

On June 5, 2005, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an article of interviews with local high-school students responding to questions about their willingness to serve if called up by a draft (“What’s a justified war? Some ideas.”). In several of the responses there was a sense of patriotism, of doing what is right, responding to duty. Still, the bigger discussion was centered on the need to see the war as a “just” war. Such a distinction is not unreasonable. The early patriots of this nation were not inspired to rise up against colonial rule out of duty or doing what is right. They were moved by a vision of a better future and by a belief that the freedom they were fighting for was worth dying for.

I don’t think we approach missions much differently. I am surprised still by all of the appeals to missionary activity that point to obligation and duty. Certainly the Great Commission is well spelled out for us, and certainly, the Church must respond, but there is so little motivation in being a missionary if it is out of duty. It gives a lot of wiggle-room as well. After all, not everyone can go, and while the Church must obey, there must be others already going, and I might be better off here….

There is a deeper response, one that I think God is really looking for here. It is getting a picture of God’s love, of His compassion for the peoples of the world. It is only in the motivation of love that missionary activity makes any sense at all. Without it we are simply a social movement bent on promoting an agenda. With love we are engaging the heart of God, his amazing, passionate, unending love for us, and motivated by that same love to get out into the world and make sure others get it.

Missions is not a duty or a responsibility of the church. It is an act of love.

beginning thoughts

2005-09-19T14:13:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new blog focusing on missionary training. I have been involved in preparing people for life and service as cross-cultural missionaries for over 10 years. Currently, I am on sabbatical from my position in Bethany College of Missions, taking focused studies for the purpose of refocusing the efforts of that school to better meet the changing demands facing missionaries today.

I hope to log some of my thoughts on training here as I study. Hopefully I can keep this up along with my studies.

About me:
Paul Hartford, 47, married to Theresa, three daughters a grandson and a granddaughter, missionary to the Philippines for 10 years and director of Bethany College of Missions http://www.bcom.org for 10 years.