Missionary Skills for the Common Man

In 1982, I uprooted my family and headed overseas to Japan to serve as a missionary. As with every profession, there are skills that a person must master in order to be effective doing this kind of work. One of the primary skill sets that a missionary must master is how to operate in a cultural environment that is not one’s own. Probably the first thing that most people think of in this regard relates to learning a new language. As important as that is, it is not the most important thing. There are actually some other issues that are even more foundational.

Of course, you cannot ignore the physical environment, but this tends to be the easiest to work with because it is tangible. You can actually see how customs are expressed and hear the language spoken. You can learn these skills by studying and interacting with people in daily life.

But there is another set of cultural abilities that a missionary must master which relates to interacting with the belief systems of the culture. This part is a little more difficult because you actually have to learn to think in a way that is different than your own. But here, too, there are skills which will help the process along. These skills relate to understanding worldview.

Just to give some basic background, worldview is the set of assumptions that people have about the nature of reality. On the surface this may seem a bit esoteric and philosophical, but in actual fact it has some very practical implications. It relates specifically to what people believe about God, the material world, mankind, the afterlife, knowledge, morality, and human history. By learning this information, a missionary is able to relate to people at the very deepest level of understanding. This allows a missionary to express the gospel message in a way that matches up with the way those in the other culture think.

In times past, it was almost exclusively missionaries planning to go overseas who needed these worldview skills. The people in one’s own country were generally rather homogenous with only isolated pockets of folks from other places. But the world is a different place now. With the advent of modern transportation and communication technologies, the world has literally come to us. In our modern era, every Christian needs to master the missionary skills. Almost everyone, now, interacts with people who have different belief systems than their own.

As you consider this, be careful not to take it too narrowly. This does not relate only to people who have come from other countries, though that is certainly one aspect of the issue. In modern times, even within our own culture, there are more and more people who have adopted different religions and philosophies than what existed in the past. Just look around and you will find home grown Muslims, Moonies, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, Secular Humanists, New Agers, Wiccans, and a whole host of others. If we want to be effective in giving a valid witness to these people, we must master the missionary skills.

Before we look specifically at the skills, though, let’s consider three basic principles that all of this is founded upon.
1. Every belief system has a faith foundation. As much as some would like to claim an empirical base, that is simply not true.
2. Every worldview has some authority it appeals to for its legitimacy. Some are stronger than others, but there is something that is looked to as the thing that makes it legitimate.
3. Every source of authority depends on some kind of evidence for its validation. Some will be good and some very weak, but something exists as evidence.

Missionary Skills for Understanding Belief Systems.
Now let’s look at the various skills themselves and see how this can apply to our own Christian witness.

Skill 1 - Determine The Worldview Category
There are only four basic worldviews, and every belief system is somehow based on those four. The four categories are Naturalism, Animism, Far Eastern Thought and Theism. To get at this, one must ask specific questions in order to find out what individuals believe about God, the material world, mankind, the afterlife, knowledge, morality, and human history.

Skill 2 - Determine the Foundational Authority
As mentioned above, every belief system relies on something to back up its beliefs. There are four possibilities - scripture, tradition, human reason and experience. It is important to find this out so that you can evaluate whether or not there is any validity to the beliefs.

Skill 3 - Determine the Evidence for the Authority
Various belief systems have their origin in different places. Some were started as an attempt to gain power or make money. Others were begun by people who were delusional. Others still were started by sincere people who simply got it wrong. If we want to figure out Truth, we have to find evidence which will show us whether or not the authority has any credibility.

If the authority is some form of scripture, we need to determine whether or not it is historically accurate, if its characters are believable, and if the teachings about God and reality match up with human experience? If the authority is tradition, we need to know if the mythology matches up with history and human experience, and whether or not the world seems to operate the way the tradition expresses it? If the authority is human reason, we need to pinpoint how a person can be sure that his or her approach is right and all others are wrong, and determine how it accounts for the things that can’t be explained based on the belief system itself? Finally, if the authority is experience, it must be shown how its adherents can know that their experience is right and contradictory experiences are wrong? Ultimately, everyone must admit that their viewpoint is built on faith. The evidence will determine whether or not the faith is reasonable.

Skill 4 - Evaluate the Belief System Based on the Evidence
At this point a person must be brutally honest. It is very difficult to look at one’s own beliefs and acknowledge that it is not right. Most people would rather live with the internal contradictions than to change.

To make the evaluation, there are four questions that need to be asked.
1. Does the belief system account for the possibility all aspects of reality - material and spiritual?
2. Is the belief system consistent with how the real world operates?
3. Is the belief system consistent with itself?
4. Is the belief system historically accurate?

Applying the Skills to Real Life

When you are dealing with peoples lives and belief systems, you cannot expect that you will be able to convince them that they are wrong simply by doing an evaluation and demonstrating inconsistencies. Beliefs are tightly held, even if they can be shown to be wrong or inconsistent. It is, of course, essential to hold out the truth without compromise, but the intellectual element alone will not convince anyone. There is a personal aspect of belief that must also be addressed. Without that, you will not even get a hearing.

Here is what I mean. A person’s beliefs are an integral part of their core identity. They must first be willing to trust you before they will even talk with you about it. Of course there are rare exceptions, but generally you will have to develop a personal relationship with someone before they will be willing to open up with you about these matters.

At that point you can begin to take the information you have learned and talk about God and salvation in a way that makes sense to them. With the relationship in place, you can also continue to engage them over a long enough period of time for your message to start sinking in and making sense.

Contrary to popular belief, it is very rare for someone to accept a new belief system the first time they hear it. When you are trying to share something that requires an entirely different way of thinking and processing information, it can take months or even years. But if you will do your due diligence to learn how to deal with beliefs beginning with the worldview foundation, and develop genuine and long term relationships, then you will be able to use your missionary skills to fulfill the purpose God has for your life.
© 2006 Freddy Davis

Article Source: http://www.christiannotepad.com

Freddy Davis is the Executive Director of MarketFaith Ministries; an equipping ministry designed to help Christians become more effective in their faith life using worldview principles. Free worldview resources and contact information for MarketFaith Ministries can be found at www.marketfaith.org. Also, feel free to sign up for our free e-zine, Worldview Made Practical.