18 January 2023

Equipping twenty-first century missionaries for cross-cultural ministry

African and Western realities and perspectives

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of cross-cultural training of both Western Christians who are called to serve as missionaries in Africa and African reverse missionaries who come to Europe and other parts of the world to be involved in evangelistic outreach and church planting. While the value of cross-cultural training for missionaries is widely recognised, both groups tend to demonstrate deficiencies in their cultural intelligence (CQ) which negatively impacts their missionary efforts. This, however, need not be the case. There are various ways in which cross-cultural missionaries can acquire and develop cultural intelligence to become more effective ambassadors of Christ. A solid foundation for mission work abroad is usually laid at home through active involvement in the local church and cross-cultural ministries. Building on that foundation, future missionaries can further increase their cross-cultural competence through short-term mission trips, missionary apprenticeships or formal training at a mission college, preferably outside their home country or in a multicultural and interdenominational setting. Having arrived in their country of service in Africa or Europe, a period of on-field orientation and, at a later stage, participation in continuing education programmes should complement their training.

I. Introduction

While the need for and value of cross-cultural and theological training for missionaries is widely recognised in the church and mission circles,^[1] in practice, many Western missionaries today go out ill-equipped for their ministries. John Plake writes that from his personal experience missionaries are aware of their deficiencies and struggle with the consequences:

During almost nine years of missionary service, I frequently encountered colleagues who were frustrated by the complexities of cross-cultural ministry. Most missionaries expressed confidence in their divine calling and in God’s ability to help them; however, they managed the stresses of their work with varying levels of success. Many confided both a suspicion that they were not adequately prepared for their work and a desire to understand how they could respond appropriately and intelligently to the cultural dynamics of their situations.^[2]

There are many reasons why missionaries drop out and return home earlier than intended, but inadequate cross-cultural training together with language problems and poor cultural adaptation have been identified as some of the main causes for missionary attrition today.^[3]

Interestingly, deficiencies in cross-cultural competence cannot only be observed among contemporary Western missionaries who serve on the African continent, but also among Africans who are increasingly involved in reverse mission work in Europe and other places outside Africa today. Anderson Moyo, for example, researched the work of Zimbabwean church planters in the English city of Sheffield. He found that the majority of these African missionaries had planted homogenous black churches in overwhelmingly white communities. In other words, their missionary work was not contextually relevant for the majority population. Moyo concludes: “It is apparent from the findings of this study that Zimbabwean reverse missionaries need contextual theological and diasporic cross-cultural training to equip them to minister effectively in culturally diverse environments like Britain.”^[4] The investigation of Valerie Nkechi Taiwo into ‘key cultural competency skills’ among British church leaders resulted in similar findings.^[5] As part of her studies, she interviewed 100 black Nigerian and white British leaders of Pentecostal churches in eight English counties. Taiwo reports:

None of the African leaders had had cultural-competency training for a multicultural British society. One had received cross-cultural mission training from white British missionaries while living in rural Northern Nigeria. All the leaders had a good cultural self-identity but they underestimated the influence of the multicultural mix in their churches.^[6]

Without meaningful cross-cultural training and increased levels of cross-cultural competence, African missionaries might continue to successfully establish and grow African congregations in Europe; but they will also continue to struggle in their efforts to reach out to the indigenous European population. Likewise, ill-equipped Western missionaries might make the same or similar cross-cultural mistakes that damaged the ministries of some of their forebearers who served on the African continent in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. The mistakes made by some of these pioneers included paternalism: neglecting to develop an indigenous church leadership and imposing Western culture and theology upon the indigenous African population.

II. Ways Of Equipping African And Western Missionaries

According to Robert Brynjolfson, “there is no greater challenge in ministry preparation than preparing a person to serve cross-culturally.”^[7] If that is the case, we must ask the question, what is the best way to equip those who are called to serve as cross-cultural missionaries in the 21^st century? How can they best learn to contextualise themselves and the Christian gospel effectively? The answer to these questions is that there are a variety of ways that can help future missionaries to prepare for cross-cultural gospel work, whether they are Westerners called to serve in the majority world or Africans called to be involved in God’s mission outside Africa.

Key in equipping cross-cultural missionaries is the development of cross-cultural competence or, to use another phrase, cultural intelligence (CQ). David Livermore defines CQ as “both a measurement and a coherent framework for enhancing our ability to cross the chasm of cultural difference effectively, lovingly and respectfully.”^[8] According to Livermore, cultural intelligence consists of four factors or dimensions which are interrelated.^[9] It measures (a) how far people comprehend cross-cultural issues and differences (knowledge CQ), (b) to what extent people are aware of what is going on as they interact in a different cultural context (interpretive CQ), (c) the degree to which people are interested, driven and motivated to adjust cross-culturally (perseverance CQ), and (d) people’s ability to change their verbal and nonverbal actions as they interact with those from the other culture (behavioural CQ).

David Thomas and Kerr Inkson point out that developing one’s CQ requires learning that is experience-based and takes considerable time and effort.^[10] They explain:

Improving CQ by learning from social experience means paying attention to, and appreciating, critical cultural differences between oneself and others. This requires knowledge about how cultures differ and how culture affects behavior, awareness of cultural cues, and openness to the legitimacy and importance of different behaviour. To retain this knowledge, we must transfer our learning from the specific experience to later interactions in other settings. To reproduce the skills, we need to practice them in future interactions. To reinforce the skills, we need to try out behaviors frequently and mindfully.^[11]

Since gaining cultural intelligence is a long-term process, motivation is critical.^[12] For missionaries, this learning process usually begins in their local home church and/or a Christian para-church organisation.

1. The strategic role of the local church

The initial preparation for any cross-cultural ministry (whether abroad or in one’s own country) usually takes place in the context of a local church or para-church organisation, or as Samuel Escobar writes: “The preparation of persons for mission is provided by life experience long before college, university, or mission school offers them information through a curriculum.”^[13] He continues: “The zeal, the vision, and the basic qualities of character that are the ‘raw material’ of which missionaries are made, are fostered at home, in churches, and in para-churches.”^[14] People who are actively involved in their local church as preachers, house-group leaders, Sunday school teachers, to name just a few ministries, tend to have a better understanding of the nature of Christian ministry. They have the first-hand experience of the joys and pains that come with it. Ministry involvement in their local church gives them the chance not only to discover and use their gifts but also to understand their limitations and the limitations of others. It allows them to exercise leadership and to learn from it. It also teaches them that submission is part of the Christian life and ministry. People who struggle with the biblical concept of submission will hardly make good missionaries, or as Ray Porter and Keith Walker note:

[M]issonaries need to be gospel people and church people. A test of whether they are is their willingness to allow their home church to hold them accountable. Tempting though it may be, wise churches won’t send the awkward rebellious ones, but the best ones, the most submissive and loyal.^[15]

In other words, active ministry involvement in the home church helps future missionaries to grow in servanthood and to demonstrate that they are fit for missionary service. Rodolfo Girón writes: “The best missionaries are those who have proven in their home culture that they can minister in a relevant way to other people. Experience provides the kind of informal education that forms more of the good habits and skills that missionaries need.”^[16] For those who feel that they are called to plant churches in another country, for example, this means that they should seek to get involved in a church planting project in their own country first, or as Steve Hoke and Bill Taylor put it:

The most relevant preparation for church planting in another culture is significant participation and responsibility on a team establishing Christian community or planting a church at home. Starting evangelistic Bible studies, creating cell groups, raising up leaders from the harvest and discipling new believers to the second and third generation are critical church planting skills.^[17]

Practical ministry experience at home is an essential precondition for any missionary service abroad. The more experience the better. This is also the expectation that many African church leaders have of foreign missionaries. African leaders would like their Western and Asian partners to send their best people. From their point of view what counts is quality and not quantity. Having interviewed East African church leaders and theology students, F. Lionel Young concludes that a new type of missionary is needed for Africa: practitioners with an extensive ministry track record who are willing and able to share their experience with their fellow African believers. Young writes:

Almost without exception, the students and leaders I talked with, commended the missionaries for their work in bringing the Gospel to Africa, while condemning the same missionaries for their failures in numerous areas, including the lack of preparation they gave to nationals for the ecclesiastical leadership responsibilities that they were eventually (and often reluctantly) given. Yet nearly everyone I interviewed expressed a strong desire to have some type of missionary presence, while arguing that a new breed of missionaries is needed to help Africa to face its complex social problems. Those interviewed repeated the call for trained and seasoned persons with significant ministry experience to be sent as missionaries; they should be “experienced”, “educated,” and have “proven leadership ability,” coupled with a desire to show others how to serve the church effectively. In other words, African leaders and students want accomplished people who are willing to leave position and status, if necessary, to help them provide better leadership for their church.^[18]

a) Motives and motivation

When Christians want to become missionaries in a faraway country but have not served in their local church (or in a church plant or parachurch organisation respectively), one has to question their motives and their comprehension of the realities of missionary work. The same is true for those who see missionary service abroad as a chance to escape from difficult situations at home. The problem with such a form of escapism is that they will either not leave their difficulties behind but will take them with them onto the mission field, or find the same kind of ‘difficulties’ there. It is worth quoting in full what Gailyn Van Rheenen writes about such a wrong motive:

Some view missionary work as an escape from conservative or lukewarm churches within their own country or from a culture that they consider less than perfect. Their dissatisfaction with the church in their home country prompts them to leave behind a disappointing situation with plans to establish a “perfect” Christian movement in some other area of the world […] Rejecting one’s culture and church situation is both highly idealistic and selfish. Most likely the problems one is escaping will reappear in the new culture, since propensities for nominalism and sin are universal. And no missionary can, in reality, escape the culture that has had a significant molding influence on his life.^[19]

Western missionaries need to have their motives tested and a good place to do that is their local church. The same applies to African Christians who feel called to be involved in God’s mission outside Africa. To aspire to a better life in Europe is an understandable desire, but it should never be the driving force for starting a church in Paris, London, Madrid or Berlin. Such an approach can easily result in disappointment and frustration. Experience shows that most African missionaries face enormous social and economic challenges in Western societies. Writing from a Dutch perspective Stefan Paas observes:

Most members of African churches, including many pastors, work in jobs at the lowest end of the job market. Most also live in lower classes neighbourhoods. Socio-economic issues like income, housing, visas, work permits, medical care, and so on, are often the most pressing ones for them.^[20]

Depending on the context, African missionaries might encounter ethnocentric attitudes and behaviour, sometimes in subtle ways, at other times more openly. Another source of disappointment can be the relationship with local Christians. African missionaries come from societies in which status plays an important role. Back home, pastors are often respected community leaders. However, serving in European countries their experience is often very different. From an African perspective, there seems to be little respect for leaders in general and church leaders in particular. In many European societies, there is a bewildering informality and a general dislike for status symbols. In addition, African missionaries often find themselves in situations where local European church leaders show very little interest in them and their ministries. All this can have a demotivating impact on them. For example, Paas notes “Africans […] often feel deeply disappointed by the perceived lack of cooperation on the part of Dutch Christians in finding suitable worship space, or in their unwillingness to rent [out] their own buildings to African congregations.”^[21] In situations like that, African missionaries need to have the right motivation if they want to persevere.

The right motivation is crucial for any work, but especially for cross-cultural mission. It increases the perseverance CQ of missionaries, or as Livermore puts it: “Effective perseverance CQ requires knowing what keeps us going and what slows us down. Cultural intelligence relies on understanding what motivates and drives us, and equally important is knowing what drains and depletes our energy.”^[22] In that respect, pre-field local church or para-church ministry in one’s home country is a good training ground for future missionaries. It provides them with opportunities to reflect on their motivation for Christian ministry and, if necessary, to re-think and change it.

But what is it that keeps missionaries going when the going gets tough? In his book Learning About Mission: Mission Matters John Brand argues that there are two outstanding biblical motives for missionary service: a passion for God and a passion for people.^[23] ‘No Christian’, writes Brand, ‘will ever be truly effective as a missionary unless he has a genuine love and concern for those he seeks to serve.’^[24] At the heart of this passion for people lies the biblical truth that anyone who lives and dies without Christ is lost for eternity.^[25] While a passion for lost people is a crucial motive for mission, it is not necessarily the highest one.^[26] Missionaries also need to have a passion and enthusiasm for God and his glory. They ‘need to become jealous for his glory, even as God is jealous for his own glory.’^[27] In contrast to Brand, Van Rheenen argues there are three primary motives of mission: God’s love and compassion, his sovereignty over time and the thankfulness of Christians toward God that lead them to devote their lives to doing his will.^[28] However, like Brand, Van Rheenen emphasises the centrality of love. Since love is God’s outstanding attribute, he argues, it is this very attribute that becomes the main motivation for mission. Van Rheenen writes: ‘Just as love compelled God to reconcile sinners to himself, his love propels Christians to minister to those broken by sin, alienated from him, and living without hope in the world.’^[29]

Interestingly, this is exactly what motivates many African missionaries who serve in the West today. While there is an increasing number of Western missionaries who come to Africa to save people from poor living conditions or to empower them to fight for their rights and free themselves from unjust structures, African missionaries are first and foremost motivated by the spiritual need in Europe. Their main motivation is to help Europeans to be reconciled to God, or as Gerri ter Haar observes:

Many of the tens of thousands of African Christians who live in Europe regard Western society as a place where people have abandoned God. In their view, Europe is a spiritual wasteland that can be made fertile again with the help from Africa. Just as European missionaries once believed in their divine task of bringing the gospel to Africa, African church leaders in Europe are convinced of their mission to bring the gospel back to those who originally provided them with it. For many African Christians, therefore, migration to Europe is not seen just as an economic necessity, but as a God-given opportunity to evangelize among those whom they believe have gone astray.^[30]

b) Spiritual maturity

As important as it is for missionaries to be driven by love and compassion, this motivation alone will not help them to persevere in challenging times. Something else is needed, as the words of Andrew Murray remind us. Over a hundred years ago Murray wrote, “Closely connected to missionary motivation is the deepening of spiritual life.”^[31] Murray identified “a weak, superficial spiritual life” as the main reason why so many Christians of his time failed to care, give, pray and live for the missionary task.^[32] One does not have to agree with all aspects of Murray’s view of mission to acknowledge that spiritual maturity is crucial for the Christian missionary endeavour. Can one reasonably expect spiritual immaturity to stand in the face of disheartening set-backs? Stephen Davis, a former church planter who worked in France and Romania, goes so far as to say that spiritual maturity is the key requirement:

Churches should encourage excellence in training with an emphasis on spiritual maturity […] Training must be purposeful in identifying qualities and abilities necessary for spiritual growth and fruitful ministry. Evaluation for ministry must look beyond gifts and skills and place a greater priority on spiritual maturity. We must avoid the mindset that training alone will provide all we need for effective ministry apart from personal spiritual growth in our walk with the Lord. We serve with the conviction that missionary work is ultimately a work of God.^[33]

Spiritually mature missionaries are people who increasingly demonstrate the fruit of the Holy Spirit as the apostle Paul has described it in his letter to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”^[34] They know, as Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, that suffering helps them to grow in their faith.^[35] Similarly, the apostle Peter reminds us of both the foundation of spiritual maturity and the path that leads to it.^[36] He writes:

For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance godliness; and to godliness mutual affection; and to mutual affection love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.^[37]

Spiritual maturity of this kind has certainly a positive impact on the perseverance CQ of missionaries. Thus, spiritually mature missionaries are patient with themselves and others. They do not give up when their language learning does not progress the way they wish it would or when doors to promising ministry opportunities are suddenly closed. Importantly, spiritually mature missionaries are not only aware that suffering is part of the Christian life and that God can use the weakness of believers to show his strength, but that is also exactly what they have experienced. Mature missionaries know that the strength they need does not come from within themselves but that it is God who, through his Holy Spirit and the inspired Scriptures, strengthens them spiritually. They know that God is with them and enables them to do what he has called them to do, as Paul describes it in his letter to the Colossians when he writes: “To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”^[38]

Ideally, it is in the context of a local church that future missionaries are discipled and the foundation for spiritual growth and maturity is laid. As part of this process, they are grounded in the Scriptures and the Christian tradition; they learn to have an active prayer life and develop the character traits and routines needed to be enduring, effective ambassadors of Christ. What William Willimon writes about church ministers also applies to cross-cultural missionaries:

Ministry is difficult. Therefore the great challenge of ministry is to be the sort of characters who can sustain the practices and virtues of ministry for a life time. What we require is some means of keeping at ministry – preparing and delivering sermons, visiting the sick, counseling the troubled, teaching the ignorant, rebuking the proud – even when we don’t feel like it, even when it does not personally please us to do so.^[39]

Willimon argues, paradoxically, it is the church that helps ministers to persevere amid the manifold demands of church ministry.^[40] It is the rhythm and cycle of corporate worship and prayer, the study of the Bible in preparation for preaching and teaching and prescribed times of rest which form their character and empower them to keep going.^[41] This is an important lesson that African and Western churches can teach their future cross-cultural missionaries.

c) Missionary call

Finally, it is the local church that not only provides future missionaries with opportunities for service and spiritual growth but also helps them to explore cross-cultural mission work. Davis argues that local churches need to play a pro-active role in this process. He notes:

The local church must be invested in training prospective missionaries through involvement in various ministries and growth in godliness that is evident to others. Rather than waiting for volunteers, churches should take the initiative to find and encourage those with required gifts who have proven themselves in ministry.^[42]

The role of the local church must not be underestimated. Ultimately, it is the church that confirms the call of missionaries, sends them out and holds them accountable. This is the model that we find in the early New Testament church. In Acts 13:2-3 Luke gives an account of the call and commissioning of Saul and Barnabas as the first missionaries of the Antiochene church, while in 14:27 we read how the two reported on their missionary journey to the church at their return. Both the confirmation of a missionary call through the church and accountability to the church is essential. There are too many self-appointed lone ranger African and Western missionaries who not only find it difficult to work with one another but also can be disruptive to the ministries of other missionaries and local Christians.^[43] Hale notes: “If your call has not been confirmed by at least one mature Christian, you should put it on hold until it has been. There is no place for totally independent missionaries.”^[44]

2. Pre-field involvement in cross-cultural ministry

Another helpful way of preparing for cross-cultural ministry overseas can be some form of prior cross-cultural ministry involvement at home. Experience shows that Western Christians who are involved in international student or refugee ministries or have attended an African or Asian ethnic minority church or an international church fellowship in their home country are usually better equipped to serve abroad than those who have no, or only superficial, experience with both Christians and non-Christians from other cultures.^[45]

In our globalised world there tends to be an increasing number of cross-cultural ministry opportunities on our doorstep, especially in the West. With the North American context in mind, A. Scott Moreau, Gary Corvin and Gary McGee write:

[A] prospective missionary should not neglect the fact immigration in North America has brought the world to our door. Field experience among numerous people groups might involve only some investigative work and a short drive. Are you going to minister in a Muslim setting? Look around in your local community to see if there are Muslims with whom you can begin your preparation where you live – some perhaps even from the same country or people group you are interested in. If you start a ministry here, where those you reach are more likely to understand Americans, they can help you learn cultural and communication issues before you leave. The same is true for almost any group you choose, and more so if you live near just about any major city in North America.^[46]

From their interaction with foreigners or national ethnic minorities, future missionaries also gain a better understanding of what it means to live in a dominant culture that is different from their own. Furthermore, it helps them to understand the global character of the church and to experience God in a new way. Harvey Kwiyani, who lectures in African theology in the UK, argues that Christian migrants from the majority world are a divine gift to Western Christianity.^[47] Their presence in the West, he writes, “makes cross-cultural exposure possible without the need to travel from one continent to another.”^[48] Kwiyani points out that Christian migrants bring with them theologies that are different from traditional Western theologies. He notes:

All in all, the non-western Christian presence in the West brings Western theologies that informed most of Christianity in the past two millennia into contact with foreign theologies from contexts that have had Christianity for roughly two centuries. Western theologies are thus forced to interact with the many non-Western theologies in their own backyard.^[49]

Consequently, Westerners who feel called to serve in Africa have a unique opportunity to engage with African theological thinking and spirituality and to reflect critically on their theological traditions before they leave to serve in that continent. Attendance at an African church where they can interact with African theologies and worldviews, will help them to develop their knowledge CQ. It will help them to understand, for example, why the third person of the Trinity plays such an important role in the life of African Christians or why, in some African Christologies, Jesus is presented as healer or ancestor.

African church planters might have to find other ways of learning more about the foreign culture in which they plan to work. If their destination is the UK, France or Germany the international cultural agencies of these countries, i.e. the British Council, the Institut Français and the Goethe Institut, can be helpful points of contact. Cultural institutes like these not only offer language courses but also promote a wider knowledge of their home countries. They allow African missionaries to learn more about Western socio-political views, customs and values. Other sources of learning are Western expatriates and missionaries. The latter in particular can share their understanding of European or American church life and the challenges Christians are facing in their home countries.

As important as such initial cross-cultural contacts are, not all of these contacts are enough to develop profound cross-cultural competence (or cultural intelligence).^[50] As Darla Deardorff points out, more is needed than mere contact with people from other cultures to gain such competence. Building authentic relationships that are characterised by respect and trust plays a central role in the cultural learning process.^[51] Deardorff continues:

Research has shown that adequate preparation is necessary to learners’ intercultural competence development, especially prior to intercultural experiences such as an international work assignment or education abroad. Intercultural competence doesn’t just happen; if it did, there would be far fewer cross-cultural misunderstandings. Rather, we must be intentional about developing learners’ intercultural competence.^[52]

This invites the question, what other options do future missionaries have to develop their cultural intelligence in general and their interpretative and behavioural CQ in particular? Short-term mission trips and other forms of formal missionary training listed below provide part of the answer to that question.

3. Short-term mission trips

Many scholars emphasise the importance of experiencing foreign cultures for the development of cultural intelligence. Thomas and Inkson, for example, write: “Perhaps the most important means of increasing cultural intelligence is spending time in foreign countries, in which cross-cultural experiences will be frequent and CQ will increase through necessity.”^[53] For future long-term missionaries, one way of having such experiences of foreign cultures is through short-time mission trips. There are many definitions of short-term when it comes to mission trips.^[54] While in the past any assignments up to two years qualified as short-term, today short-term is measured in weeks and months rather than years.

Short-term mission trips have been very popular in Europe and North America for the last two decades.^[55] Writing from an American perspective, Laurie Occipinti argues that “[s]hort term missions have become a part of the fabric of our contemporary religious and social landscape.”^[56] Christians see short-term mission trips as an opportunity to do something meaningful in a way that does not seem possible in their daily lives.^[57] Participants of short-term mission trips, Occipinti believes, “want the work they do and the sacrifices they make to be effective, to make a genuine difference, and to create the change they envision.”^[58]

While recognising this motivation, for many mission organisations short-term trips serve additional purposes. Mission organisations organise short-term trips to raise awareness for their global work, to strengthen relations with existing supporters, to win new supporters and to give potential long-term missionaries first-hand mission experience. In particular, the function of short-term missions as a taster for would-be missionaries (“short-term before long-term”) should not be underestimated.^[59] Evelyn Hibbert, Richard Hibbert and Tim Silberman note: “Being exposed to the world and its needs is an important step in many people’s journey to becoming long-term missionaries. A key way of bringing this exposure is to provide short-term mission trips overseas.”^[60] But can short-term mission trips help to increase people’s CQ and contribute to the preparation of future long-term cross-cultural workers, as some authors suggest?^[61]

While David Livermore agrees that overseas experience is essential for developing cultural intelligence, he is highly critical of study-abroad tours or short-term mission trips, where groups of people of the same cultural background travel together.^[62] “Such trips”, Livermore writes, “usually lead us to process the experience with people like ourselves rather than with the Other.”^[63] Instead, people should travel on their own or together with some significant others and make use of cultural guides, Livermore recommends. Having studied the thinking and behaviour among American participants of short-term mission trips, Livermore formulates four additional points of criticism. Firstly, he argues that mission trips do not have a lasting impact on the paternalistic and ethnocentric attitude of short-term missionaries: “The study indicated participants’ ethnocentrism was found to be significantly lower at the end of the trip than it was at the beginning. However, when tested more longitudinally, the lowered ethnocentrism was not sustained.”^[64] Secondly, Livermore’s findings suggest that ethnocentrism is aggravated by the categorical thinking of North American short-term missionaries.^[65] Despite the huge cultural differences that short-term missionaries encountered, they first and foremost talked about the similarities between their own culture and the host culture instead of the differences. This, Livermore points out, is a typical coping mechanism for cross-cultural travellers.^[66] Thirdly, the material poverty which short-term missionaries encounter during their visits tends to dominate their experience. While the levels of poverty can be devastating, short-term missionaries overlook that the people of their host cultures are often rich in other ways.^[67] Livermore states: “In a spirit of mutuality, short-term teams need to learn to give in ways that do not perpetuate the tired power structures of colonialism while also learning to receive from the plenty that exists in the communities they visit.”^[68] Finally, the short-term missionaries are often narrow categorisers who are not aware of the cultural lenses through which they read and interpret the ethical norms found in the Bible.^[69] Livermore explains: “Most subjects missed out on the rich hermeneutical treasure that exists in encountering fellow Christians in other parts of the world, who hold to some similar presuppositions of Jesus’ moral teaching but often interpret its application in very different ways.”^[70]

Research into the impact of short-term mission trips on young Christians by Randall Friesen, however, shows that participants of such trips usually experience growth in their appreciation of the global church, their concern for global issues and their respect for other cultures.^[71] Other studies support these results. Michael Wilder and Shane Parker note: “Studies also indicate that there is often a modification in one’s global perspective. Cultural sensitivity is usually increased and ethnocentrism decreased as a result of the intercultural experience.”^[72] According to Friesen, the length and set up of short-term mission trips are crucial: longer assignments in which participants live with indigenous families and learn the local language, contribute “to deeper and more lasting changes in participants’ beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours.”^[73] In addition, Friesen found that short-term mission participants who are part of a team experience significantly greater growth in these areas than participants who go out on their own. He explains:

Participants who served on teams had an easier time processing their disappointments on their assignments related to the local church, ministry or culture they were experiencing. Participants serving on assignments as individuals learned independence and resilience, but their limited access to settings where they could open up their lives meant that difficulties sometimes resulted in ongoing frustration and unresolved conflict.^[74]

Approximately fifty percent of the young adults who took part in Friesen’s study became more interested in future cross-cultural mission work during the year following their return home.^[75] This is in line with other studies that indicate that participants return from short-term mission trips with a great openness to be actively involved in global mission work.^[76] Friesen’s research, however, also shows that many young Christians experience a significant decline both in their relationship with their home church and in the spiritual disciplines of Bible study and prayer in the year following their return from the mission field.^[77] Friesen concludes that “[d]iscipleship training before and after a short-term mission is critical to the overall impact of the mission experience.”^[78] Friesen’s conclusion is supported by Tim Dearborn who writes that the long-term impact on short-termers’ lives depends on the quality of their debriefing and the integration of their experience into their lives.^[79] Similarly, Terry Linhart, who studied a student group that went on a short-term mission trip, notes: “[W]ithout extending careful support and feedback post-trip, the seeds of mission and service planted in the students’ lives during a short-term trip may never mature.”^[80] Brian Howell suggests a series of follow-up meetings that help participants to review what they have learned, how the mission trip has affected them and how it has changed their thinking and behaviour.^[81] To prepare them before they go out he recommends, if possible, inviting a person from the country the group is going to visit.^[82] This person, Howell argues, could bring his or her perspective on the country, its culture and history. He continues:

If the group could do a bit of reading and prepare questions, that would help engage a visitor, but at the very least it would open up ways of speaking about what is happening in the country (politically, spiritually, economically) in ways that are both personal and relevant.^[83]

Finally, ministry placements for short-termers need to be chosen wisely – not only for their own sake but also for the sake of local people. Placements should not demand too much of short-termers. Expectations that short-termers cannot meet can easily result in frustrations and a sense of failure and learned helplessness. At the same time, it can be a frustrating experience for young Africans to see that eighteen or nineteen-year-old Europeans or Australians are placed to teach in local schools while they, though having graduated with a teaching degree from a university, cannot find any employment in this area due to economic crisis and budgetary cuts. The same applies to African Bible college or seminary graduates who are told that a group of high school graduates from Korea or the US has come to their church to teach them how to reach out to African children and teenagers.

To sum up, one can say that short-term mission trips have the potential to help future missionaries to develop their cultural intelligence provided that the set-up is right. Short-termers need to be given enough opportunities to learn language and culture. “[L]anguage and culture are much more than a prerequisite to ministry; it is the first step and a solid foundation for almost any ministry one can envision. Such learning establishes rapport, builds relationships, and communicates the respect that opens up multiple doors of opportunity.”^[84] In addition, participants in short-term mission trips need appropriate support before and after the trip if their experience is to have a lasting positive effect on their lives and mission involvement.

At this point, it has to be said that, in general, global short-term mission trips are something for materially privileged Christians from Europe, North America or parts of Asia. For most Africans, such trips are simply not affordable. This does not mean that African Christians cannot go on short-term mission trips at all. Travelling to another part of one’s home country or across the border to a neighbouring country and serving another African people group can be a very enriching experience. This is true for a Namibian church choir that helps to erect a church building across the border in rural Angola, or for a group of Bible college students from South Africa who run a children’s holiday club together with a church in Botswana.

Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought not only tourism to a standstill in many countries but also short-term mission trips. At this point in time, it is difficult to say what short-term mission will look like after the pandemic. In the meantime, it gives Western and African churches and mission organisations the chance to rethink and, if necessary, reshape the way they want to use short-term mission trips as a means of developing CQ in the future.

4. Missionary apprenticeships

According to Thomas and Inkson, living and working abroad for an extended time provides people with opportunities for intense cross-cultural experiential learning.^[85] Living and working in a foreign culture is an important way of increasing CQ. However, this is not an automatic process. People need to interact with their host culture, have the opportunity to practice mindfulness, and acquire cross-cultural skills. To provide their staff with opportunities to develop their CQ in a foreign context, Thomas and Inkson note that some large companies, “use global experiential programs in which high-potential employees work in multicultural groups to solve problems in developing countries.”^[86]

Some evangelical mission organisations have adopted a similar approach for the training of future missionaries by developing various forms of missionary apprenticeships. Training in Missionary Outreach (TIMO), for example, is a two to three-year programme that has been designed by Africa Inland Mission International (AIM) to equip Christians for long-term ministry in Africa and among the African diaspora in other parts of the world. This is how AIM describe their programme which has a focus on church planting:

TIMO brings teams of 3 to 12 new missionaries into places of engagement with Africa’s unreached people groups. With the guidance of an experienced team leader, and at times, working with the national church partners, each team sets out to learn language and culture as they work through TIMO’s specialized curriculum […] Timo provides practical hands-on training while engaging in real, transformational ministry.^[87]

Such a ‘training-on-the-job’ approach can positively influence the development of CQ, particularly interpretative and behavioural CQ, as trainee missionaries are directly exposed to an African culture where they have to live and serve. Their focus is on learning a new language and cultural norms, building relationships with local people, and finding ways of sharing the good news of Jesus with them. However, for such a programme to be successful it also requires the participants to already possess some degree of cultural intelligence, especially if their team is made up of people of different cultural backgrounds. To work and study in an African context far away from home is challenging, but to do so as part of a multicultural team is even more challenging. The issues that can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts within multi-cultural mission teams are many.^[88] For example, team members might have different communication and leadership styles, hold different views on worship, evangelism and church planting, or differ in their understanding of personal space and time. For this reason, apprenticeship programmes like AIM’s TIMO should not be seen as a substitute for pre-field cross-cultural training. At best they can only complement such training.

5. Formal multi-cultural missionary training

Research among business students shows that cross-cultural management (CMM) courses taught either at undergraduate or postgraduate level have a positive impact on the students’ CQ. Marie-Therese Claes writes the following about the findings of a study she has been involved in:

We found that CQ indeed can be enhanced via training and experience. For, instance, our study showed that CCM courses act as “experience equalizers”, allowing students with less international experience to catch up with their well-traveled peers, thus minimizing the cultural competence gap between the two groups. More important, we found that after students took CCM courses, their overall CQ was higher, particularly in the areas of cognitive and metacognitive CQ.^[89]

These findings remind us, formal education at a theological or missionary training college has a critical place in equipping cross-cultural missionaries. In addition to classical theological subjects like Biblical studies, systematic theology, pastoral ministry and church history, future missionaries need in-depth theoretical and practical training in the area of missiology and intercultural studies to develop their CQ.

Most colleges and schools, whether secular or Christian, provide cross-cultural training that is factual, analytical and experiential. Thomas and Inkson point out that in general the latter tends to be the most effective one, as it provides “[o]pportunities to practice both mindfulness and behaviour skills, and to experience the emotions of cross-cultural interaction.”^[90] In the context of a theological or missionary college, experiential training may take the form of roleplaying, short-term overseas placements, involvement in local cross-cultural mission projects or local ethnic-minority churches. Another important aspect of formal cross-cultural training should be the acquisition and practice of foreign languages. Language learning, as Claes reminds us, can help students to develop their CQ.^[91] She explains: “We know that bilinguals see the world through two different conceptual systems, which enhances their cognitive flexibility, divergent thinking, and creativity.”^[92]

However, as Birgit Herppich’s research into the preparation of missionaries of the Basel Mission in the 19^th century has shown, community-focused missionary training can be problematic if missionary candidates “essentially share commonly agreed theological convictions, norms of ethical behavior, preferences of social organization, values, attitudes, and perceptions of Christian mission.” Herppich explains that such training “aims to preserve and establish the religious and socio-ethical values, emphases, and practices of a particular constituency which potentially prevents the cultural competence (flexibility to adjust and work in other cultural contexts) that should be its aim.”^[93] Consequently, the results of Herppich’s study seem to support those who argue that cross-cultural ministry preparation is more effective when missionary candidates who train together come from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds. Put differently, missionaries who train at an interdenominational and multi-ethnic missionary training institute or training community tend to be better prepared for their task than those who receive their training at institutions with a rather homogenous student and teaching body.

This view is shared by Dietrich Kuhl who writes that “[a] multicultural student body and teaching staff seem to be ideal for cross-cultural missionary training.”^[94] David Tai-Woong Lee who writes about the philosophy of missionary training in the Asian context explains: “Multi-racial groups with multi-racial trainers provide an excellent atmosphere for informal as well as formal learning opportunities for cross-cultural living and ministry.”^[95] Lee continues to argue that global trends in mission demand such a multi-cultural training approach. “More and more Asian missionaries”, he writes, “will have to minister side-by-side with Western missionaries or other non-Western missionaries sent from Asia and other Two-Thirds world sending countries.”^[96] The same point is made by Lianne Roembke, who argues that training in a multi-cultural context is particularly helpful for missionaries who are going to serve in multi-cultural mission teams. She states:

This “reality training” helps the candidates keep uppermost in their mind that they are going to be working with such a conglomerate group, even if the future composition may be different. Learning sensitivity to teammates during training may help eliminate unpleasant surprises later.^[97]

Training that exposes African and Western missionary candidates to different church traditions, worldviews, and cultural norms and values, and experiencing cross-cultural misunderstandings and even conflicts with fellow students and teaching staff, can help them to increase their CQ. The value of culturally mixed groups for cross-cultural training is also recognised by secular training institutions. Claes notes: “Some schools also promote CQ by creating class situations with mixed groups learning alongside one another. These settings make students aware of their own and others’ cultures.”^[98]

Training in a multi-cultural context over a longer period of one or two years teaches future missionaries humility and patience, as well as the importance of mutual trust. In other words, it contributes to their character formation, which, as David Harley notes, is a significant aspect of mission training: “Missionaries must not only preach about the love of God; they must demonstrate the love of God in their lives. They must not just talk about Jesus; they must reflect His character.”^[99]

Finally, in an age in which the centre of gravity of global Christianity has shifted to Africa, Asia and South America, Western missionary candidates should also consider training for ministry in these parts of the world. Studying under African theologians, alongside African students at an African theological seminary can be an invaluable experience for future missionaries. Not only will they learn what pastoral ministry, evangelism or spiritual warfare in an African context mean, they will also get the first-hand experience of the many challenges which their fellow students, their families, churches and communities face. Having received their training not at a prestigious institution in Australia, Europe or North America but a theological college in rural Kenya or urban Nigeria will give them credit with African Christians, as this step communicates humility and a willingness to come to Africa as a learner.

Likewise, African church planters who come to Europe or North America should consider doing some full-time or part-time training at a local theological college (if visa regulations allow them to do so and their financial situation is such that they can afford it). If possible, African missionaries should choose colleges that offer an ethnic and denominational mix among the student body and lecturing staff to benefit most from such training. Attending a black Pentecostal college in the UK might be tempting but could, as Herppich’s studies indicate, be counterproductive. Alternatively, they should consider taking part in short-term seminars and workshops offered by theological colleges and organisations such as the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority Church in the UK that help them to get a better grip of post-Christian Western worldviews, cultures and mission strategies.

6. On-field orientation

Over sixty years ago, Maurice Heusinkveld published an article in the International Review of Mission in which he passionately pleaded for an intensive on-field-orientation for missionaries. Heusinkveld criticised the attitude which saw language learning as “the main final preparation” for cross-cultural workers.^[100] He pointed out that missionaries having completed their language studies were usually appointed to their new ministries without having been assigned a personal tutor or orientated to field problems. This lack of preparation. Heusinkveld wrote, caused a lot of frustration among missionaries. He, therefore, argued for the establishment of new field committees to support new missionaries in the early stage of their ministry. These committees, Heusinkveld suggested, “should be composed of senior missionaries who have made a good field adjustment and are known to have been of real help to others in their orientation period; people with special interest in this field; doctors, nurses, pastors, with training in counselling, psychiatry or pastoral counselling.”^[101]

Today the importance of on-field orientation that goes beyond language study is widely recognised in Western mission circles. The goal of such an orientation is to help missionaries in their cross-cultural adjustment. The latter is defined by Christina Yu-Ping Wang and her co-authors as the ability of expatriates “to fit into the local work and nonwork environment while reducing stress and increasing their effectiveness at work.”^[102] Wang and her fellow researchers contend that there are three aspects of cross-cultural adjustment: work adjustment (adaption to responsibilities), life adjustment (adaption to local food, shopping, banking, etc.), and cultural adjustment (adaption to local values, norms, and ways of communication).

To increase its effectiveness, on-field orientation should not solely rely on other missionaries, as Heusinkveld seems to suggest, but also include local people. Some mission organisations, therefore, require new missionaries to live with local African families or shadow local pastors or bible college lecturers for some time. In addition, on-field orientation should include seminars and discussion forums with local community leaders and experts on relevant socio-political issues such as HIV-Aids, poverty, gender-based violence, ethnocentrism, etc.^[103]

Research into on-field orientation for new missionaries carried out by John Basham demonstrates the importance of involving local people in these programmes. Basham researched how long-term American missionaries perceived the on-field orientation they had received in the East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania and found the following:

Meeting locals within the first few days and beginning a process of understanding them and their culture was viewed as extremely important. Many reported that it was the early relationships with locals within their context that tended to sustain them and keep them going. Some stated that these early local relationships were equally and many times more important than the relationships developed within their missionary family. Learning from locals, learning how to learn from locals and learning the right types of questions to even ask locals was spoken of very highly by the participants.^[104]

The results of Moyo’s research seem to indicate that not many African missionaries who serve in the West have received any meaningful on-field orientation as described above. Moyo found that Zimbabwean missionaries to the UK “have met a myriad of obstacles in their various magnanimous evangelistic attempts among the white population.”^[105] Cultural and social stumbling blocks, he explains, “have weakened the impact of the majority of Zimbabwean diaspora churches, which are still using mission strategies exported from the homeland that lack a cross-cultural appeal in Britain.”^[106]

7. Continuing cross-cultural ministry training

Continuing professional development (CPD) programmes, that aim to enhance people’s knowledge, skills and attitudes can be found in many industries, including the public sector. In the teaching sector, for example, there is a wide range of CPD models that are used today.^[107] These include the training model, the award-bearing model, the deficit model, the standards-based model, the coaching/mentoring model and the community of practice model, to name just a few. Since the development of cross-cultural intelligence is a lifelong process, continuing training in this area is imperative.^[108] In an article entitled ‘Integral Training Today for Cross-cultural Mission’ Darrell Whiteman argues that there is a need to develop CPD programmes for missionaries too. What Whiteman has in mind are forms of training and education that equip missionaries “with ethnographic research skills so that they can continue to learn from and understand the changing culture where they serve.”^[109] He then goes on to explain why such training for serving missionaries is essential: “Without some form of continuing education and training our culture and language learning is likely to plateau and we won’t get to the depths of understanding or linguistic competence that we need.”^[110]

While Whiteman’s call for the continuing education of missionaries is rather general, Evelyn and Richard Hibbert favour a particular model. To nurture reflective mission practitioners they suggest the formation of missiological communities of practice. They write:

In order to learn – to become more competent at their task – members of a missiological community of practice meet together to talk about the enterprise (missions) they are concerned about and engaged in. They help each other solve problems that arise as they go about engaging in missions, and they share information, insights, and advice. They think together about common issues and explore ideas and new ways of doing things. They hone their understanding of their task by generating multiple perspectives on their task and work to reconcile conflicting perspectives. Over time they develop a shared perspective on their specific missions context and a body of shared stories, knowledge, approaches, and practices.^[111]

Hibbert and Hibbert argue that such missionary learning communities have several advantages over other professional development models.^[112] Accordingly, their focus is on practical mission work and collective, holistic learning.^[113] Furthermore, learning communities are very accessible to missionaries, encourage life-long learning and provide contextualised learning experiences.^[114]

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that thanks to video conferencing tools, such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams, meeting others and learning together even over great distances is possible. The Church Mission Society, an agency connected with the Church of England, has introduced missionary communities of practice. Evelyn and Richard Hibbert comment:

The purpose of these communities is to enable missionaries to learn from one another through discussion of issues, problems and their solutions, ideas, lessons learned, and research findings. Members of these communities are expected to share what they learn with others, and it is anticipated that this will “generate innovation and creativity in the practice of mission”.^[115]

III. Limitations Of Cross-Cultural Preparation and Training

While it is essential for Christians who want to serve as cross-cultural missionaries to undergo thorough preparation, practical cross-cultural experience and formal training are no guarantee that they will increase their CQ in all its facets and become effective in their future ministries. Missionaries may have gone through the best training available but are still struggling to relate to the people they have come to serve after years of working on their African or European mission fields. As a result, they decide to give up and return home, ask to be transferred to another country, or just remain in an expatriate mode. As Davis has pointed out there are many factors, such as personality and personal giftedness, which play a role in the development of cross-cultural intelligence.^[116] Thomas and Inkson explain:

Some characteristics that individuals already possess or can develop make them more willing and better able to increase their cultural intelligence. For example, personality traits such as openness to new experience, extroversion, and agreeableness, improve the capacity to acquire the necessary skills. Again, mindfulness is key because, combined with the active pursuit of opportunities for cross-cultural interaction, it lays a foundation for developing greater cultural intelligence.^[117]

Furthermore, cross-cultural training and experience will not keep missionaries from going through times of emotional exhaustion and conflict, but hopefully, their knowledge and previous experience of cultural shock will help them to cope with the challenges presented to them. Neither will formal and informal training prevent missionaries from making mistakes. These mistakes might cause them to feel inadequate at times, but they are part of their learning process. Over time they will make fewer mistakes and feel more secure in their host culture if they exercise patience, kindness, self-control and forgiveness. Finally, having been exposed to other cultures and received cross-cultural training does not mean that missionaries can or should serve anywhere in the world. Missionaries need to accept that depending on their spiritual gifts, talents, health conditions or family situations, they may be more suitable for some ministries and cultural contexts than for others.

IV. Conclusion

Possessing and developing cultural intelligence is essential for both Western missionaries serving in Africa and their African counterparts who work outside their home continent in Europe and other parts of the world. Deficiencies in cross-cultural competence reduce not only their effectivity but also cause frustration and are one of the main reasons why missionaries return home prematurely or end up leading expatriate lives with little meaningful interaction with the indigenous population. There are, however, many ways how African and Western missionaries can develop their CQ and seek to be better equipped for their ministries. Active involvement in a local church and pre-field cross-cultural ministries in their home countries play a crucial role here, as they help Christians to grow spiritually and test their motivation and missionary calling. Other ways of equipping future mission workers include short-term mission trips to neighbouring countries or places further afield, missionary apprenticeships and formal mission training, preferably at interdenominational colleges with a multicultural student body and staff team. Once having entered the country of service, an initial programme of field orientation and at a later stage participation in continuing training programmes such as missionary communities of practice can contribute to the increase of knowledge, perseverance, interpretative and behavioural CQ of 21^st century cross-cultural ambassadors of Christ.

About the author

Thorsten Prill is a minister of the Rhenish Church in Namibia and BCMS Crosslinks mission partner. He has been seconded by his church to serve as Vice-Principal at Edinburgh Bible College (EBC).

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Cf. W.D. Taylor, “Foreword”, in R. Brynjolfson & J. Lewis (eds), Integral Ministry Training: Design and Evaluation (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2006), xiv; J.F. Plake, “Amateurization and Professionalization from the Perspective of Missionary Effectiveness”, Missiology: An International Review 42, 2 (2014).

[2] J.F. Plake, Missionary Expatriate Effectiveness: How Personality, Calling and Learned Competencies Influence the Expatriate Transitions of Pentecostal Missionaries (Leiden: Brill, 2016), 9. 

[3] Cf. M. Adiwardana, “Formal and Non-formal Pre-field Training: Perspective of the New Sending Countries”, in W.D. Taylor (ed), Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1997), 208.

[4] A. Moyo, “Church-Planting Considerations for African Reverse Missionaries in Britain in the Postmodern Era”, in I.O. Olofinjana (ed), African Voices: Towards African British Theologies (Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2017), 75.

[5] V.N. Taiwo, “Let Us Work Together: Mission Partnership Between Black African Diaspora Churches and White British Churches in the UK”, in I.O. Olofinjana (ed), African Voices Towards African British Theologies (Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2017), 208.

[6] Taiwo, “Let Us Work Together”, 212.

[7] J. Brynjolfson, “The Integral Ministry Training Journey”, in J. Brynjolfson & J. Lewis (eds), Integral Ministry Training: Design & Evaluation (Pasadena: William Cary Library, 2006), 9.

[8] D.A. Livermore, Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage in Our Multicultural World (Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2009), 47.

[9] Livermore, Cultural Intelligence, 47-48.

[10] D.C. Thomas & K.C. Inkson, Cultural Intelligence: Surviving and Thriving in the Global Village (Oakland: Berrett-Koehler, 2017), 140.

[11] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 140.

[12] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 140.

[13] S. Escobar, “The Training of Missiologists for a Latin American Context”, in J.D. Woodberry, C. Van Engen & E.J. Elliston (eds), Missiological Education for the Twenty-first Century: The Book, the Circle, and the Sandals (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 1997), 105.

[14] Escobar, “The Training of Missiologists for a Latin American Context”, 105.

[15] R. Porter & K. Walker, “Mission: No New Crisis”, Evangelicals Now 26, 1 (2013), 19.

[16] R. Girón, “An Integrated Model of Missions”, in W.D. Taylor (ed), Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1997), 34. 

[17] S. Hoke & B. Taylor, “Your Journey to the Nations: Ten Steps to Help You Get There”, in R.D. Winter & S.C. Hawthorne (eds), Perspectives On The World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009), 744.

[18] F.L. Young III, “A “New Breed of Missionaries”: Assessing Attitudes Toward Western Missions at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology”, International Bulletin of Missionary Research 36, 2 (2012), 92.

[19] G. Van Rheenen, Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 45.

[20] S. Paas, “Mission from Anywhere to Europe: Americans, Africans, and Australians Coming to Amsterdam”, Mission Studies 32 (2015), 15.

[21] Paas, “Mission from Anywhere to Europe”, 15.

[22] Livermore, Cultural Intelligence, 53.

[23] J. Brand, Learning About Mission: Mission Matters (Fearn: Christian Focus, 1999), 5-14.

[24] Brand, Learning About Mission, 6.

[25] Brand, Learning About Mission, 10-11.

[26] Brand, Learning About Mission, 11.

[27] Brand, Learning About Mission, 13-14.

[28] Van Rheenen, Missions, 38.

[29] Van Rheenen, Missions, 39.

[30] G. ter Haar, How God Became African: African Spirituality and Western Secular Thought (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), 90.

[31] A. Murray, The Key to the Missionary Problem: A Passionate Call to Obedience in Action (Fort Washington: CLC Publications, 2012), 55.

[32] Murray. The Key to the Missionary Problem, 66.

[33] S.M. Davis, Crossing Cultures: Preparing Strangers for Ministry in Strange Places (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2019), 47.

[34] Galatians 5:22-23.

[35] Romans 5:3-4.

[36] Cf. R.A Hanson, Eight Steps to Spiritual Maturity (Maitland, FL.: Xulon Press, 2004), 19.

[37] 2 Peter 1:5-8.

[38] Colossians1:29.

[39] W.H. Willimon, Calling Character: Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 55.

[40] Willimon, Calling Character, 84-85.

[41] Willimon, Calling Character, 88.

[42] Davis, Crossing Cultures, 28-29.

[43] Cf. T. Hale, On Being a Missionary (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1995), 19.

[44] Hale, On Being A Missionary, 19.

[45] Cf. Davis, Crossing Cultures, 49.

[46] A.S. Moreau, G.R. Corwin & G.B. McGee, Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical and Practical Survey (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 187.

[47] H. Kwiyani, “Pneumatology, Mission and African Christianity in the West”, in I.O. Olofinjana (ed), African Voices: Towards African British Theologies (Carlisle: Langham Global Library, 2017), 120.

[48] Kwiyani, “Pneumatology, Mission and African Christianity in the West”, 120.

[49] Kwiyani, “Pneumatology and African Christianity in the West”, 121.

[50] Cf. D.K. Deardorff, “Preface”, in D.K. Deardorff (ed), The SAGE Handbook of Intercultural Competence (Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2009), xiii.

[51] Deardorff, “Preface”, xiii.

[52] Deardorff, “Preface”, xiii.

[53] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 242.

[54] J. Mack & L. Stiles, Mack & Leeann’s Guide to Short-term Missions (Downers Grove: IVP, 2000), 11.

[55] A.S. Moreau, G.R. Corwin & G.B. McGee. Introducing World Missions: A Biblical, Historical and Practical Survey (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004), 191.

[56] L.A. Occhipinti. Making A Difference in a Globalized World: Short-term Missions that Work (Lanham: Rowland & Littlefield, 2014), 4.

[57] Occhipinti. Making A Difference in a Globalized World, 5.

[58] Occhipinti. Making A Difference in a Globalized World, 5.

[59] Cf. M.S. Wilder & S.W. Parker, Transformission: Making Disciples Through Short-terms Missions (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2010), 49-50; Moreau, Corwin & McGee. Introducing World Missions, 191.

[60] E. Hibbert, R. Hibbert & T. Silberman, “Mobilizing New Missionaries”, Evangelical Missions Quarterly 52, 2 (2016), 178. 

[61] See, for example, S. Hoke & B. Taylor, “Your Journey to the Nations: Ten Steps to Help You Get There”, in R.D. Winter & S.C. Hawthorne (eds), Perspectives On The World Christian Movement: A Reader (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009), 743.

[62] Livermore, Cultural Intelligence, 253.

[63] Livermore, Cultural Intelligence, 253.

[64] D. Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions: The Phenomenon of the Fifteen-Year-Old Missionary”, in S. Ang & L. Van Dyne (eds), Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement, and Applications (Armon: M.E. Sharpe, 2008), 274.

[65] Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions”, 275.

[66] Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions”, 275.

[67] Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions”, 277.

[68] Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions”, 277.

[69] Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions”, 278.

[70] Livermore, “Cultural Intelligence and Short-term Missions”, 278.

[71] R.G. Friesen. The Long-term Impact of Short-term Missions on the Beliefs, Attitudes and Behaviours of Young Adults, unpublished doctoral thesis (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 2004), 218. http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1890/thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y; Date of Access: 30.09.2021.

[72] Wilder & Parker. Transformission, 60.

[73] Wilder & Parker. Transformission, 219.

[74] Wilder & Parker. Transformission, 220.

[75] Wilder & Parker. Transformission, 223.

[76] Wilder & Parker, Transformission, 66-70.

[77] Wilder & Parker. Transformission, 225.

[78] Wilder & Parker. Transformission, 227.

[79] T. Dearborn, Short-terms Missions Workbook: From Mission Tourists to Global Citizens (Downers Grove: IVP, 2003), 22.

[80] T.D. Linhart. “Planting Seeds: The Curricular Hope of Short Term Mission Experience in Youth Ministry”, Christian Education Journal 3, 2 (2005), 264.

[81] B.M. Howell, Short-term Mission: An Ethnography of Christian Travel Narrative and Experience (Downers Grove: IVP, 2012), 233.

[82] Howell, Short-term Mission, 232.

[83] Howell, Short-term Mission, 232.

[84] Moreau, Corwin & McGee, Introducing World Missions, 209-210.

[85] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 148.

[86] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 148.

[87] Africa Inland Mission International, “TIMO: Equipping People for Missions”, aimint.org/discover-timo/; Date of access: 20.11.2021.

[88] Cf. Y.J. Cho & D. Greenlee, “Avoiding Pitfalls in Multi-Cultural Mission Teams”, International Journal of Frontier Missions 12, 4 (1995), 180-182.

[89] M.-T. Claes, “Learning Other Cultures”, BizEd 19, 2 (2020), 50.

[90] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 143.

[91] Claes, ‘Learning Other Cultures’, 50.

[92] Claes, ‘Learning Other Cultures’, 50.

[93] B. Herppich. “Cultural Bias in Missionary Education: The Unintentional Dynamic of Trained Incapacity”, in R.A. Danielson & B.L. Hartley (eds), Transforming Teaching for Mission: Educational Theory and Practice (Wilmore: First Fruits Press, 2014), 213.

[94] D. Kuhl, “Towards Interdependent Partnership: WEC in Multiple Partnerships”, in W.D. Taylor (ed), Kingdom Partnerships for Synergy in Missions (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1994), 222.

[95] D.T. Lee, “Training Cross-Cultural Missionaries from the Asian Context: Lessons Learned from the Global Missionary Training Centre”, Missiology 1 (2008), 112-113.

[96] Lee, “Training Cross-Cultural Missionaries from the Asian Context”, 113-114.

[97] L. Roembke. Building Credible Multicultural Teams (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2000), 205.

[98] Claes, “Learning Other Cultures”, 50.

[99] C.D. Harley, Preparing to Serve: Training for Cross-cultural Mission (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 1995), 81.

[100] M. Heusinkveld, “The New Missionary Committee and Field Orientation”, International Review of Mission 46, 183 (1957), 283.

[101] Heusinkveld, “The New Missionary Committee and Field Orientation”, 286.

[102] C.Y.-P. Wang, M.-C. Lien, B.-S. Jaw, C.-Y. Wang, Y.-S. Yeh & S.-H. Kung, “Interrelationship of Expatriate Employee’s Personality, Cultural Intelligence, Cross-Cultural Adjustment, and Entrepreneurship”, Social Behavior and Personality 4, 12 (2019), 4.

[103] See also J.J. Bonk, Missions and Money: Affluence as a Missionary Problem – Revisited (New Haven: Overseas Ministries Study Center, 2007), 171.

[104] J.J. Basham, A Study of the Perceptions of Career American Missionaries in the Countries of Kenya and Tanzania Relating to Their Overseas Field-Based Orientation Experiences, unpublished Doctor of Education thesis (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2009), 212. 

[105] Moyo, “Church-Planting Considerations for African Reverse Missionaries in Britain in the Postmdoern Era”, 72.

[106] Moyo, “Church-Planting Considerations for African Reverse Missionaries in Britain in the Postmdoern Era”, 72.

[107] A. Kennedy, “Models of Continuing Professional Development: A Framework for Analysis”, Journal of In-service Education 31, 2 (2005), 236-237.

[108] Deardorff, “Preface”, xiii.

[109] D.L. Whiteman, “Integral Training Today for Cross-cultural Mission”, Missiology 36, 1 (2008), 5-16, 13.

[110] Whiteman, “Integral Training Today for Cross-cultural Mission”, 14.

[111] R. Hibbert & E. Hibbert, “Nurturing Missionary Learning Communities”, Workshop Paper, 2014 APM Annual Meeting St Paul, MN (-: First Fruits Press, 2014), 8.

[112] Hibbert & Hibbert, “Nurturing Missionary Learning Communities”, 8.

[113] Hibbert & Hibbert, “Nurturing Missionary Learning Communities”, 8-9.

[114] Hibbert & Hibbert, “Nurturing Missionary Learning Communities”, 9-10.

[115] Hibbert & Hibbert, “Nurturing Missionary Learning Communities”, 11.

[116] Davis, Crossing Cultures, 19.

[117] Thomas & Inkson, Cultural Intelligence, 138.