by Edward C. Pentecost
Under GOD the Christian college movement has been growing. Whether it be a Christian liberal arts college or a Bible college, it is considered as a source of potential leaders in Christian activities and careers. It is an institution preparing young people for Christian life and service.
Under GOD the Christian college movement has been growing. Whether it be a Christian liberal arts college or a Bible college, it is considered as a source of potential leaders in Christian activities and careers. It is an institution preparing young people for Christian life and service.
Because of this, the Christian college becomes the center of activity of mission board representatives who are looking for recruits. They want to find young people who will be true disciples of Christ, willing to commit themselves to full-time service on the mission field.
It is not surprising that mission boards are turning to these institutions, especially when investigation has shown that decisions to go to the foreign field are made according to the following pattern: 10 percent, between ages 6 and 12; 25 percent, between ages 13 and 18; 21 percent, in college; 25 percent, during the rest of their twenties. (Cf., "Latin American Survey: What Impelled Them to the Field?" by Charles H. Troutman, Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Summer, 1969.)
Because of the many mission boards involved, because of the many representatives circulating around among the institutes and colleges, and because of the turnover in recruiting personnel, let me indicate a few points that may make the visits of such personnel more meaningful and less frustrating.
1. Define your purpose. Take time to think through your purpose. The college is an academic institution with a plan and purpose; time is at a premium. Students are working under tension and pressure, with assignments, research, papers, and many with outside employment.
It is therefore only right that a visitor be considerate of this situation, and plan ahead to clarify his own thinking about the purpose of his visit. In correspondence prior to the visit, display your personal interest and understanding. Let the people of the college know who you are and what your purpose is.
Much too often I get letters like the following, reflecting everything but purposefulness and personal concern:
Dear Missions Director:
I am a missionary, home on furlough for one year, and I have been asked by our office to serve as personnel representative of our mission.
I have been a missionary under this mission for x years and would like to speak to your students to give them a challenge to missions.
I will be in your area from March 10 to March 15, and would like the opportunity of representing this mission board.
Please let me know what date you decide upon and the time of your chapel.
Most sincerely,
2. Prepare in advance. Get the facts about the institution.
A. Its philosophy of education. Do some homework in advance. Colleges do differ. Many changes have taken place while the missionary has been away, outside of the country, and he needs some orientation back into collegiate life.
The Christian liberal arts college is one type of institution, with a philosophy of education that differs from the secular college. The campus conditions may be quite different. The Bible college is a peculiar institution with a distinctive of its own, and it must be understood in the light of its philosophy of education.
Familiarize yourself with the general program and philosophy of each school. If in doubt, request an interview with the administration or concerned personnel within the school to find out before you face the student body. Uphold and honor the standards of the institution. Do not use your presence to undermine or move in contrary ways to the established patterns of the host body.
B. Its philosophy of missions. Clarity of expression is extremely important. Much confusion is being sown because of certain pat phrases that seem to have been adopted. Many speakers fail to distinguish between the words "witness" and "missionary." Many speakers adopt such confusing phrases as: "You are either a missionary or a mission field," and, "Ail Christians are missionaries/’ Think over your terminology; make distinctions according to Scripture.
The immediate reaction to the misuse of these terms is: "If I am a missionary, why consider either going or preparing?" "If we are ail missionaries, why do we need a missionary major or a special course of preparation?" "If I am a missionary now, why should I join a board to go somewhere else?"
Clarity of message in this area is vital. Missionary preparation begins with learning faithfulness and clear witness where the person is. God sends out those who prove themselves trustworthy. Missionary preparation begins at home. Missionary service begins when one obeys the command of the Lord.
3. Enter into the program. A mission representative must recognize that he is part of a team. Whether called upon to minister in a chapel or in a classroom, he goes to enter into a ministry and to fit into a program. If this is not carried out, the whole program of education is frustrated.
When a mission representative is asked to visit a college, he is requested to participate in a program that the instructor has outlined. Suppose, for example, he has been asked to take the class lecture and speak on the country where he has spent several years of specialized service. The class has been told of his visit and what to do to prepare for his lecture, to be knowledgeable of his field. Too often in my experience, the individual prefaces his remarks by saying: "I know that I have been asked to speak on my adopted country, but I feel I should speak on something that is very much on my heart. I would like to give you ten reasons why you should be a missionary."
Such procedure is out of order, gives a bad name to missions and the mission society, and destroys the program of the professor.
A speaker is invited to speak about that which he knows best. Bible colleges especially enjoy the continual ministry of Bible and doctrine professors who deal with Bible exposition, with the church, and with the Bible basis of missions. Students are not lacking in these areas. Other institutions may be different in this respect. The ministry of pastors in the area also contributes to the total program of the institution.
For these reasons it is advisable for the visiting missionary not to try to compete in Bible exposition and pastoral ministry. But rather he should bring a word of personal witness about the working of the Spirit of God, according to the Word of God. Make the message transparently true. It must say something in terms of scriptural and spiritual reality to a generation of young people that is seeking reality and wants to hear it as it is.
The missionary speaker is expected to bring new information presented in a realistic, honest way. Since there are so many mission boards that are similar in basic plans and methods, it soon becomes very monotonous and uninteresting to a student body to listen to a speaker who says: "Our mission has work in A, B, C, or D country. We have x missionaries and are involved in radio work, educational work, medical work, literature work and church planting." When the students have heard this from several speakers, it is not too long before the next speaker with the same thrust is "turned off."
Students can respond to a real challenge that gets through to them with meaningful communication. Young people are alert; they are thinking; they are maturing. Education is far advanced from what it was a few years ago. Missionary speakers must learn how to arrest the student’s attention and make the outreach of the Gospel relevant. When he shows the student body the reality of the power of God at work, then the students will come and ask him: "What mission board is this where God is working and which is producing results?" The students are not looking for entertainment, nor amusement, but vital reality in vibrant testimony!
4. Demonstrate confidence in God and in today’s youth. Your true ministry is not that of being a representative of a mission board, and of presenting that mission board to the students. Your true reason for being on campus is to be the instrument of God, used to give witness to Him. Your attitude and allegiance are soon detected. If you would be a good representative, you must come as an ambassador of Christ. He must be pre-eminent and take first place in your life and presentation.
Demonstrate to the young people your confidence in them. There are many extremists within certain segments of our society demanding that their voices be heard. Many Christians have reacted adversely, implying by their attitudes that today’s young people have all gone off the deep end.
If we are going to call young people "to arms," we must recognize that they are ready to respond. Young people today can and will respond to the call of the Holy Spirit of God. We must show that we have confidence in them, that we believe God will do great and marvelous things through them. We must allow young people to express themselves under the direction of the Holy Spirit of God to new outreaches. We must be confident that they can and will, under God, move farther forward than the past generation has moved.
Many speakers present the appeal: "Come out to the mission field and we will show you how it is done." (When they haven’t done it, and the students know it.) Perhaps we need to say instead: "Come out to the field and help us do it, under God."
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