by Charles H. Troutman
Where are missionary candidates coming from, and what means does the Holy Spirit use to move them out of their own cultures? Mission boards, field surveys or even previous experience do not provide a satisfactory answer because they represent a past generation.
Where are missionary candidates coming from, and what means does the Holy Spirit use to move them out of their own cultures? Mission boards, field surveys or even previous experience do not provide a satisfactory answer because they represent a past generation.
Candidate secretaries, pastors, student workers and everyone with a concern for the church world-wide should know something of the current picture. Are deputation trips effective in recruitment? Missionary publications? Urbana? The survey on which this article is based took advantage of the concentration of language school students in Latin America to try to find out what lead been most effective in moving the latest group of new missionaries onto the field. The data of this report is just a beginning. Further investigation and in-depth analysis are needed.
The uniqueness of this report is that it surveyed only those who lead just arrived on the field. It provides the closest analysis possible to the group with whom the candidate secretaries are working. Those who tabulated the results of the open-ended questions were amazed at the care and thought which were expressed in the answers. It made the work of evaluation more intelligent than would have been possible on a "check the most appropriate square" basis.
It is hoped that information secured from one of the three great missionary areas of the world, Latin America, may be of help to those seeking to fill the gaps in other parts of the field. Of the 253 missionaries who replied, 120 were men and 133 were women.
Of these, there were 92 married couples, 28 single men and 38 single women. There were three widows.
Of the 92 married couples, 59 couples had children and 33 did not. There were a total of 132 children, making the average size of the families with children at language school to be 2.23. Since there were 13 children over the age of 17 who were not with their parents, it was found that the average age of the children who were with their parents was 5.4 years old. It appears that the idea of sending missionaries as individuals is not the actual picture. Rather, we ire sending families. It did not appear that the sending societies had taken this factor into account.
The largest number of missionaries was found in the 27 to 29-year-old group. Approximately 47 percent of the group was in the 27 to 33-year-old bracket, and 73 percent between the ages of 24 and 35. The average age of those in their first year overseas was 30.31 years.
There were 49 societies represented in the three institutes during this two-year period. Actually, this represents a greater number, i.e., it was impossible to separate the various Mennonite boards from the manner in which the replies were received. The following 12 groupings represent almost 60 percent of the missionaries:
Central American Mission, 24; Southern Baptist, 19; Mennonite, 15; World Radio, HCJB, 13; Evangelical Alliance Mission, 12; Conservative Baptist, 9; World Gospel Mission, 9; Assemblies of God, 8; Christian and Missionary Alliance, 8; Latin America Mission, 7; Independent, 7.
There were 39 different denominations represented as far as could be determined from the replies. Baptists in one foam or another represented 34 percent of the total.
Conservative Baptist, 21; Independent Fundamentalist Churches of America, 20; Southern Baptist, 20; Baptist, no distinction made, 18; Mennonite, no distinction made, 18; Methodist, 17; Independent Baptist, 13; Christian and Missionary Alliance, 11; Assemblies of God, 10.
There were 50 institutions reported, but two produced a greater number than any other single one: Moody Bible Institute and Columbia Bible College. The latter had a total of 28 students, of which 17 attended without finishing the course and 11 received a degree or certificate. Moody Bible Institute had 22 former students represented in the group, all of whom finished the prescribed courses.
There were 66 colleges reported, 16 junior colleges and 5 business colleges. Approximately 70 percent of the missionaries had attended a college for at least one year. The following reported the largest number:
Wheaton College, Illinois, 24; Calvin College, 12; Taylor University, 10; Bluffton College, 9. There were 74 universities attended, and judging from the number of years in residence, approximately 80 percent of the students received degrees. Michigan State and Ohio State were represented most frequently.
There were 40 theological seminaries represented, of which Southwestern (Southern Baptist) and Dallas Theological Seminary had the largest numbers.
It appeared that there was no significant result from tabulating the schools of nursing. Most women went into nursing after they had decided upon the mission field. Ten respondents listed five other types of training as being significant in their decision and training.
There were thirteen specific questions asked to which the majority of missionaries made careful replies. They are analyzed in the full report of this survey, but the following results appear to be significant because they pinpoint the times, circumstances and personalities involved in the decision to come to the field. While the answers revealed much information that can be helpful to candidate secretaries and others, the following conclusions appear to be of special importance:
Visits to Latin America, prior to coming as a missionary, were a major part in the decision to become a missionary; 31 percent of the missionaries reporting had been to some part of Latin America previously, and of these, 60 percent had come on a mission society or church-sponsored tour. From the enthusiasm of the responses, this is an approach that needs developing.
Local church missionary conferences account for 76 percent of those reporting, and over half of these report that they were decisive in their decision to become a missionary. These conferences are by far the most significant factor in decision, because the results indicate that approximately 40 percent of the students made their major decision as a result of these conferences in the local churches.
Other types of missionary conferences were reported: 22 percent attended college or Bible school conferences; 11 percent denominational missionary retreats, and 10 percent attended Inter-Varsity missionary conferences at Urbana, but none of these had as high a decisive nature as the conferences in the local churches.
Betty Elliot’s books influenced the largest number of missionaries, followed by an unlisted category of "missionary biography." Hudson Taylor was next, then Isobel Kuhn, Russell Mitt, followed by "IVCF missionary books." There were 21 other classifications, but the above were the most influential. One unexpected result of the survey was the uncovering of the group who either had done no reading at all, or whose missionary reading had not been very memorable. Over 42 percent were in this category, and many stated on the forms that they had done no reading. How is it possible to be even vaguely prepared for missionary work without any reading whatsoever?
By far the most influential person to make a definite impression on the missionary decision is the missionary himself. Far ahead of anyone else, he was used of God more frequently than any other group. He was followed at a distance by pastors and then parents.
For about 33 percent of the missionaries, the first missionary influence came to them in childhood in their homes and in their local church.
In spite of what has commonly been taken to be the age of missionary decision, this survey indicated that 46 percent of those who have just arrived on the field made their decision after leaving high school and before reaching the age of 30.
The average time lapse between the time of decision and departure for the field was 7.1 years. For almost 25 percent, the lapse was two years or less.
The compelling motive for missionary service for 30 percent of the new missionaries was a sense of personal appointment and obedience to the call of God, not in any general way, but rather that this is His place for me, and I am quite certain of it. It is not surprising that in a generation which has lost its identity, this personal appointment under God looms large.
For another third of the missionaries, the element of service was strongest, indicating a strong sense of purpose and goals in the midst of a lost generation. Most of the replies showed a strong sense of a personal response to God.
How much this survey can assist each missionary society will have to be determined by each body. Candidate secretaries will recognize significance in many places which the less experienced will overlook. However, for the field in Latin America, here are the products which pastors, missionary churches, schools, colleges, seminaries and the missionary societies themselves have produced.
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