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DISCOVERING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SHORT-TERM
CROSS-CULTURAL MISSION EXPERIENCES AND A LONG-TERM
COMMITMENT TO CROSS-CULTURAL MISSION SERVICE
by
Timothy P. Evans
A Dissertation-project proposal
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree
Doctor of Ministry
Columbia Biblical Seminary and School of Mission
Columbia International University
Columbia, South Carolina
February 2007
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING....................................................1
Context........................................................................................................................1
Personal Context...............................................................................................1
Brazilian Context..............................................................................................2
The North American Context..........................................................................3
Purpose of Study..........................................................................................................4
Research questions......................................................................................................4
Delimitation of the Problem........................................................................................5
Assumptions of the Study............................................................................................5
Definition of Terms.....................................................................................................6
Limitations of the Study..............................................................................................7
Importance of the Study for Others and for Personal Ministry...................................7
CHAPTER II PRECEDENT RESEARCH....................................................................8
Biblical Grounding......................................................................................................8
Do Short-Term Experiences Contribute to Long Term Commitments?...................12
The Effectiveness of Short-term Mission Program...................................................26
An Opportunist Response by the Southern Baptists to the Short-term Mission Phenomenon......................................................................................27
Possible Ways of Helping Short-Term Personnel Return as Long-Term Missionaries.....................................................................................................32
Current Trends in the Short-Term Mission Movement of Brazil..............................36
The Growth of the Brazilian Church............................................................36
The Brazilian Mission Movement..................................................................37
Competencies for Brazilian Short-term Missionaries.................................38
The Relevancy of Long-term Mission Retention Issues in.......................................40
Two-Thirds World Mission.......................................................................................40
ReMAP I as It Relates Specifically to Brazil................................................41
ReMAP II as It Relates Specifically to Brazil...............................................43
Conclusion.................................................................................................................47
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................51
Description of the Research Method.........................................................................51
Overall Research Strategy.........................................................................................52
Collection of Data......................................................................................................54
Population..................................................................................................................54
Sampling....................................................................................................................55
Instrument..................................................................................................................55
Validation of Instrument............................................................................................56
Sequence of the Process............................................................................................56
Plan of Interpretation.................................................................................................57
Plan of Presenting Findings.......................................................................................58
CHAPTER IV PLAN FOR COMPLETING THE DISSERTATION.......................59
Statement on the Accessibility of Necessary Resources...........................................59
Tentative Working Outline........................................................................................59
Tentative Time Schedule for Completion.................................................................59
Curriculum Vitae.......................................................................................................59
RESOURCES SITED......................................................................................................60
APPENDIX A STATISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTISTS...................................64
Figure 2 - New Missionaries of The Southern Baptists 60-Year Study............................65
Figure 3 - Percentage of New Long-Term Missionaries with Previous Short-term experience....................................................................................................................67
Figure 4 – Growth of Missionary Force............................................................................68
Figure 5 - Missionary Count Of 1993-2005 Of The Southern Baptist..............................69
Figure 6 - Overseas Personnel Count of the Southern Baptist...........................................70
APPENDIX B BRAZILIAN CROSS-CULTURAL MISSION STATISTICS AS THEY RELATE TO AGENCIES AND MISSIONARIES....................................72
APPENDIX C TENTATIVE WORKING OUTLINE................................................74
APPENDIX D TENTATIVE TIME SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION.................75
APPENDIX E Curriculum Vitae...................................................................................76
CHAPTER I
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING
Context
Personal Context
On arrival to Brazil in 1993, one TEAM missionary counseled us that we could
not send Brazilian missionaries cross-culturally with The Evangelical Christian Church of
Brazil (ICEB) with which TEAM worked. My wife and I had come to Brazil with the
ministerial purpose of mobilizing, training and sending Brazilian missionaries. This off
the cuff comment did not discourage us from our mission. In May 1994, the newly
elected denominational president of ICEB asked me to direct the national mission
department. In May 1995, another TEAM missionary counseled us to move to the
seminary where I could have a greater impact in imparting a mission vision on emerging
pastors. The vision of TEAM and the ICEB churches to train and send cross-cultural
missionaries grew. Finally, in May 2003 TEAM Brazil agreed to begin a new inter-
denominational mission agency, A Missão Aliança Evangélica do Brasil1 (MAEB),
which would help ICEB and other Brazilian churches to send missionaries to less reached
areas of the world. In May 2004, the agency was organized.
1 The Evangelical Alliance Mission of Brazil
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2
Brazilian Context
Over the last 9 years as mission director for ICEB and professor of mission, I
have learned that the Brazilian culture is highly pragmatic. They are impatient with
theory and abstract learning seeing these as time-consuming activities preferring “hands-
on” learning. Brazilians are action driven. Mission candidates express this cultural trait
being unwilling to sit through four years of Bible School before applying to cross cultural
mission. To accommodate this cultural trait, many mission organizations implement
short-term mission programs. Youth with a Mission (JOCUM) and Missão Horizontes
are two of the largest Brazilian mission organizations using the short-term principle.
Those organizations that require greater training and only looking for long-term
missionaries may be losing out. This raises several questions. Will the number of
potential candidates diminish if we only cater to long-term missionaries that come
already prepared with formal training, spiritual maturity, and some practical experience?
The ethical dilemma for these agencies is should they place this conviction aside and
begin short-term programs? In doing so, will they be compromising their presupposition
that long-term missionaries remain the key to best accomplishing God’s mission? The
question may not be either long-term mission (LTM) or short-term mission (STM), but
using STM to feed LTM programs and training for LTM service. If they do not place this
conviction aside, they may loose candidates to those organizations that have
accommodated the Brazilian through short-term mission programs. The question then is,
“do many of these seeking an immediate mission experience through STM become long-
term missionaries?” The data collection should show if this is true in the Brazilian
context.
3
As president of the newly formed Brazilian interdenominational mission agency,
MAEB, this student’s desire is to begin a STM track with the goal of applying this
research in order to guarantee a greater return of participants into LTM service.
The North American Context
The phenomenon of STM has dominated the North American mission effort. In
the 1973 edition of the Missionary Handbook, of the 343 agencies presented, 126
reported having short-term missionary personnel. Of the 23,259 missionaries in these
126 mission agencies, they estimated that over 5,000 (21.5%) were already short-term,
those with a 6-month to 2-year commitment (MARC 10th ed., 81). By 1975 15.6% of the
total missionary force (36,950) was “short-termers” (MARC 11th ed., 25). In 2001, North
America sent 346,270 short-term missionaries, up from 97,272 in 1998. This was a 256%
increase. The number of long-term missionaries sent out in 2001 was only 34,757 a
meager 5.5 percent increase since 1998 (MARC 19th ed., 13).
The massiveness of the movement has lead Scott Moreau and Mike O’Rear to
advise going directly to that church or denomination’s web site for information. Doing a
simple Google search can produce interesting results. “Short-term mission has passed
from fad to phenomenon,” they say, and continues to grow (Moreau and O’Rear 2004,
104). With this mammoth increase in short-term commitments and the meager increase
of LTM, one can become alarmed and wonder about the future of LTM service. North
American youth are financially able to travel anywhere in the world today. It will be
interesting to note that this is not true of Brazilian youth, which could positively
influence the STM movement from Brazil. The temptation is present for leaders and
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participants particularly in North America to allow the short-term phenomenon to
become self-serving and self-perpetuating: STM programs feed more short-term
missionaries and the monies generated are used not for LTM but for promoting and
running other STM programs. However, STM can and should be an opportunity for God
to move and call Christians into LTM service. Exposure to other cultures and peoples
who desperately need the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ can be a powerful experience
that leads to a lifetime of mission if key elements are present in their STM program. The
research will seek to confirm this notion.
Purpose of Study
The problem this paper will attempt to answer is, “how can we use the short-term
mission experience for Brazilians as an effective tool in producing more long-term
missionaries?” Specifically, what are the components of a STM experience that will
most effectively channel candidates into long-term service and what issues specific to
Brazil affect this process?
Research questions
RQ: What is the relationship between short-term cross-cultural mission experiences and a
long-term commitment to cross-cultural mission service?
OQ1: What are the experiences that enabled or motivated the short-term missionary
to consider a long-term commitment to mission service?
OQ2: What are the experiences that have hindered the short-term missionary from
considering a long-term commitment to cross cultural mission service?
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OQ3: What are the experiences of a short-term missionary that were neutral and
neither motivated nor de-motivated one from considering a long-term commitment to
cross-cultural mission service?
Delimitation of the Problem
The scope of the study will cover the Brazilian context and interviews will be
conducted with missionaries and leaders from four Brazilian mission agencies. It will not
concentrate on the local church based programs that are more indicative of the North
American phenomenon, but how these Brazilian agencies have used short-term programs
to gain more long-term missionaries.
Assumptions of the Study
Missiologically, it is assumed that most effective missionaries are long-term
missionaries. These that have learned the culture and language of the target people are
able to communicate more effectively. In order for one to achieve this level of linguistic
and cultural competency, one is obligated to spend a great deal of time and energy in
language learning and cultural adaptation. Short-term mission has its place alongside of
LTM, but does not replace it. It is assumed that the STM movement is overemphasized
creating an imbalance in the missionary force.
Theologically, it is assumed that one understands calling to be necessary for
ministry. Experience, however, influences and plays a major role in calling. All are
called to participate in God’s mission, but some are called out from the church to further
his mission cross-culturally. Therefore, some are called to serve as missionaries and
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others not. Some who participate in STM return to the mission field because of a set of
influential experiences that play a major role in identifying the “feeling” or conviction of
a call. Those who do not return to LTM cannot simply say they were not called. There
are reasons why they are drawn back to the mission field as career missionaries and why
they are not drawn back to the field. The larger number of individuals who have gone on
STM adventures, at least from North America, do not return for reasons other than a lack
of calling. The purpose of this study will be to understand the reasons other than calling
why some Brazilians do or do not return as long-term missionaries.
It is assumed that those organizations, which cater toward long-term missionaries,
will end up with more long-term missionaries if they begin a STM program that has the
right elements – set of experiences. Organizations will only have a STM impact if their
only focus is STM. God’s mission is successfully accomplished best by long-term
missionaries who practice healthy missiological principles. God’s mission will advance
more effectively when more short-term missionaries become career missionaries as a
result of good STM programs. Those mission organizations that apply the principles this
study will attempt to discover should experience an increase in more long-term
missionaries.
Definition of Terms
For the purpose of this study, the short-term missionary will be defined as that
person involved in a 1-month to 2-year mission effort and a long-term missionary is that
person committed to three or more years of mission service.
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God’s mission is understood as establishing a kingdom unto himself among all
peoples by bringing them under the rule of Jesus Christ as king. This is done through
evangelism and discipleship (teaching and mentoring) bringing them into a worshiping
community. The act of taking the Gospel of the Kingdom to all peoples with the purpose
of bringing those peoples under the rule of Jesus Christ is the paramount mission of the
Church. The means to bring about God’s mission is to form a viable indigenous church-
planting movement among all peoples.
Limitations of the Study
1. The interviews will be limited to short-term cross-cultural Brazilian missionaries
and their leaders.
2. Those Brazilians interviewed will come only from mission agency programs.
3. The Brazilian culture, economic situation, and ecclesiastic bias will influence the
study and limit its applicability among other non-Brazilian institutions.
Importance of the Study for Others and for Personal Ministry
This research will benefit the newly begun Brazilian mission agency of MAEB and
other Brazilian mission agencies that employ STM programs. This student desires to
begin a STM program with MAEB that will incorporate the finding of this research in
order to increase the number of their long-term cross-cultural missionaries.
CHAPTER II
PRECEDENT RESEARCH
Biblical Grounding
In order to adequately define the term mission or to give a survey of the debate
over this term would be too lengthy of a subject for this section. Volumes have been
written attempting to define God’s mission and how mission relates to the Church and to
each Christian. This section will however present this student’s biblical conviction on
mission, who is a missionary, the role of calling and its motivation to service, and why a
long-term commitment to missionary service is the predominant biblical posture over a
short-term commitment to accomplishing mission.
Toward a Biblical Theology of Mission
Many interpretations to mission have been debated that are manipulated by one’s
social or political context in an attempt to make mission applicable and relevant. Mission
as liberation is one example of the desire to contextualize mission by Latin liberation
theologians (Bosch 1991, 432). In an attempt to contextualize mission, one’s
social/political grid cannot become the only lense by which he or she interprets mission.
One must however be patient in contextualizing Scripture or “we will merely find in the
pages of the Bible what we have already determined to find there on other grounds”
(Köstenberger 1999, 348).
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9
A definition of mission should begin with biblical theology of Scripture, allowing
it to speak for itself. This student argues for a reading of the Old Testament using a
salvation-history hermeneutic because it recognizes that Scripture is a divine revelation
rather than human. Here one begins to discover the history of God’s self-revelation, an
inspired account of his sovereign plan expressed through direct revelation and through
redemptive acts. With this hermeneutical posture one can look for a “unity and
coherence” among all biblical writers (Köstenberger 1999, 350) as they understood and
interpreted God’s mission for his people and the nations. Kaiser argues that Old
Testament authors did write out of an awareness of God’s redemptive mission. God’s
mission is the “center” that identifies “the integrating points in the entirety of the
testament” (Kaiser 1978, 20-22)
Mission begins therefore with the creation account that expresses God’s heart
toward his creation and the unique and intimate relationship he had with humankind.
Having established God’s original intent for creation, the story quickly after humankind
rebels agains God’s authority and design. Genesis 3:15 reveals his plan to redeem
humankind and all of creation from the sin of rebellion and its curse. Verkuyl states that
a universal motif is present in the beginning of God’s revaluation showing the scope of
his plan. This paradigm is necessary to understand the Old Testament and where the
calling of Israel fits into God’s worldwide plan (Verkyl 1981, 35-36).
The center of which Kaiser point out is textually verifiable. In the New
Testament this center is referred to as the “promise” (epangelia). God’s original intent of
blessing all of his creation (Gen. 1:4,10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 28, 31) would be redeemed
10
through the promise seed revealed to Eve, now revealed to Abraham (Gen. 12:3) and then
later to David (2 Sam. 7:11-16).
God’s mission to bless humankind would begin through the calling of Israel who
would represent Yahweh before the nations (Ex. 19:5-7). Israel would be the chosen line
through whom the promised seed would come, though whom God would reveal his plan
of redemption, and through whom he would model his character to the nations.
Obedience is a dominant motif in the story of Israel. Obedience to God’s laws would
bring earthy and spiritual blessings (Deuteronomy) and would cause them to express the
character of God to the nations around them. They were to be a “society with in a
society” expressing through their social ethics patterned after his kingship and standards
the character of God (Wright 1995, 24).
Köstenberger disapprove of Bosch’s method of arriving at a definition of mission
because he only give eight pages to the Old Testament before going on to the New
Testament examples (Köstenberger 1999, 255). Ladd on the other hand he says gives
amply space showing Jesus mission in continuity with the Old Testament but fails to
connect Jesus’ mission to the church (Köstenberger 1999, 351). To understand mission
in the New Testament and ultimately our mission, it is necessary to show a continuity of
mission between the testaments and to the church.
Israel was called to be a light to the nations (Isa. 49:6, Acts 13:47, 1 Kings 8:60)
having been place geographically strategic where they could model and testify of God to
the nations (Ez. 5:5). Here they were expected to draws the nations into a worshipful
relationship with Yahweh (I Ks. 8:41-43). Disobedience and continued rebellion to
11
God’s laws brought punishment and exile. But it was in exile that they would testified of
their God and many would become worshipers of Yahweh (Daniel and Ester).
However, Israel never was given an explicit centripetal mission to proselytize the
nations, as the church later would be instructed. During Israel’s history many gentiles
became worshipers of Yahweh through submission to his authority, but the universal
hope of the gentiles for salvation was expressed mostly eschatological (Isa. 56:7) as they
waiting for the coming of the promised one (Eph 2:11-18). This lack of an explicit
centripetal missionary mandate does not cause a conflict between the testaments, rather it
simply shows that God’s purpose to bless the nations would ultimately come through the
birth, death, and resurrection of the Messiah.
Peter thus picks up on the Old Testament theme of mission and applies it to the
church (1Pet. 2:8-9) (Kostenberg 1998, 202). The Old Testament identity of Israel as a
mediator body whose role was transferred to the Church as a light to the nations. Israel
failed terribly in her missionary calling to model Yahweh before the nations (Rm. 2:24,
Isa. 52:5, Ezek 36:20) but Christ would succeeded as Israel’s substitute testimony to the
nations (Lk 2:32 quoting Isa. 42?6, 49:6), a role he would later give to the church.
Mattew in his gospel opens by showing that the promised seed has indeed come
as promised from the lineage of Abraham, from the dynasty of David. He is the new
king, the fulfillment of the redemptive mission of God revealed in the Old Testament and
the inauguration of the New Covenant foretold by the prophets. A phrase Harvey notes
that is unique to Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingdom of which Jesus goes about
preaching and proclaiming as he heals the sick (Mat. 4:23, 9:35, 24:14) (Harvey 1998,
127). Unique to Matthew is the emphasis in his account of the Great Commission being
12
to make disciples when the other synoptic emphasize proclamation of this gospel ( Mt.
28:19, Mk 16:15, Lk. 24:47) (Harvey, 131). The making of disciples involves going,
baptizing and teaching among all peoples, the universal motif of the promise found in the
Old Testament.
In Luke the gospel continues to hold center stage as mission. It was revealed in
the Old Testament from the law of Moses, the prophets, and in the Psalms. The content
of the gospel was the death and resurrection of the Christ. The charge was that
repentance and cleansing of sins should be preached to all the nations through the witness
of his disciples in the power of the promised Spirit (Peters 1972, 191). Christianity is not
missionary because of the Great Commission. It is missionary because of its nature,
design, and source as revealed in the Old Testament and now fulfilled in the New (Peters,
173).
Larkin points out that Luke presents Jesus as “good news to the poor”, the year of
Jubilee proclaimed. The gospel shows Jesus as going about preaching the gospel of the
kingdom particularly as it relates to those oppressed, poor, and physically hurting. This
emphasis of Luke has cause two-thirds world Christians to apply a liberation hermeneutic
to the gospel as part of the church’s role to reverse economic and political fortunes today.
They criticize the west for its metaphorical, spiritual application. Larkin argues that Luke
does present Christ as teaching that Christians are to live according to the values and
standards of the kingdom and that those who are rich should repent of all and any attitude
that contradicts those of the kingdom (Larkin 1998, 158-162).
The gospel in Luke also expresses a release of the oppressed and of the prisoners
but no where else are these terms used except in Luke 4:16-30. Jesus is shown as
13
releasing the demon possessed (Lk. 4:33-37, 6:18-19, 7:21) which places the subject in
the spiritual realm. The recovery of the site of the blind expresses that Jesus’ ministry
did involve “miraculous deeds of mercy” as he sought to ministry to the whole person, a
sign of the fullness of the salvation message and work that the coming of the kingdom
brings (Larkin, 162-163).
Harvey adds that the two groups sent out by Jesus (Mt. 9:35-10:42) were both
given the encumbrance of addressing spiritual needs and not physical needs (Harvey, 42).
This does not mean that we are not to be concerned with physical needs, but the gospel
deals primarily with the “problem of sin and guilt” because it is principally spiritual
(Peters, 168). It takes center stage. Jesus presents the gospel as “good news” and the
kingdom as the content of the gospel. The kingdom “signifies God’s sovereign, dynamic,
and eschatological rule” (Harvey, 39). Conversion is personal and adds to the
quantitative growth of the church but conversion unfolds “into the Christian community,
which results in consequences that are corporate as well” (Larkin, 184).
This distinction between the spiritual aspect of the gospel message and the gospel
lived out in community is important in understanding mission and ultimately the task of
the church. If the distinction is not understood then the task of the church becomes larger
than its capable of completing. It is given the task of establishing God’s physical
“kingdom and justice throughout the earth” (Claassen and F 2006, 22) a task commonly
argued by post-millenialists and amillenialists.
There is a distinction between the missionary task and the task of the church. The
Great Commission sets for the assignment of the church and missions, but it is not the
only assignment of the church. The Great Commission does set forth the basic outline
14
and fundamentals of the missionary task, argues Peters. The missionary task cannot be
defined by the needs of humankind for these are limitless and forever changing (Peters,
161). The church can be a voice against the evils of its society and the Christian can
express his unique faith through his work speaking out in a strong prophetic voice as well
as through social action (Peters, 169). However, Peters argues that this prophetic voice is
not implied in the Great Commission. The Peace Cor. can not substituted mission for
“mission has a simple purpose and a specific task.” As the church is established in a
culture through the preaching of the gospel it will assume its place in society by
producing “cultural fruit” (Peters, 171), contextually relevant expressions of what it
means to be a disciple of Christ. It models what it means to be a part of a community in
submission to the standards and values of the King.
This is the point of Lausanne’s emphasis on evangelism in 2004. It objected that
“mission attention has shifted from the lost to the needy and that is to say we should not
care for the needy, but the gospel is in jeopardy when missions comes to believe that
delivering a “cup of cold water” is just as important as dispensing the water of life”
(Brant 2004, 13).
This teaching on mission and social action is in sync with Old Testament teaching
that Israel was also to model Yahweh’s character expressed through godly laws and
values (Ps. 96:3,8). As the church lives righteously according to kingdom values, then
the world will be drawn into a worshipful relationship with its creator.
Paul assumed two roles in his task as a missionary/apostle. He was a pioneer
church planter and a pastor. He planted congregations as an evangelist and nurtured
these congregatons through follow-up visits, letters, and emissaries (Howell 1998, 73).
15
Howell shows how Paul’s understanding of mission was to bring gentiles into an
obedience to faith in Jesus Christ and “to organize his converts into self-governing
churches.” His ministry began with a “verbal proclamation of the gospel” message.
(Howard, 70). Howard mentions this dual role as a tension in the Apostles life, his desire
to proclaim the gospel and organized converts into communities of blievers when Christ’s
name had not yet been made know, but also to nurture these immerging communities into
Christian maturity (Howard, 76). His ministry to the church of Rome illustrates this
tension. His visit had a dual purpose wishing to teach and instruct them because of a
number of problems existent in the church but also to solicit their support and partnership
in church planting in Spain (Howard, 75). Paul’s role, therefore, was more than a soul-
winner. He worked planting churches but also nurturing them into mature disciples of
Jesus Christ. This is how he understood mission.
The scope of the Great Commission always has been universal (Mt. 28:19, Mk.
16:15, Lk. 24:47, At. 1:8, 26:16). The book of Acts opens as the story of all the Jesus
continued to do through some of the Apostles through the power of the promised Spirit.
Richardson points out, the Apostles were not always aware or willing to make the gospel
universal, rather choosing to keep it for the Jews only (Richardson 1981, 89-99).
However, the Spirit of God given to empower the church to fulfill the Great Commission
(Jn. 20:22, At. 1:8) and to live victorious lives amidst an unbelieving world (Rm. 6-8),
would send his witnesses voluntarily or involuntarily to accomplish his purpose (At. 8:1).
“The object of mission”, says miller, “is to establish his lordship over all nations
through voluntary submission of faith in his divine person and his redeeming work”
(Miller 1998, 232). The counter kingdom which arose from the rebellion of humankind
16
to the authority and rule of God will be destroyed by the return of the king. The church
has been hard a work invading the territory of Satan releasing his captives bringing them
under the rule of Jesus, into the kingdom of God. Salvation history will conclude with
the coming of the king in all his power and glory to claim people and to establish his
kingdom (Rev. 20:1-6). Only then will Israel as a nation will recognized the promised on
and be joined with the church to participate in his kindom.
Do Short-Term Experiences Contribute to Long Term Commitments?
Firm believers in the short-term movement state that STM is effective and a
greater number claim that it impacts and changes those who go (Brown 2005, 12). A
simple internet search on the relationship of STM to LTM will produce over a hundred
thousand hits. Of the thirty or more articles that this student read which attested to STM
experience producing long-term missionaries, none presented any academic research.
The best example of hard data came from the web magazine of the Presbyterian Church
where numerous names and testimonies are presented of short-term participants who are
now serving as long-term missionaries (Iverson).
The bulk of published literature this student has encountered is manuals on how to
better organize and implement an effective short-term trip. These manuals comment on
the long-term value of the experience on the participant, his local church and field. Only
a handful of literature treats the question if STM prods participants to long-term
missionary commitments.
Brown poses the question this dissertation is attempting to answer, “Are Short-
Term Participants Likely to Become Long-Term Missionaries?” His finding shows that
17
although much literature affirms they do, some are now beginning to doubt that STM is
an effective tool in producing long-term missionaries. He goes as far as suggesting that
the STM phenomenon could be contributing to the decline in LTM commitments
(Brown, 26).
The axiom is true, “what you stress is what is caught.” From this axiom, one can
anecdotally surmise that if you promote short-term experiences with a long-term view,
you may have a bigger chance of some short-term personnel returning as career
missionaries. However, this is not the case in many STM manuals.
Livermore offers a very insightful and well-grounded caution to those
participating in short-term assignments. The second half of his book is dedicated to
increasing the cultural intelligence of the participants in order to lessen the blunders often
committed. He seeks to correct assumptions that are blind spots in cross-cultural
ministry. His book emphasizes the need for cultural and linguistic competence but with
no direct reference to the effectiveness of better-prepared long-term missionaries nor a
plea for those participants to consider LTM. He comes close by saying, “short-term
participants are prime candidates for becoming career missionaries" (Livermore, 54).
Mach and Leeann’s guide to STM argues for repeated STM tips based on several
factors, one being that the Apostle Paul’s second missionary journey was a result of him
wanting to revisit those whom he had led to Christ and with whom he had significant
ministry (Stiles and Leeann 2000, 127-128). Another factor is that returning to the same
place of ministry by the same persons deepens friendships and opens the doors for more
effective ministry. This is the long-term view of STM, “a long-term view in a fast food
world” (Stiles and Leeann, 46). However, one should ask, “why not stay?” If repeated
18
trips to the same location promotes more effective and lasting ministry, would not one
who really understands the language and culture have more effective ministry? However,
in this manual there is no mention of LTM being a reason for programs nor is there is any
mention of the short-term missionary’s role being to assist long-term missionaries by
relieving them of certain tasks. The book appears to support the presupposition that STM
can exist and have lasting effects in and of itself.
Forward implies rather vaguely that one of the reasons for doing STM is that it
offers a reason for considering LTM (Forward, 31). However, this is not the point he
stresses in the book. Rather he says that STM is necessary because “there is so much
work to be done” (Forward, 33). We cannot simply rely on the long-term missionary to
get the job done. All working together makes the work lighter.
Under the heading “Short Term or Long Term,” Forward writes that not many of
us have the opportunity to become long-term missionaries. In addition, he admits, not
many really want to become long-term missionaries. There has actually been a marked
decline in career interest. That is the bad news. The good news is that more and more
churches are seeing a growth in interest in STM (Forward, 36-37). If STM is seen as the
good news to a lack of motivation for long-term service, then this helps understand why
possibly many of these 2-4 million short-term participants are not giving adequate
consideration to long-term service. STM is the good news, the viable contemporary
option that energizes the church (Forward, 38).
In Greene’s guide to STM, he seeks to offer a balanced perspective on the value
of STM and its limitations. He recognizes that such a trip can actually inspire some to
consider long-term service (Greene 2003, 14). However, the bulk of emphasis is on the
19
short-term person gaining the most from his experience not the long-term possibility.
The stated reason for his writing another book on STM is “to encourage anyone who is
about to undertake a short-term mission trip” (emphasis mine), to consider such an
adventure (Greene, 9).
Plueddemann presents SIM as one of the first historic mission organizations that
emphasized STM whose general director gave emphasis to the movement in his article
entitled “A New Dimension in Mission” as early as 1965. In 2003, the board requested a
study of the STM phenomenon and other world trends entitled “Seize the Day.” Its
purpose was to provide a comprehensive review of mission in light of the present-day
world (Plueddemann 2005).
In this study, ten groups of people were polled. Among the respondents were nine
SIM sending directors and 770 SIM career missionaries. The main concern of the
sending directors was the frustration of SIM field personnel failing to request enough
short-term missionaries, bad field supervision, and the administrative process. Field
directors were concerned with the administrative weight short-term teams added to the
field structure and personnel. They also requested better screening that would keep
“vacation types” out of the programs and that better field orientation would improve the
performance of short-termers.
The most notable response was from the missionaries. They saw the value of
short-term missionaries as being encouragement to long-term missionaries by filling a
specific need strategic to the field’s goals, and the prayer support it generated among
supporting churches. A problem STM presented was the overwhelming administrative
responsibilities teams brought to the field taking the missionary from his or her primary
20
ministry. Language and cultural deficiencies were noted as limitations as well as shallow
relationships developed with nationals due to the short duration of the trips.
Missionaries taking part in the study saw the primary benefits of STM as
performing tasks not demanding language and cultural knowledge, the hope that some
would return as long-term missionaries, and the encouragement they brought.
These missionaries were asked to name key resources they felt would help them
in their ministry. The least important factor cited was the need for more short-term
missionaries. Their preferences were more long-term missionaries, national leadership,
funding, and training. Ninety-one percent, however, did say they were actually open to
mentoring a short-term missionary. One-on-one mentoring appeared to be seen as
valuable and attractive to career missionaries while caring for a short-term team was
overwhelming in light of their already over-taxed schedules. This apparent disinterest in
STM by career missionaries was clarified by their stating they really needed more long-
term missionaries and saw mentoring as a means to this end. Therefore, career
missionaries view one-on-one mentoring as valuable but not large short-term groups.
It is interesting to note that the research also showed that those in home offices
responsible for recruiting--regional directors and sending directors--were most interested
in promoting STM. Those on the field, the missionaries and the national church, were
less interested unless they could have a one-on-one mentoring relationship with a
potential long-term missionary. “It is also interesting that there was a reluctance by most
to mentor teams of short-term missionaries” (emphasis mine).
It is possible that those in home offices are influenced or pressured by the
overwhelming desire of North Americans for STM experiences. They may express this
21
pressure as frustration with fields that are only guardedly open to the overwhelming
numbers of short-termers approaching the mission.
Comments given by SIM’s 2006 international director expressed this viewpoint of
the home office leadership. He said that one of the ways the organization will respond to
current trends in mission today is to “abolish distinctions based on length of service,
recognizing that all assignments play an important part in ongoing ministry” (McGregor
2006). Does this abolition of distinction in the time commitment downplay the necessity
of more long-term missionaries? And, does it abolish the presupposition of their greater
effectiveness in ministry? This could be an attempt by SIM to give adequate and possible
equal importance to short-term mission
There is a marked difference in the way those of SIM resident in North America
and those on the field viewed the short-term mission phenomenon. Could there be an
even greater distinction in views between those who have had significant cross-cultural
ministry and those who have not had significant (4 years or more) cross-cultural
ministry?
Some leading missiologists refuse to recognize this blurred distinction in
categories. Winter is one who sees the major value of short-term mission as producing
more long-term missionaries, not replacing them nor a second viable option to
accomplishing mission. To him the more efficient way of doing mission is as a long-
termer. Most short-termers fall short of all they could realize if they were to stay longer
(Winter 1992, 197). “No one ever said short termers are the way to win the world, but
they sure are a good way to get started” (Winter, 198).
22
In the same manual, McQuilkin writes another chapter challenging Youth with a
Mission (YWAM) short-termers. Twenty years ago, he was against short-term mission
citing their lack of knowledge in the local language, limited time to develop significant
ministry, and additionally their tying up the schedules of career missionaries. Today, he
is in favor of short-term mission. The switch occurred because he began to see STM as a
way to gain long-term missionaries. “The future of the missionary enterprise from
America isn’t bright unless a far larger number of short-termers become career
missionaries” (McQuilkin 1992, 99).
Ward pounds away again in the same YWAM manual for long-term commitments
in mission. He equates STM to the enthusiasm of driving a new car for the first time.
Though the experience was wonderful, there still was much more you had to learn. With
experience and time, being in control of the automobile becomes more comfortable. In
the beginning, it is easy to think that STM work is the same as LTM work, but the long-
term lifestyle remains mostly hidden to the novice. Eagerness and “youthful exuberance”
are no substitute for the adequate training required for long-term ministry. He closes his
chapter with a ten-question survey to help the participant decide if he or she should “go
for life” (Ward, 1992, 207-213).
Matthews and Ybarrola affirm that short-term trips may be “the best way to find
out if one is suited for a career in mission” (Matthews 192). The long-term involvement
of a short-termer comes in the form of being senders that are more informed and of being
career missionaries. Matthews says that at Abilene Christian University, forty percent of
the participants become long-term missionaries and he refers to many other authors of the
1980’s who shared his conclusion.
23
Ver Beek, a sociologist at Calvin College, presented a case study on the impact of
STM. The purpose of his study was to test the theory of proponents and critics of short-
term effectiveness. He hoped to “evaluate the impact of short-term mission on three
groups: the short-term work groups and the sending and receiving organizations.” The
study centered around a housing project in Honduras for 1.5 million homeless individuals
or those displaced by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It sought to answer three questions: What
was the long-term impact of the experience on the short-termer? What was the long-term
impact of these short-term teams on the communities they served and how did the
sending and receiving organization view the experience?
The result of the program on the Honduran community was that first, there was
little or no difference in the lives of the recipients if their homes were built by a short-
termer as opposed to those by an outside local group. The expected spiritual impact upon
the homeowners was of no marked difference. Both groups stated the same level of
satisfaction finally to have their own homes again.
Secondly, many of the interviewed Honduran families did say that the groups
could have built stronger relationships by having more contact with the people. The
interviews also showed that the Hondurans did not feel valued and that the experience
was one-sided because neither group had taken the time to acknowledge each other’s
contributions.
There was a marked difference in a community’s motivation, unity, and positive
confidence in the future. This difference was not due to the presence or absence of STM
but in the strategy and integrity used by the various organizations managing the
24
construction. The suggestions he lists for better partnership would also apply to any
LTM or STM project with a recipient group.
The Honduran organizations which helped in the projectorganizations that helped
in the project did honestly say they would have preferred the North Americans to have
sent money instead of coming so that there would have been more resources to help other
families. The cost to the teams for participation in the project was apparent to the
national groups.
The long-term result of the program on the North American participants,
determined through surveys and phone conversations, confirmed that the respondents
were happy to have taken part and were impressed by what they saw. All 122 poled
participants said they would recommend or highly recommend a similar experience. Ver
Beek, however, wanted to see if this experience was life changing after one to three
years. Were participants praying more, giving more, or reading more about mission? Of
the 108 who responded to the question if their interest in LTM had increased, nine
percent said it had actually decreased, forty-nine percent stayed the same, twenty-eight
percent somewhat increased, and only fourteen percent said it had increased significantly.
In contrast, thirty-eight percent said their interest in short-term had increased
significantly. After subtracting the social desirability bias, meaning respondents tend to
“exaggerate positive behaviors when self-reporting”, the positive response should be
decreased slightly. A short-term experience impacts one to repeat the experience more
than twice as much as it encourages one to consider a long-term commitment. Of the
fourteen percent who would consider LTM, no follow-up data is available. (Ver Beek
2005).
25
In the area of prayer, only sixteen percent said their prayer time had increased
significantly. Ten percent said their giving had increased significantly, and nine percent
said they were reading and learning more about mission and poverty.
Ver Beek wanted to see if those who had reported the greatest change in their
lives because of the experience had something in common. The motive was to find “key
characteristics” that would make a STM trip more impacting on the participant. Some of
the items they thought would be more significant were not. These included:
1. number of short-term trips in which respondents had participated,
2. who paid for the trips,
3. how much respondents learned about CIDO (The Christian International
Development Organization)
4. whether or not they gave a church presentation after returning, and
5. whether or not respondents were debriefed in North America and the quality
of the debriefing for those who did receive it. (Ver Beek 2005, 14)
The research showed four significant correlations: a difference in qualifications
(for carrying out tasks), difference in satisfaction (with the experience), difference in
learning (“amount learned about issues of poverty and how best to help the poor”), and
difference in education (levels of education).
Ver Beek gives suggestions and conclusions on why giving among respondents
did not go up. First, all studies to date have been based on self-reporting soon after a
short-term experience without having been compared with donor records. Reported
impact on giving is, therefore, overstated. In addition, repeat short-term missionaries are
not looking for giving opportunities but in a “variety of experiences in different countries
26
with different types of short-term mission” (Ver Beek, 17). He concludes that short-term
giving is not an automatic result of a short-term experience. It is not a natural result but
can generate income for a program and change a participant’s giving habits if the
program is well planned.
Secondly, he questions his assumption that North American short-termers are
easily influenced and changed, but rather as young saplings they quickly go back to
growing vertically after having been bent for a short time. This appears to be
“commonsensical” he says where “our exciting experiences and best intentions often do
not translate into lasting changes.”
The study did find that a 1-2 week trip does not promote lasting change in the
participant, but an increase in preparation, emphasis on learning in the process, and
greater contact with the local people would increase “slightly higher amounts of change.”
Some, however, will continue seeking more short-term experiences only to relive the
satisfaction while others would actually seek to make lasting life change already
encouraged by previous trips (Ver Beek, 19).
Cecil critically analyses the effectiveness of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission
Board’s procedures in executing their STM program. The purpose of his analysis was to
evaluate the Mission’s placement of “short-term volunteers”, how this increased their
awareness of mission and promoted further involvement (Cecil, 1). He surveyed three
hundred who had participated in short-term volunteer ministries during 1979 and 1980.
Of these, 77.6 percent were not qualified by the Board for career cross-cultural mission,
but “54.8 percent of these said that they would encourage those who are qualified to
become career missionaries.” He affirms, “As would be expected, short-term volunteer
27
ministries appear to be a motivating influence toward career mission service” (Cecil,
174). Twenty-two percent did say they were “either planning to apply to the Foreign
Mission Board for career appointment or were going to investigate immediately the
possibility of career missionary service” (Cecil, 190-191). Those who were qualified, 8.2
percent were planning on applying for long-term service and 13.8 percent would consider
the possibility of a career in mission (Cecil, 174). What was missing in his research was
a survey of respondents six months after the first survey that would have show more truly
the long-term effects of the STM experience.
McDonough and Peterson conducted a research partially funded and
commissioned by STEM (Short-Term Evangelical Mission Ministries). This 124-page
study conducted in 1996 by Calvin College was STEM’s second published study on the
effect of STM on participants. In their summary of this paper, the authors declare that
those who participated in STEM’s programs were “significantly more likely” to pursue
LTM. This agrees with their stated goal for all STM teams, to “facilitate intentional, life-
long mission growth in the lives of the short-term participants of their two-week overseas
mission experiences” (McDonough and Peterson 1999, 2).
In STEM’s first study conducted in 1991, their findings suggested that two or
more short-term trips were necessary to “influence participants into overseas career
decisions” (McDonough and Peterson, 4). The question that was pursued in the second
study was if multiple trips would really increase the likelihood that a participant would
pursue a LTM commitment.
Their quantitative study of 1996 surveyed 432 participants. Of the seven key
findings listed, the respondents expressed a “greater openness to longer-term career
28
service,” and those who had already felt a call to mission prior to or after the short-term
experience stated that their trip had a positive influence on their decision. Those who
were most inclined to serve as long-term missionaries or who were already serving stated
that the short-term experience had the greatest effect on their decision (McDonough and
Peterson, 9-10). Over thirty four percent said they would most likely return on a mission
trip; 16.5% of the total population group said they would return for long-term service;
7.4% for 1-4 years; and 10.6% for 1-12 months (McDonough and Peterson, 15).
Brown and Ver Beek question STEM’s initial research as it shows a purported
increase in giving toward mission. Brown speculates that the “before” data was based
upon memory. The respondents were asked if their giving had increased as a result of the
experience, but they had no way of accurately judging if it had. STEM also did not take
into account that the participants were no longer students and were working after the
short-term trips which may have explained the increase in giving. The only substantiated
finding was that those who went on a short-term trip would more likely go on another.
In a e-mail exchange with Robert Priest, posted on Christianity Today’s internet
site, Ver Beek says that the one flaw in Peterson’s first research is that it was based on
self-reporting. People say they will give more, but there is no hard data to confirm this
affirmation. In his own study, he says giving “went up very slightly despite the fact that
over 60 percent said they were giving more” (Ver Beek, day 1).
These criticisms on giving also throw some doubt on those who said they would
seek LTM commitments as a result of their short-term experience. More data is needed
to more accurately confirm that those who said they would more likely go into long-term
29
service actually did. The data must show that a short-term trip served as the primary
motivational and influential factor in challenging one to make a long-term commitment.
Terry’s dissertation for Doctorate of Missiology focused only on the effectiveness
of short-term missionaries serving three months or more cross-culturally with the
Nazarene Church between 1983 and 2000. The value of his research to this paper is the
recommendations given to increase missionary effectiveness among short-termers. It can
be suggested that when a short-termer believes he or she has been effective and useful,
his or her sense of accomplishment and usefulness will increase and therefore open to
consider a long-term commitment. Terry’s suggestions could be key contributing factors
to the likelihood of participants going on to long-term commitments.
The Effectiveness of Short-term Mission Program
Terry’s findings agree with Livermore and others stating that language
proficiency and cultural adaptability are most important for the short-term missionary’s
effectiveness. Surveys were given to 101 mid-termers, 96 career missionaries, and 73
national Christians. Of the three studies, the following findings list nine variables in
order of importance that will profoundly impact field effectiveness. Attention should be
given to these variables when selecting candidates, in preparation, and in their placement:
1. Language ability
2. Religious climate of the assignment
3. Cultural adaptation
4. Understanding of the assignment
5. Capacity for interpersonal relationships
30
6. Political context of assignment
7. Spiritual readiness
8. Short term service of 3 months or more than 6 months--preferably a year
9. Priority given to participants between 59-64 years of age. (Terry, 219)
There was a drastic drop in the effectiveness of those individuals whose term
lasted for more than six months. The context of the placements contributed partially to
this drop, but the primary reason he attributes to “problems with cultural adaptation or
cultural shock” (Terry, 220). The drop in the effectiveness index for those serving six
months was “sufficiently significant to make it worthwhile to set assignments either
shorter or longer” (Terry, 231).
In responding to an e-mail question on the long-term vocational effects of STM,
Ver Beek said that it was his experience that those who go on a short-term trip, return to
their old friends, and do not stay in touch with others from the trip will most likely not
see any lasting change in their lives or vocations. Ver Beek and his wife lead a 4-month
semester abroad program for Calvin College in Honduras. They claim to have seen many
students “change their majors and career goals based on their experience”. Their busy
lives, friends, and consumerist culture however slowly squeezes out any lasting effects of
a short-term trip if the young person does not have “encouragement and accountability”
after the trip (V. Beek, Kurt, pers. comm. 2005). This places a huge emphasis on the
value of post-field debriefing and follow-up.
31
An Opportunist Response by the Southern Baptists to the Short-term Mission Phenomenon
Cecil documents the beginning of the Southern Baptist National Summer Mission
Program as early as 1940 in order to help the youth find themselves through ministry, to
find desirable missionary candidates, to help in compatible projects, and to promote
mission in the local churches. The movement soon expanded to include a cross-cultural
program in 1946-1947 (Cecil, 84). Interestingly enough, the Foreign Mission Board
continued to regard “as basic the concept of the career missionary,” but recognized that
short-term missionaries made great partners with career missionaries and national
workers for the advancement of the kingdom (Cecil, 3).
Today, they appear to have geared their mission programs to capitalize effectively
on this cultural trend. They have developed three LTM programs and three short-term
programs.2
Short-term missionaries are those working for a period of 2-3 years. The
emphasis of each is to work alongside long-term missionaries--never apart or
independent of--in areas that match gifting and training to free up the long-term
missionary for more specific and strategic ministry. This is how each program is defined:
Volunteers – There are three programs for volunteers ranging from a few days
to four months. This program focuses on college graduates who have specific
skills that can be utilized on the field. The term “missionary” is not used.
International Service Corps (ISC) – This program is broad and offers
assignments for singles, couples, and young families who are willing to
commit for two to three years of ministry.
2 For a more thorough definition of each program go to http://going.imb.org.
32
Journeyman’s – This program is designed for single college graduates, over
21, with specific skills (who have never had children) who are willing to
commit to a two-year assignment. (These are those college graduates who
have specific skills to offer.) This program is seen as a seedbed for career
missionaries. Since its conception, hundreds of Journeymen have been
appointed as career and/or associate missionaries.
Masters – This program caters to individuals 50 years of age or older who are
able to make a two or three year commitment. The program is designed
especially for those who want to serve God through foreign mission as their
next career. The program seeks those who have invested their lives in another
career, have retired early and can now work alongside long-term personnel.
Long-Term missionaries are those mature, trained personnel committed for 3-4
years or longer. The LTM programs are defined as follows:
Apprentice – An initial apprentice term is three to four years in which the
long-term missionary studies the language, gains experience in the culture,
and develops a relationship with the target group. The apprentice works
alongside veteran personnel who mentor him or her in becoming a valuable
player on an evangelistic church-planting team.
Associate – These have successfully finished the apprentice term and are
being considered for missionary associate service if they do not entirely
qualify for career ministry or when they prefer a four-year placement. The
correct gifts, skills, and training are required for each assignment.
33
Career – Career missionaries are viewed as the underpinning of the Mission
efforts. This is a lifetime commitment in cross-cultural ministry with an
emphasis on strengthening the national church and initiating church planting
movements.
Jerry Rankin, current president of the International Mission Board, published in
his May-June 2003 Stories, five myths about mission. One of the myths states that the
Southern Baptists were emphasizing STM and deemphasizing LTM in an effort to inflate
their numbers. He rebuts this myth by saying that the percentage of career missionaries
has declined in proportion to the total missionary numbers but not the number of long-
term missionaries. They are, rather, experiencing record numbers (Jerry A. Rankin
2003).
In his opinion, short-termers free up career missionaries for more strategic
ministries by placing them in less missiologically-demanding roles. With forty-one
percent of all career missionaries having previously served two years as Journeymen or
ISCers, Rankin sees the value in investing in STM.
Matthews agrees with this emphasis stating that, although many in the ‘90’s
avoided long-term commitments, they were open to career moves. A STM trip actually
proves to be an open door to extended commitments of men and women of experience
(Matthews 1992); the emphasis being on mature and competent short termers.
The Southern Baptists appear to have capitalized on the short-term commitment
of the Baby Boomer trend. Although the numbers of short-term missionaries have hit
astronomical records in relationship to long-term missionaries, for the Southern Baptists
this is not the case. Seventy percent of their total missionary force is long-term. They,
34
according to Kelly, are the only mission agency that has not experienced a decline in
career missionaries (Kelly 2001).
Atkinson, who leads the Office of Mission Personnel that works with candidates
seeking long-term appointment and short-term missionaries, offers six current
documents3 that purport the unusual experience of the Southern Baptist (A. Lloyd, pers.
comm. 2006).
The first document4 is a 12-year study of new missionaries sent out during 1994-
2005. The Journeyman Program started in 1965, but in 1990, they began the
International Service Corps (ISC) as the journeyman-type program that was geared
toward adults ages 21 and older. It grew rapidly. The growth proves that the participants
had good experiences and recruited others. As they observed a growing number of older
adults participating in the ISC, they instituted the Masters program designed for seniors.
Growth continued from 290 short-termers in 1994 to a peak of 769 in 2001.
The second document is a 60-year study from 1945-2005 which shows the growth
of short-term and long-term programs. 5 The only decline came in 2002 due to the
unsettling aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks in NYC and Washington. The
numbers show, however, that 2002 was a record year for long-term personnel. STM
dropped from 768 to 620, and a budget crunch in 2003 additionally diminished the
numbers. Regaining the momentum of 2001 has been slow.
3 See appendix 1
4 See appendix 1 figure 1
5 See appendix 1 figure 2
35
Document 36 shows how short-termers serve the LTM program. It presents long-
term missionaries who had a previous experience in the ISC, Journeyman, or Masters
programs. The percentages of long-term commitments grow from 1991 to 2005 as a
result of a STM experience. The reason for this growth is not clear, but the document
does demonstrate a link between short-term and long-term commitment.
The comparably larger success rate of the Southern Baptists in generating long-
term missionaries is related partly to semantics. What others call short-term, the IMB
calls volunteers. These 30,000 a year helpers do not enter into the statistics but rather are
seen as feeding the 1-2 year programs. Atkinson affirms that at least eighty-five percent
of those in long-term service have been on a mission trip of some kind with the IMB or
another group. One key appears to be that the IMB uses a step approach to commitment
moving from 2-3 week to 2-3 years and on to career mission.
Documents four and five7 give information on the totals of missionaries at the end
of each year. From 2003-2005, the decline in the total missionary force was by design,
but the number of long-term missionaries increased. Document 5 shows this breakdown.
In 2003, the long-term missionary force broke 4,000 for the first time.
Possible Ways of Helping Short-Term Personnel Return as Long-Term Missionaries
Matthews says that effective prefield training and carefully selected assignments
that the short-termers can perform are paramount in guaranteeing a positive experience
for participants. These assignments must be in agreement with their gifts, abilities, and
6 See appendix 1 figure 3
7 See appendix 1 figures 4 and 5
36
the project’s philosophy and objectives, the same emphasis of the IMB. To encourage
short-term recruits to consider LTM certain factors must also be present. They are as
follows:
1. Selection of candidates for a STM project who would qualify for LTM,
2. Competent field supervision,
3. Well defined responsibilities of the STM and field supervisions,
4. Assignment of meaningful tasks the STM can perform,
5. Encouragement of STM in bonding with the local people and language,
6. Adequate debriefing to deal with negative feelings and experiences, and
7. Maintaining contact with participants after they have participated in a STM
project.
Floyd has been the Team Leader for the short-term program the past two years at
IMB. Before this assignment, he was a long-term missionary in Bolivia. Today, he is
involved in screening and sending short-term personnel. He confirms that there has been
no formal study on the reasons many short-termers with the IMB return as long-term
missionaries. Atkinson has documented the growth and development of the short-term
programs, but no evaluative document has been produced. Therefore, he offers his
opinion on the issue (F. Doug, pers. comm. 2006).
First, the glory goes to the Lord for blessing the work of IMB. Although they
concentrate on gifted staff, God in the end is seen as the sole force behind the mission
effort. This agrees with the purpose of the Board which “is not to grow a large
missionary force” but to be in sync with God’s mission to bring all people groups of the
world to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. This purpose has helped keep each field’s strategy
37
focused on “the main thing” activities, that being church planting efforts. When those on
short-term assignments can see themselves as contributing effectively to the overall
purpose of the field, they may then return as long-term missionaries.
Secondly, both Atkinson and Floyd refer to the STM programs as being like a
“farm team” in baseball. This means that the local church contributes to producing a
culture of mission to all who grow up in a Southern Baptist church. Children are
introduced to mission early; youth continue to learn and are exposed to mission through
both U.S. and international trips’ and college students have the opportunity of
participating in a summer or semester mission program. Therefore, when one is sent on a
short-term experience, they claim these have a good background in mission.
Thirdly, the standards are high for all participants. IMB uses separate categories
for short-term and long-term participants but those desiring experience in STM are
heavily screened, spending at least six month in the application process. During this six-
month period, the department helps applicants consider their calling, spiritual
preparation, education, job history, and wellness issues. Floyd says that this process
results in highly qualified people being sent. When the time comes for them to consider
LTM, it is a natural continuation.
This agrees with Cecil’s qualitative survey of missionaries and short-term
personnel that presented the procedure used in 1979-1980 by the Foreign Mission
Board’s administrative staff in STM programs. As a result of these, their programs had
the following effects:
1. Increase volunteer mission awareness (99.6%),
2. Increase volunteer financial support of mission (71.3%),
38
3. Lead volunteers to consider career mission (22%), and
4. Lead volunteers to apply for other short-term opportunities (95%).
Cecil’s study showed that the high screening process of participants now applied
by Akins and Lloyd was already used in 1979 and 1980. This can be seen in the age
breakdown of participants (Cecil, 130):
1. under 18 years of age - 1.2%,
2. 18-30 years of age - 10.7%,
3. 31-50 years of age - 59.1%.
4. 51-65 years of age - 23.2%, and
5. over 65 years old 5.8% .
The age of missionary supervisors was mostly over 45 years (68%) (Cecil, 131).
Of the participants, 94.6% had been professing Christians over 11 years, and 79.9% were
“very active” in their local churches (Cecil, 132-133). The age of the participant and his
or her spiritual maturity as displayed by length of time as a Christian and local church
involvement seem to contribute to the success of these programs. This agrees with
Terry’s research of the Nazarene mid-termers.
Fourthly, of those that the mission, upon evaluation, deemed unready for LTM
assignments, the majority really did not feel a call to mission. There are those, says
Lloyd, who do not qualify for LTM assignments due to educational or personal reasons.
These can, however, serve in a STM assignment while they work on these deficiencies.
Therefore, Floyd channels these to the short-term program where they can experience
cross-cultural mission for two to three years and explore God’s calling. Many of these,
39
he says, need to experience mission for more than a 2-3 week program. The longer term
gives them that opportunity.
The final reason that many short-term personnel end up in long-term assignments
is the availability of well-defined job descriptions. In the past, many short-term
missionaries served in support roles, but today the IMB is open for other ministries. This
attracts highly qualified and experienced persons. These persons desire to be challenged,
to feel they are effective in their ministry assignment, and are focused on the “main
thing.” Those who feel they are not contributing or effective will most likely not return
to mission.
It is a bit early for this student to speculate on reasons the vast number of short-
term participants do not consider LTM, but it appears congruent with IMB’s experience
to say that one must spend adequate time in the cross-cultural experience to be
significantly impacted and challenged vocationally. More time on the field in ministry
allows God to work, for a bonding with the local people and culture to take place, and for
effective ministry to develop. If the majority of short-termers only experience mission
for 2-6 weeks, most never experience cross-cultural ministry to the point of considering a
long-term commitment.
Current Trends in the Short-Term Mission Movement of Brazil
The Growth of the Brazilian Church
The Brazilian evangelical church continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. The
2000 Brazil census reported produced by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e
Estatística (IBGE)8 that 15.41% of the total population of Brazil declared to be
evangelical--a 7.43% increase from the 1991 census. This was significantly higher than
the 1.63% population increase (IBGE 2000). Based on the current growth of
evangelicals, IBGE projected that by 2004 the percentage of evangelicals would increase
to 20.3%.
SEPAL, Servindo a Pastores e Lideres,9 is a 30-year-old evangelical think-tank
and research center begun by Campus Crusade in Brazil. Their ministry is primarily to
Brazilian pastors and leaders and involves promoting training and providing materials to
aid the expansion of the Brazilian church. In 2002, they conducted their own research
choosing several Brazilian cities of various sizes and geographic locations. This research
was to determine how many of these so-called evangelicals they could find in church on a
given Sunday, and what the average attendance of a Brazilian evangelical church actually
was. The research showed that 6.5% of the Brazilian population claimed they attended
church making the average service on a given Sunday about seventy (Análise e Gráficos:
SEPAL Pesquisas 2005).
The Brazilian Mission Movement
The Brazilian mission movement does not appear to have grown in proportion to
the evangelical population. The IBGE estimates the country’s population today to be 184
million people and the evangelical population at 37.5 million. Mércia, secretary for the
Department of Research for SEPAL, said in a telephone conversation that, although the
cross-cultural mission movement in Brazil is about twenty years old, it has only really
8 “Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics”
9 “Serving Pastors and Leaders”
9
grown in the last thirteen years. The cross-cultural mission effort now stands at 3,195
strong, up from 880 in 1989 (InfoBrasil.org 2006), but SEPAL estimates the number of
cross-cultural missionaries at over 3500.10, but it is still only .0085% of the evangelical
population. The STM movement is even younger so, there is no hard data available
(Mercia Chiavegatti 2006).
In such a young mission movement, many on the field are therefore beginners.
The latest research of SEPAL shows that eleven percent of the total missionary force has
been on the field less than one year and thirty-five percent have only been on the mission
field between 1-3 years (Limpic 2005). This means that forty-six percent of the total
Brazilian missionary force has fewer than three years experience.
Competencies for Brazilian Short-term Missionaries
Bradford in his Doctor of Ministry dissertation sought to identify intercultural
competencies through biblical and modern literature particularly focusing on sojourner
research that was most relevant to Brazilian short-term missionaries. “Two of these
competencies, intercultural sensitivity and boldness, were chosen to be the focus of study
on a four-week mission internship of seven Brazilian Word of Life Bible Seminary
students” (Bradford, iii). It sought to evaluate the effect a STM trip had on Brazilian
seminary participants (Bradford, 200).
He defined cultural sensitivity as “a combination of sensitivity to and interest in
other cultural worldviews” (Bradford, 200). The study showed that the trip “merely
heightened the importance of cultural sensitivity without necessarily helping the student
10 Refer to Appendix B for details on exact numbers of cross-cultural Brazilian missionaries, where they work and with what type of mission agency. These include only those sent by sending agencies. Many are send by their local churches, associations, or independently.
9
grow in this area” (Bradford, 201). Some had unrealistic or romantic ideas of the mission
field and of their own intercultural competencies. He concluded that a STM trip served
little value in training one for intercultural competency (Bradford, 203). He, however,
suggests several times that a longer-term trip may lead to greater growth for a number of
participants. Bradford concludes the following about the value of such shorter trips: “The
greater value of such a trip may be to dispel unrealistic expectations of life on the mission
field” (Bradford, 202).
The study also sought to identify growth in the participants’ boldness, defined as
“having two interrelated but distinct elements: verbal forthrightness and adventuresome nature. The former is indicative of persons who take initiative, speak out readily, and confront others. The latter points to a willingness to take risks, be innovative, and place oneself in potentially harmful situations.” (Ibid., 204)
Pre and post scores showed little change in participants’ “forthrightness.”
However, the control group which had significant ministry in the members’ native
language did show growth. His speculation is that a cross-cultural trip which focuses
more on evangelism and not on strengthening existing local church ministry and which
was longer in duration may contribute more to a student’s growth in forthrightness.
However, in the second area of “adventuresomeness.” there was growth especially in
those who ministered cross-culturally.
Bradford offers nine possible applications his study makes to Brazilian or
non-Brazilian short-term ministries.
1. It could help one view cross-cultural ministry in a more realistic perspective,
dispelling the romantic idea of mission, and helping one confirm LTM calling.
9
2. A greater awareness of cross-cultural issues could lead to better post-field
training as a student seeks to interpret his or her experiences.
3. For some, the cross-cultural experience can foster growth in cross-cultural
competencies.
4. Good prefield orientation on the difficulties a participant may encounter can help
generate growth as he or she faces threatening or negative situations.
5. A high degree of ownership should be sought giving the participants
responsibilities and power in decision-making.
6. A one-month trip can promote growth, but longer trips are encouraged.
7. Regular debriefing, journaling, and reflection should be encouraged.
8. Expectations concerning growth in all areas related to the participant must be
realistic. Growth will take place incrementally rather than dramatically.
9. The use of experiential learning should be given merit by those developing
curricula for seminaries and schools.
Bradford’s study was helpful because it also describes the Brazilian STM context.
He says,
Many new mission agencies of the region do not require pre-field training of those sent out…In light of these difficulties, an increasing number of Latin churches and mission agencies are requiring missionary training of some sort. The lack of insistence on formal credentials appears to favor the acceptance of non-formal training of some sort. Indeed, many new mission training institutions (and older ones being restructured) are building experiential training into the curriculum.11
11The author refers to the Antioch Mission Training Course which requires Brazilian students to spend six months of their training in Bolivia. This is confirmed through the interview this students conducted with the said mission’s president, Silas Tostes.
9
The Relevancy of Long-term Mission Retention Issues in Two-Thirds World Mission
The North American mission context and the Brazilian mission contexts have
similarities as well as marked differences given cultural, economic, and ecclesiastical
distinctions. These differences can be seen especially in their short-term movements.
This movement in Brazil is even younger than their long-term experience. Therefore,
some attention must be given to issues that center around LTM retention with the hope
that there is some overlap in the two programs. What can we learn from LTM retention
issues that if applied to the STM program will greatly increase STM effectiveness and
LTM commitments? The data collected should show if there is overlap and how relevant
that overlap is in producing more long-term missionaries through effective short-term
programs.
ReMAP I as It Relates Specifically to Brazil
In 1993, when at the second Congresso Nacional de Missões in Caxambú12,
Brazil, it was revealed that seventy-five percent of Brazilian cross-cultural missionaries
left the field during their first five years in ministry (Lewis 1998, 105), it was a bucket of
cold water and a wake up call on the euphoric attitude in Brazil that was permeating the
country in the 1990’s (Limpic, 1998, 130). The research showed that three in every four
Brazilians left the field before fulfilling five years of ministry (Limpic, 131).
Twenty-four different mission agencies participated in the ReMAP I research for
Brazil. These agencies mentioned five causes for such high attrition: lack of support,
interpersonal problems with colleagues, inadequate pre-field training, personal reasons
like stress and self-esteem, and marital issues. During the 1990’s, inflation had risen in 12 First National Congress of Mission
9
Brazil to fifty percent, therefore, it is understandable that lack of support was a major
issue. After finances, however, Limpic says the other issues were character related
(Limpic, 133).
Additionally, the survey revealed that fifty-eight percent of those mission
agencies expected the candidates to participate in their own training program for
missionaries. Forty-two percent said they expected candidates to have had short-term
experience. Only one mission agency demanded that their candidates have a diploma in
formal missiological training (Limpic, 137).
Ekström asks that in light of the high attrition rate of Brazilian missionaries, how
important is pre-field selection for retention (Ekström 198, 144)? Without a doubt, he
affirms, to begin avoiding premature return of missionaries, the proper selection of
candidates is critical. The research revealed that Brazilian agencies must improve the
selection process in the areas of character and prefield training in Bible and Missiology
(Ekström, 157).
He emphasizes that selection must begin in the local church community where a
candidate’s call and character should be developed and observed. The local church,
however, is limited in its role in sending missionaries and lacks the ability to give proper
missiological training. The Asociação de Missões Transculturais do Brasil (AMTB)13
produced standards for long-term missionary training that are not often followed even by
mission agencies because many of their leaders themselves lack experience in the field
and their knowledge is insufficient to apply the prerequisites (Ekström, 147-148).
Ekström’s advice for better pre-field selection and preparation could be applied to
participants in short-term projects with the same desired affect. Better prepared
13 The Association of Cross-cultural Mission Agencies of Brazil
9
participants for long-term or short-term ministry and a higher caliber of participant could
allow for more significant ministry and for long-term commitments. Higher standards
may not be used by advocates of STM (at least in North America) because they
themselves may lack cross-cultural experience and thus a greater sympathy and
appreciation for LTM. The result is a de-emphasis on LTM and an over- emphasis on
short-term effectiveness. A greater understanding on how to achieve better long-term
missionary effectiveness and retention, may also give a greater concern for short-term
pre-field preparation and selection. This would, also, lead to greater short-term
missionary effectiveness and retention. Precedent research affirms this assertion.
As a result of ReMap I, several Brazilian mission agencies began to adopt STM as
part of their curriculum.14 It was seen as beneficial in preparing one for long-term
commitments, confirming call, and a host of other benefits. Data collection will focus on
what can be learned from these agencies and missionaries who have participated and
conducted STM trips with a long-term view.
ReMAP II as It Relates Specifically to Brazil
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Mission Commission conducted a
second study focusing on missionary retention factors and mission agency practices. The
study was limited to long-term (3 years or more) cross-cultural missionaries. In 2003,
questionnaires were sent out to 22 countries from which 598 agencies and 3,920 long-
term missionaries participated (Bloccher 2004, footnote 1). Among these, 275 agencies
with 13,065 missionaries were from new sending countries (NSC) of which Argentina,
Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala participated (Bloccher, footnote 6).
14 Interviews with Antioquia, Avante, and Kairoz mission leaders affirms this.
9
The relevancy of their findings to the context of Brazil and STM is first that these
new sending countries from South American share cultural and ecclesiastical contexts
similar to Brazil. Secondly, the factors seen to have kept these missionaries on the field
are similar to those that the precedent literature deemed to be most important in
producing an effective STM experience.
It will be beneficial to give some attention, therefore, to those factors which were
reported to be relevant for retention among two-thirds world countries. Bloccher divides
his interpretation of the research into ten categories of factors listed. This student will
comment on what he feels is most relevant:
1. Candidate Selection – “Careful candidate selection proved to be one of the most
decisive areas for mission longevity” (Bloccher, 2). Agencies from old sending
countries (OSC) and new sending countries (NSC) gave a very high rating for
candidacy selection, but this was equally emphasized among high retention and
low retention agencies. High retention agencies, however, considered issues that
centered on spiritual and emotional maturity. Particularly important among NSC
was the blessing of the family on the candidate. (This is to be understood because
of the importance of family opinion among these NSC). We will give special
attention to this area in the interviewing process.
2. Pre-field Training Requirements – when comparing high retention agencies to low
retention agencies, high retention agencies expected twice as much formal
theological training and three times as much missiological training. The
effectiveness of informal pre-field training, Bloccher said, has not been verified
9
(as is commonly used in Brazil) (Bloccher, 3). We will look for an emphasis on
pre-field training for STM’s, how this is conducted, and what is taught.
3. Vision and Communication – New sending countries gave special attention to this
section as old sending countries gave attention also to western concepts of
procedures and organizational structures. New sending countries focused on a
culture of prayer, vision, and purpose among the agency. High retention NSC
agencies showed greater attention to vision; plans and job descriptions; good
communication from the leaders; and policies that are well documented
(Bloccher, 3-4).
4. Leadership – “the person and integrity of the leader appears to be of greatest
importance and can even offset organizational deficits,” says Bloccher (Bloccher,
4). High retaining agencies gave especially high marks to leadership qualities of
foresight into problems and their solutions, good on-field supervision, and
effective procedures for handling complaints from missionaries (Bloccher, 5).
5. Orientation and Continuous Training – Effective on-field orientation stood out
strong for those NSC high-retention agencies. Language learning and cultural
orientation did not score high among these because most are missionaries to their
own people or peoples of close cultural formation (Bloccher, 5). This means that
short-term as well as long-term missionaries are most effective among people of
close cultural formation and that there is an identified need for pre-field language
and cultural preparation.
6. Ministry – The most decisive issue that strengthens morale among missionaries is
commitment to one’s ministry. Among high retaining agencies, these
9
missionaries also gave high marks to commitment to their agency and the freedom
to “shape and develop their own ministry” (Bloccher, 6).
7. Ministry outcomes – This area was tied closely to the relational orientation of
missionaries from NSC. They rated very highly relationships that developed with
local people, that these are becoming followers of Christ, and that the local church
values their ministry. High retention NSC agencies showed higher scores in each
of these areas. This can be explained because of the highly relational cultures of
these NSC. We will see how this is a huge area of concern and needs adequate
emphasis in any program.
8. Personal Care and Family Support – Bloccher observes what is classic among
relational cultures, “NSC agencies invest twice as much of their total staff time
and finances on member care as OSC agencies and high retaining NSC agencies
much more than low retaining” (Bloccher, 7). For NSC agencies, retention is
directly correlated with effective team relational dynamics, pastoral care on the
field, and effectively handled interpersonal conflict (Bloccher, 7-8). This means
that STM from these countries will also need much higher concentrations of time
and relational energy from mission leaders and on-field mentors. Likewise,
establishing an emotional connection with the sending mission and the local
people will be most important.
9. Finances – Finances score very high among all mission agencies thus proving to
be a decisive issue. For NSC agencies, a deciding factor in missionary retention
was financial back-up for those missionaries with irregular or low support
(Bloccher, 8-9). In a culture like Brazil’s where commitments are easily broken,
9
financial support for STMs needs to be concretely established. In addition,
regular communication with supporters must be maintained, and an attitude of
trust in God should be encouraged.
10. Home Office – Pre-field screening showed up highest among OSC and NSC
agencies of high retention along with the practice of praying by home office staff.
NSC agencies still do not have the practice of debriefing missionaries during
home assignment (Bloccher, 9).
Among the NSC agencies, those with high retention numbers have managed to
keep 91% in service after 10 years as compared with 48% of low retaining NSC agencies
(Ibid., 10). Ekström in his comments on ReMap II said that Brazil manages to retain only
52% of its missionaries. He proposes that better pre-field preparation, more critical
selection of candidates, administrative support, finances, and pastoral care of the
missionary and his family are determining factors. Further reflection on the result of
ReMap II, however, is still being carried out by Brazilian mission leaders (Ekström,
2006).
Conclusion
This student continues to ask, “even if a survey of long-term missionaries should
prove that many had been on a short-term trip and that it was instrumental in helping
them make a long-term commitment, why are so few, at least from North America, who
participate becoming long-term missionaries?” If two million go on short-term
expeditions each year from North America, why do we not see a proportionate increase in
long-term commitments?” Rather, we see stagnation in the numbers of career
missionaries serving abroad. Can the numbers reflect a wide spread unhealthy practice in
9
the way North America does STM? Are the key elements presented in the Precedent
research not being followed and thus very little long-term effects being harvested in
comparison to the astronomical resources being used?
The precedent research showed that cultural and language competencies were
instrumental in producing a good STM experience. Time with nationals and their culture,
time serving with long-term missionaries, and being mentored were highly important.
This student also conjectures that if no adequate challenge is made for participants to
become career missionaries, rather a deemphasis, the likelihood of any so desiring
diminishes substantially.
In the introduction to A Guide to Best Practice in STM, Tunnicliffe, of the
Evangelical Fellowship of Canada’s Task Force for Global Mission, affirms the popular
notion that STM promotes LTM. He refers to their in-house study15 which proved that
Canadian churches which had a growing mission program and which have “sent
missionaries in the past five years correlate most with STM teams. This means the best
thing a church can do, if it wants to send long-term missionaries, is send short-term
missionaries.” However, the paper does not define what a growing mission program is.
There is disagreement with what is an effective mission program. Many who affirm the
popular STM methods vouch that STM strengthens a local church mission program
because is spawns more STM interest. If it were true that it also spawns more LTM
commitment when key elements are present, then those churches investing in STM would
have an increase in giving, not to STM and related projects, but to LTM.
15 A request for this study was made but no response was received.
9
Good research has shown a link to exist between STM and LTM, but only when
key elements are present. The collection of data will seek to confirm these elements,
disprove them, or
Richardson, Don. 1981. The Hidden Message of Acts. In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: a reader, ed. Hawthorne, C. and Winter, Ralph D. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
Claassen, Oliver J. and Rowen, Samuel F. 2006. The Re-emergence of an Alternative Model of Missions. Fort Myers: Kingdom Restoration Society.
Larkin, William J. Jr. 1998. Mission in Luke. In Mission in the New Testament: and Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William J. Jr and Williams, Joel F, 158-163. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Peters, George W. 1972. A Biblical Theology of Missions. Chicago: Moody Press.
Harvey, John D. 1998. Mission in Matthew. In Mission in the New Testament: and Evangelical Approach, ed. Willaim, Larkin Jr. and William, Joel F, 127. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Kostenberg, David. J. 1998. Mission in the General Epistles. In Mission in the New Testament: An Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William Jr. and Williams, Joel F, 202. Maryknoll: Orbis Books1.
Wright, Christopher J.H. 1995. Walking in the Ways of the Lord. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.
Walking in the Ways of the Lord. :.
Kaiser, Walter C. Jr. 1978. Toward an Old Testament Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
Verkyl, Johannes. 1981. The Biblical Foundation for the Worldwide Mission Mandate. In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement a Reader, ed. Winter, Ralph D and Hawthorne, Steven C, 35-36. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
Köstenberger, Andreas J. pdf. The Place of Mission in New Testament Theology: An Attempt to Determine the Significance of Mission within the Scope of the New Testament’s Message as a Whole. Biblical Foundations, no. http://www.biblicalfoundations.org/pdf/NT%20Theology%20and%20Mission.PDF: 1-13.
Bosch, David. 1991. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.Bosch, David. 1991. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of
Mission. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.tweak them as they relate to the Brazilian experience.
9
CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Description of the Research Method
The research will attempt to answer the question: “what are the set of experiences
among short-term Brazilian missionaries that contributed to their making a commitment
to long-term cross cultural mission service?” This question cannot be easily explained
because it has not been adequately researched; therefore, the method selected will be the
more focused approach of qualitative research. The question posed by this paper is a
“what” and not a “why” question that is answered best by the qualitative method.
Secondly, the qualitative method has been chosen because variables cannot be established
(Creswell 1998, 17). There is no theory yet researched that explains why Brazilian short-
term missionaries end up in LTM service, therefore the subject needs to be examined.
Qualitative research method will demand a personal inquiry approach into the
natural setting, which will explore the unanswered question of motive. This researcher
will attempt to build a holistic picture of the experience of those who have been involved
in STM. This refers to the complex narrative of the interviewees and attempts to
understand all its complexities. It will analyze words, contexts, language, and
demographics as it attempts to understand and interpret the detailed views of the
53
54
informants (Creswell 1998, 14-15). This student wishes to be an active learner
and does not assume that he is an authority in the Brazilian STM movement.
The type of grounded theory chosen is “A Process Approach” as elaborated by
Creswell (Creswell 2004, 404-405). The research problem will be, “What is the
relationship between short-term cross-cultural mission experiences and a long-term
commitment to cross-cultural mission service?” This problem has lead to a study of the
central phenomenon of “using short-term mission to generate more long-term
missionaries.” To study this central phenomenon, the researcher will frame the question
into a process as, “discovering the process by which a short-term missionary becomes a
long-term missionary.” The process is seen as having a “sequence of activities, actions
by people, and interactions among people” which will reveal those key elements of a
STM experience that if present are more apt to generate a long-term commitment.
Activities will be organized into a sequence revealing actions of the short-term
participants. Short-term missionaries and their leaders will be studied in interviews and
observations to understand this process.
Overall Research Strategy
The strategy chosen will be qualitative grounded research theory. The analyses of
the interviews will seek to identify actions and interactions of short-term participants and
their mission leaders, colleagues, and context. The analysis will attempt to identify key
words in the transcripts of interviews, field notes, in vivo codes, or words of the
researcher that will become the categories. The researcher will examine the flow of
activities in the STM programs and/or training programs used by Brazilian mission
55
agencies and the experience of STM participants that lead to a LTM commitment or did
not lead to LTM commitment.
This researcher will attempt to place his theories and biases aside as they relate to
the North American short-term phenomenon and short-term missionary training schools
of Brazil. The goal will be for a theory to emerge from the research.
Those mission agencies known by this researcher working with STM in Brazil are
JOCUM (Youth with a Mission, Brazil), Horizontes (formerly connected with World
Horizons UK), Avante, Antioquia, Operation Mobilization Brazil, and Kairoz. Mission
leaders and founders will be chosen from four of these organizations, which appear to
work more with older mission candidates, and/or have a LTM emphasis: Antioquia,
Avante, Kairoz, and Horizontes.
First, an e-mail will be mailed to each mission leader explaining the intent of this
study and posing in a broad question what this mission leader believes are key elements
in their program that have been most effective in motivating participants into LTM. The
questions will be broad giving them room to share openly form their experience.
Each of the four mission leaders will provide names of six individuals who have
participated in their STM program: three who are now long-term missionaries and three
who are not long-term missionaries. After the initial four interviews with these leaders,
the researcher will contact STM participants from each of their mission and conduct
interviews in person when possible. All six participants of one agency will be
interviewed before moving on to the next agency. Twenty-four STM participants will be
interviewed: twelve who are currently in LTM and twelve who are not in LTM. A total
56
of twenty-eight interviews will be conducted: four mission leaders and twenty-four STM
participants.
Studies presented in the Precedent Research will suggest key elements for a
successful STM program with a long-term emphasis. These will provide initial
categories and an outline that will be loosely followed in the interviews with mission
leaders. These interviews will add to and clarifies these categories helping focus the
interviews with short-term participants. Analysis of all data will confirm categories and a
theory will emerge grounded in the data collected.
Collection of Data
The interviews will be conducted via phone or personal visits. One-on-one
interviews are the preferred method of gathering data, however, when travel is too
expensive or difficult, interviews will be conducted by phone. The researcher will
evaluate the quality of each interview immediately after it is conducted to ensure that it is
data rich. If in the opinion of the researcher the answers were not full and complete, then
that interviewee will be re-contacted to clarify his or her responses to ensure that
complete information was gathered. If necessary, a new interviewee will be selected.
Each interview regardless of the method chosen will be recorded in audio format
unless the interviewee expresses other wise. In this case, one will make personal notes.
The audio recordings will be transcribed to written text for better analyses.
Population
The population of which generalizations will be made are Brazilians who have gone
on a STM trip to another ethnic group outside of the Brazilian political borders. They
57
will be from four Brazilian mission agencies who have participated in a STM experience
within the last ten years. Mission trips between one month and two years will further
delimit the group.
Sampling
Of this population, a purposeful and convenience sample of twenty-four will be
chosen from four mission agencies that work in at least three different countries and/or
ethnic groups. It is purposeful because the researcher is selecting twenty-four people he
expects will provide him relevant data. It is a convenience sample because he is selecting
people based on accessibility.
The sample will be divided in to two cluster samples, twelve from each cluster. The
samples are all those who have been on a STM trip. They will be grouped into two
clusters: one group will be those who are currently in LTM and the other group are those
who are not in LTM.
The researcher will allow mission leaders to select the interviewees for each cluster.
Preference will be given to those interviewees who are currently in Brazil because of
accessibility in case a one-on-one interview is possible.
Instrument
The precedent literature will provide insight into the development of a general
interview guide used with four mission leaders. Three initial headings will be followed
in which to organize and guide the research: pre-field, on-field, and post-field. The initial
interview questions will be broad coming from categories and elements under each
heading that the research identified as important or detrimental in producing a
58
commitment to LTM. The four interviews will provide a more focused interview guide
used with STM participants. A more focused guide with questions will emerge after the
first six interviews with STM participants, three from each cluster. This guide will be
used in the remaining eighteen interviews.
Validation of Instrument
Four mission leaders will validate categories initially presented by the precedent
literature and will also present new categories. Six initial interviews with short-term
participants from one mission agency, three from each cluster sample, will validate those
categories of the mission leaders and focus the interview guide. Interviewees will be free
to ask questions and to comment beyond the questions (Creswell 2004, 361). In order to
validate the guide, the researcher will rework the questions from comparisons made
between the first six transcribed interviews. After each interview, the researcher will
look for emerging categories from these comparisons, validate the questions, and add
new questions. After the validation of the guide, it will be reused on the initial six
interviewees if necessary to gain information in all final questions and on the remaining
convenient sample. The researcher will observe rules of confidentiality.
Sequence of the Process
The researcher will interview four mission leaders from four mission agencies. After
these interviews have been analyzed and a preliminary instrument developed, six
participants who have been on STM trips from one of these four mission agencies will be
interviewed independently, three from each cluster group. After the validation of the
instrument, the researcher will interview six from each mission agency independently.
59
The interviews will be transcribed and analyzed through coding, memoing, and linking in
units of six before moving on to each respective mission agency sample. The process
will continue until all 24 interviews are completed.
Plan of Interpretation
To understand the process by which a short-term missionary does or does not
become a long-term missionary will be the focus of attention in the analysis of the data.
The data will present a sequence of activities, actions of people, interactions by people
which will lead the researcher to begin to understand and develop categories until a
theory emerges that answers the central question (Creswell 2004, 405), “What is the
relationship between short-term cross-cultural mission experiences and a long-term
commitment to cross-cultural mission service?”
Activities, actions, and interactions of people will generate isolated characteristics
in the experience of the short-termer that will form categories. These characteristics will
be understood as “themes of basic information” in the data that help explain the process
of becoming a long-term missionary (Creswell 2004, 404). Coding will help validate and
create new categories that will take place after each interview. The researcher will look
for core categories grouping minor categories under major headings. After the first six
interviews, three from each cluster group, the categories should become clear and
significant links made between them. Each consecutive group of six interviews will
confirm and add to these categories and links. The interpreter will use the repetitive
process of coding, memoing and linking with each interview. This process will help
draw grounded comparisons and links between the experiences shared. Interpretive
60
comments alongside of the data will aid in the comparisons and linking. This will take
place until all twenty-four interviews are finished and transcribed.
The transcripts will be sorted in MSWord. Codes will be given to each category
and the program will help sort the codes. After they are printed, they will be sorted into
piles and organized according to their links. As a theory emerges, the piles will be
organized in sequence and priority. This will give clarity to the theory.
The purpose of this process of interpretation is to ground the categories to the data
collected. This process will continue until all twenty interviews are finished and a theory
is sufficiently grounded.
Plan of Presenting Findings
The findings will be presented to the MAEB board along with recommendations
to be implemented in improving its STM track. The track will incorporate in its pre-field
orientation, mentoring on the field, and post-field debriefing all the elements from the
finding. It will be descriptive with tables and charts.
61
CHAPTER IV
PLAN FOR COMPLETING THE DISSERTATION
Statement on the Accessibility of Necessary Resources
Potential respondents for the interviews come from four mission agencies located
in Brazil accessible by the researcher who lives in country. Mission leaders and STM
respondents of these agencies are available through Skype (an internet phone), long-
distant providers, or public transport. Those respondents who live outside of Brazil will
only be accessible by phone.
Tentative Working Outline
See Appendix C
Tentative Time Schedule for Completion
See Appendix D
Curriculum Vitae
See Appendix E
62
RESOURCES SITED
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Alvarez, Miguel. The New Context of Missiological Education: A review of Early Twenty-First Century Scenarios (part 2). JAM, no. 6:2 (2004): 167-181. http://www.apts.edu/jam/6-2/malvarez.pdf accessed May, 2006.
Análise e Gráficos: SEPAL Pesquisas. 2005. Quantas Igrejas Evangélicas Existem no Brasil?. Sepal, January, 2005. http://www.infobrasil.org/brasil/index.htm. (accessed June 13, 2006).
Atkinson, Lloyd.. 2006. RE: Long-term Mission Statistics. E-mail message to Tim Evans. May 15.
Ekström, Bertil. 1998. Queremos Enviar Todos Aqueles Que Batem em Nossa Porta: Perspectivas dos Novos Países Enviadoras. Ed. William D. Taylor. Londrina: Descoberta.
Bloccher, Detlef Good Agency Practices: Lessons from ReMAP II. Feb. 9, 2004 http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/commission/mc/mc_southafrica/resources/Good%20agency%20practices-20040226.pdf. (accessed October 15, 2006)
Brant, Howard 21 “Redefining Missions for the 21st Century” in The Two Thirds World Church: Lausanne Occasional Paper No. 44 given in Pattaya, Thailand, September 29 to October 5, 2004 (May 2004), 11-25.
Brown, C. M. 2005. Field Statement on the Short-Term Mission Phenomenon: Contributing Factors and Current Debate. June 9.
Cecil, James W. 1981. A Critical Analysis of the Foreign Mission Board's Procedures for the Involvement of Short Term Volunteers in Personal Presence Overseas Ministries. Ed.D. diss., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, TX.
63
Creswell, John W. Educational Research: Planning, Conduction, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research (Second Edition) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc., 2004.
_______ . Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1998.
Dayton, Edward R. ed. 1973. Mission Handbook: North American Protestant Ministries Oversees. 10th ed. Monrovia: MARC.
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, A Guide to Best Practice in Short-term Mission Survey: The Task Force for Global Mission. http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/commission/mc/mc_southafrica/resources/short_term_mission_resource_guide.pdf accessed October 14, 2006.
Floyd, Doug. 2006. Short-Term and Long-Term. E-mail message to Tim Evans. July 14.
Forward, David C. 1998. The Essential Guide to the Short-Term Mission Trip. Chicago: Moody Press.
Greene, Leon H. 2003. A Guide to Short-Term Mission. Waynesboro: Gabriel Publishing.
Harvey, John D. 1998. Mission in Matthew. In Mission in the New Testament: an Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William Jr. and Williams, Joel F., 119-136. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Howell, Don N. Jr. 1998. Mission in Paul’s Epistles: Genesis, Pattern, and Dynamics. In Mission in the New Testament: an Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William Jr. and Williams, Joel F., 63-91. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Huntington, Samuel P. 1997. Alvarez, Miguel. New York: Touchstone Simon & Schuster, 21-35. Quoted in Miguel Alvarez. The New Context of Missiological Education: A Review of Early Twenty-First Century Scenarios (part 2), vol. 6:2, 172. : JAM, 2004.
IBGE. 2000. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. Ministério de Planejamento, Orçamento e Gestão. http://www.ibge.gov.br// (accessed June 14, 2006).
IMB. Long Term. Going IMB. http://going.imb.org/longterm.asp/ (accessed July 12, 2006).
Infobrasil.org. "Agências E Juntas Missionárias Do Brasil [resumo Geral: 2005]." September 27, 2005. http://www.infobrasil.org/agen/por/consulta-2005/bra/_resum.htm. (accessed December 30, 2006).
Iverson, Dan and Carol. no date. In The Church: Short-term Mission: Blessing or Bother?. By Faith - Online. http://www.byfaithonline.com/partner/article_Display_page/0,,PTID323422%7CCHID66022%7CCIID1873878,00.html. (accessed July 10, 2006).
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Kelly, Mark. 2001. IMB trustees adopt challenge budget, appoint largest group of missionaries. Standard, November 26, 2001. http://www.baptiststandard.com/2001/11_26/pages/imb.html. (accessed May 12, 2006).
Köstenberger , David J. “The Place of Mission in New Testament Theology: An Attempt to Determine the Significance of Mission Within the Scope of the New Testament’s Message as a Whole,” Missiology 27 (1999): 347–62.
_______. 1998. Mission in the General Epistles. In Mission in the New Testament: an Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William Jr. and Williams, Joel F., 189-206. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Larkin, William, J. Jr. 1998. Mission in Luke. In Mission in the New Testament: an Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William Jr. and Williams, Joel F., 152-169. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
_______. 1998. Mission in Acts. In Mission in the New Testament: an Evangelical Approach, ed. Larkin, William Jr. and Williams, Joel F., 170-185. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Lewis, Jonathan. 1998. Investigando as Causas e Curas da Perda de Missionários. In Valioso demais para que se Perca. (Too Valuable to Lose: Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition) Trans. Hans Udo Fuchs 1st edition in Portuguese Ed. William D. Taylor., 105-122 Londrina: Descoberta.
Limpic, Ted. "Tempo dos Missionários Brasileiros no Campo." (The Amount of Time Brazilian Missionaries are on the Field) Infobrasil.org, 2005. http://www.infobrasil.org/transpar/por/missbr/gif/slide6.gif/ (accessed December 30, 2006).
Matthews, Ed. 1992. Short-Term Efforts and Long-Term Effects. Journal of Applied Missiology Volume 03 (October) www.bible.acu.edu/misions/page.asp?ID=434, Accessed May 19, 2006.
McClure, David. 2001. Wholly Available? Missionary Motivation where Consumer Choice Reigns. William Carey Org, 2006, 2001. / (accessed July 19).
McDonough, Daniel P. and Peterson, Roger P. 1999. Can Short-Term Mission Really Create Long-Term Career Missionaries? Minneapolis: STEAM Ministries.
McGregor, Malcolm. 2006. Faith effects. SIM - Faith Effects. http://www.sim.co.uk/standard.asp?id=385/ (accessed May 4).
McQuilkin, Robertson. Ed. 1992. Stepping Out: A Guide to Short-Term Mission. Ed. Tim Gibson, Hawthorne, Steven, Krekel, Richard and Moy, KN. Seattle: YWAM.
Mercia Chiavegatti. 2006. Interview by author, July 14.
65
Mission Advanced Research and Communication Center. 1976. Mission Handbook: North American Protestant Ministries Overseas. 11th ed. Monrovia: MARC.
_______ . 12th ed. Edward R. Dayton ed. Monrovia: MARC, 1979.
_______ . 19th ed. Dotsey Welliver and Ninnette Northcutt. Mission Handbook: U.S. and Canadian Protestant Ministries Overseas Wheaton: Evangelism and Mission Information Service, 2004.
Mission Frontiers. 1999. Winds of Renewal. February, 1999. http://www.missionfrontiers.org/1999/0102/jf999.htm. (accessed July 19, 2006).
Mission Advanced Research and Communication Center, Mission Handbook: North American Protestant Ministries Overseas 10th ed., Edward R. Dayton ed. Monrovia: MARC, 1973.
Plueddemann, James E. 2005. Seized the Day: SIM study to understand and respond to trends in short-term mission. Speech delivered to Missiology Conference on Short-Term Mission, April 9. Trinity University, Deerfield, IL.
Putnam, Robert D., Lewis M. Feldstein and Don Cohen. 2003. Better together: Restoring the American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rankin, Jerry A.. 2003. Five Myths about the International Mission Board. Standard, May-June, 2003. https://www.archives.tconline.org/stories/mayjune03/fivemyths.htm. (accessed May 12, 2006).
Richardson, Don. 1981. The Hidden Message of Acts. In Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: a reader, ed. Hawthorne, C. and Winter, Ralph D, 89-99. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
Robert Priest. 2006. Sar Possible Session On "short-term Mission Trips", Feb 19, 2006, 2006. http://dss.ucsd.edu/pipermail/sar/2006-February/000006.html. (accessed July 19).
Schwadel, Philip and Christian, Smith. 2005. Portraits of Protestant Teens: A Report on Teenagers in Major U.S. Denominations. Chapel hill: National Study and Youth and Religion. National Study of Youth and Religion. Pdf, http://www.youthandreligion.org/publications/docs/portraitsprotteens.pdf. (accessed December 11, 2006).
Stiles, Mach J. and Leeann. 2000. Mach and Leeann's Guide to Short-Term Mission. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press.
Terry, Douglas Wayne. 2002. Short-Termers over the Long Run: Assessing Missional Effectiveness of Non-Career Mid-Term Nazarene Missionaries. PhD diss., Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY.
Ver Beek, Kurt Alan. 2005. The Impact of short-term mission: A case study: House construction in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch. Speech delivered to Missiology Conference on Short-Term Mission, April 9. Trinity International University.
66
Ver Beek, Kurt.. 2005. Questions and Answers. E-mail message to Maria L. Boccia. posted on Christianity Today website http://www.christianity today.com/CT/2005/127/22.0.html
_______ . 2005. Days 1-4. posted on Christianity Today website http://www.christianity today.com/CT/2005/127/22.0.html
Winter, Ralph D. 1992. Stepping Out: A Guide to Short-Term Mission. Ed. Tim Gibson, Hawthorne, Steven, Krekel, Richard and Moy, KN. Seattle: YWAM.
_______ 1994. The Strategic Value of Foreign Missionaries. Mission Frontiers: The Bulletin Of The Us Center For World Mission, September-October, 1994. http://www.missionfrontiers.org/1994/0910/so945.htm. (accessed August 3, 2006).
Ybarrola, Steven. 2005. I Haven't been able to share 'The Laws' with him yet": Anthropology and Short-Term Mission. Speech delivered to EMS Conference on Short-Term Mission and Business as Mission, April 9. Trinity University, Deerfield, IL.
67
APPENDIX A
STATISTICS OF THE SOUTHERN BAPTISTS
Figure 1 – Growth of New Missionaries with the Southern Baptists
255
290
246
298
262
329
275
353
338
545
317
585
275
604
387
768
412
620
393
550
304
431
383
418
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
New Missionaries 12-Year Study
Short-Term
Long-Term
545 544
591 628
885 902 879
1155
1032
943
735
801
68
Figure 2 - New Missionaries of The Southern Baptists 60-Year Study
1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950Career 38 62 76 74 67 98Reappointments 0 3 0 0 0 2Special Assignments 13
Total 38 65 76 74 67 1131951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
Career 57 79 59 49 82 109 80 108 105 103Reappointments 0 5 11 1 2 4 2 4 1 4Special Assignments 1 0 0 17 20 8 26 25 38 30
Total 58 84 70 67 104 121 108 137 144 1371961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970
Career 103 127 172 143 149 131 130 131 139 92Missionary Associates 1 0 15 14 14 20 32 38 49 18Reappointments/Reemployments 0 2 8 0 7 5 5 6 10 6Special Project Workers 0 11 0 2 4 3 0 3 1 2Journeymen 46 48 55 69 62 64
Total 104 140 195 159 220 207 222 247 261 1821971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Career 120 83 122 133 134 128 127 181 150 139Missionary Associates 28 11 14 26 29 32 31 36 21 35Reappointments/Reemployments 9 9 13 12 20 10 18 30 29 15Special Project Workers 2 2 3 2 2 4 9 8 9 11Journeymen 67 66 75 77 80 94 94 95 123 130
Total 226 171 227 250 265 268 279 350 332 3301981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990
Career 208 230 190 215 237 256 235 180 164 195Missionary Associates 27 40 16 23 39 23 30 34 17 21Reappointments/Reemployments 24 24 24 38 28 13 18 20 4 20MSC & Special Assignment 14 13 10 3 16 20 10 21 47 ---2-Year ISC 83Journeymen 82 99 117 64 109 99 114 103 78 95
Total 355 406 357 343 429 411 407 358 310 4141991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Career 170 177 192 220 179 207 189 216 208 171
69
Missionary Associates 21 18 18 20 45 40 57 93 68 64Apprentices 15 15 22 28Reappointments/Reemployments 18 10 13 15 22 15 14 14 19 122-Year ISC 143 151 183 209 199 230 223 347 252 254Journeymen 51 52 92 81 99 99 130 200 204 216Masters 129 134
Total 403 408 498 545 544 591 628 885 902 8792001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Career 258 241 188 121 60 Missionary Associates 87 112 125 52 30Apprentices 21 42 57 117 289 Reappointments 21 17 23 14 42-Year ISC 341 238 215 165 154 Journeymen 268 235 176 138 159Masters 159 147 159 128 105
Total 1155 1032 943 735 801
70
Figure 3 - Percentage of New Long-Term Missionaries with Previous Short-term experience
Percentage of New Long-Term Missionaries(Apprentice/Career/Associate)
Who Had Previous ISC/J'man/Masters ExperienceFifteen-Year Study
Year Long-Term Percentage
1991 209 9%
1992 205 12%1993 223 16%1994 255 17%1995 246 18%1996 262 27%1997 260 23%1998 323 28%1999 295 32%2000 247 32%2001 366 43%2002 412 39%2003 393 31%2004 304 39%2005 383 37%
71
Figure 4 – Growth of Missionary Force
Black number represent actual personnel count as of Dec. 31 each year while white numbers represent net growth.
3,954
4,0784,129
4,167
4,248
4,570
4,815
4,905
5,057
5,376 5,370
5,165
3800
3900
4000
4100
4200
4300
4400
4500
4600
4700
4800
4900
5000
5100
5200
5300
5400
1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Growth of Missionary Force12-Year Study
61
12451
38
81
322
245
90
152
319 -6
-205
-129
5,036
72
Figure 5 - Missionary Count Of 1993-2005 Of The Southern Baptist
YearLong Term Personnel
Short Term Personnel Total
1993 3,479 475 (12%) 3,954
1994 3,512 566 (14%) 4,078
1995 3,508 621 (15%) 4,129
1996 3,513 654 (16%) 4,167
1997 3,569 679 (16%) 4,248
1998 3,646 924 (20%) 4,570
1999 3,685 1,130 (23%) 4,815
2000 3,676 1,229 (25%) 4,905
2001 3,784 1,273 (25%) 5,057
2002 3,914 1,462 (27%) 5,376
2003 4,004 1,366 (25%) 5,370
2004 4,009 1,156 (22%) 5,165
2005 4,087 949 (19%) 5,036
73
Figure 6 - Overseas Personnel Count of the Southern Baptist
Actual Count, Net Change and Percentage of Change
1950 – 2005
Year Actual count Net Change Percentage Change1950 8031951 832 29 3.611952 879 47 5.651953 908 29 3.31954 949 41 4.521955 1,020 71 7.481956 1,113 93 9.121957 1,186 73 6.561958 1,283 97 8.181959 1,381 98 7.641960 1,480 99 7.171961 1,548 68 4.591962 1,627 79 5.11963 1,803 176 10.821964 1,901 98 5.441965 2,070 169 8.891966 2,208 138 6.671967 2,277 69 3.131968 2,371 94 4.131969 2,490 119 5.021970 2,501 11 0.441971 2,526 25 11972 2,507 -19 -0.751973 2,538 31 1.241974 2,606 68 2.681975 2,667 61 2.341976 2,715 48 1.81977 2,776 61 2.251978 2,912 136 4.91979 3,010 98 3.261980 3,059 49 1.631981 3,136 77 2.521982 3,217 81 2.581983 3,346 129 4.01
74
1984 3,432 86 0.031985 3,597 165 4.811986 3,756 159 4.421987 3,839 83 2.211988 3,867 28 0.731989 3,780 -87 -2.251990 3,863 83 2.21991 3,906 43 1.111992 3,893 -13 -0.331993 3,954 61 1.571994 4,078 124 3.141995 4,129 51 1.251996 4,167 38 0.921997 4,248 81 1.941998 4,570 322 7.581999 4,815 245 5.362000 4,905 90 1.862001 5,057 152 3.092002 5,376 319 6.32003 5,370 -6 -0.112004 5,165 -205 -3.812005 5,036 -129 -2.5
75
APPENDIX B
BRAZILIAN CROSS-CULTURAL MISSION STATISTICS AS THEY RELATE TO AGENCIES AND MISSIONARIES
Descriptiontotals
percentages
Denominational and Independent Agencies 115
International 2International with Brazilian leadership 27
Brazilian agencies 46Brazilian agencies with foreign leadership 2
Denomination agencies 14
Local churches 11
Inter-ecclesiastical initiatives 4
Centers for missionary training 2
Cross-Cultural Missionaries319
5
on leave from the field 210
Active on the field298
5
More that 3 years on the field159
8 54%
between 1-3 years on the field105
1 35%
Less than 1 year on the field 336 11%
Married231
4 78%
Single men 166 6%
Single women 505 17%
Inter-denominational 953 32%
Non Charismatic 960 32%
Charismatic 981 33%
76
No information given 68 2%
Independent 4 0%
Missionaries serving in Brazil 758 25%
Missionaries serving out of Brazil222
7 75%
Working in the 10/40 Window 585 20%
Other places164
2 55%
Working in Latin America 843 28%
Working outside of LA138
4 41%
Asia 275 9%
Africa 455 15%
North America 167 6%
Mexico and Central America 32 1%
South America 806 27%
Caribbean 15 1%
Oceania 3 0%
Europe 312 10%
Middle East 124 4%
Central Asia 33 1%
Itinerate 5 0%Workers in Administration at home base 873
77
APPENDIX C
TENTATIVE WORKING OUTLINE
Chapter 1 Statement of the Problema. Contextb. Purpose of Studyc. Research Questionsd. Delimitation of the Probleme. Assumptionsf. Definition of Termsg. Limitations of the Studyh. Importance of the Study for Others and for Personal Ministryi. Outline of the Dissertation
Chapter 2 Precedent ResearchChapter 3 Research Methodology
a. Description of the Research Methodb. Overall Research Strategyc. Collection of Datad. Populatione. Samplingf. Instrumentg. Validation of Instrumenth. Sequence of the Processi. Plan for Analysis of the Dataj. Plan for Presenting Findings
Chapter 4 Plan for Completing the Dissertationa. Statement on the Accessibility of Necessary Resourcesb. Tentative Working Outlinec. Tentative Time Schedule for Completiond. Curriculum Vita
78
APPENDIX D
TENTATIVE TIME SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION
Finish Research Project Proposal Paper to fulfill the requirement of RES 9400 –
January 2006
Secure research advisor – April 2006
Begin Precedent Research – May 2006
Finish Precedent Research – October 2006
Submit dissertation proposal – February 10, 2007
Approval of the dissertation proposal – March 10, 2007
Finish collection of data and evaluation – May 2007
Defend dissertation – July 2007
Graduation – Dec. 2007
79
APPENDIX E
CURRICULUM VITAE
This paragraph expresses the capability of this student for research. He has lived
cross culturally for twenty-four years, visited, and ministered in eleven countries. As a
member of The Evangelical Alliance Mission since 1990, he has served as a career
missionary in Brazil since January of 1993. For the past twelve years his ministry has
been mission professor of the Seminário Cristão Evangélico do Brasil, ICEB (The
Evangelical Christian Seminary of Brazil) and director of mission for the 282-church
Brazilian denomination of the ICEB. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pastor
Ministries from Liberty University and a Master of Arts in Religion from Liberty Baptist
Theological Seminary. Columbia Biblical Seminary and School of Mission where he
pursues this Doctorate of Ministry degree in Mission granted his Master of Divinity
equivalency.
