Beware of Shortcuts

When it comes to rigors of missionary life, I’m glad that Laura and I didn’t take any shortcuts.

During the course of the training, our friends would often ask us why we were spending years preparing to be missionaries, when we could earn a real college degree instead. Or, if taking the Gospel to unreached tribes was as urgent as we said it was, why not get out there as soon as possible?

Being young in the Lord – and just plain young – I’m sure we tried to say something that sounded far beyond our years. Yet we really we had no idea how the training would affect our lives and the lives of others. Those years were anything but a waste of time. They were an investment that has borne eternal dividends.

NTM certainly did what it could to prepare us for the expected. With decades of field experience behind them, our trainers provided hands-on, practical training. We learned how to perform emergency medical procedures. We produced mock primers that allowed us to understand principles of literacy. While they could not teach us the unknown languages of remote groups we might work among, they did teach us the full array of sounds we might encounter along the way. Then they taught us how to actually learn a language with the help of local speakers.

Since language and culture are inextricably bound together, we were also provided excellent training in cross-cultural living, communication and analysis. And we were given a taste of Bible translation by seasoned translators – just the first in a series of steps to hone much-needed translation skills, but an impactful one.

NTM also did what they could to prepare us for the unexpected. That required a strong spiritual foundation. Our Bible Institute teachers and mission trainers were men and women who had walked with God in various mission contexts for many years. They didn’t just tell us to walk with God, or tell us how to walk with God, they demonstrated it. They weren’t perfect men and women, but they had witnessed God’s protection and provision in their own lives and His life-changing power in those they went to reach. These trainers lived among us, discipling us both formally and informally. And when they sent us off to our various countries of service, they left their marks on our lives. Far more important than the technical skills they taught us, we left knowing that God would do for us what He had done for them.

By God’s grace, we utilized what we were taught and spent 18 years evangelizing and discipling the Waxe people of Papua New Guinea. Today two churches exist in this remote people group of 600, and soon will have the New Testament in their own language.

After 21 years with NTM, I served six years as a missions pastor and became familiar with missionary training programs offered by other organizations. I can honestly say I found none that matched the comprehensive nature or quality of NTM.

We have since returned to NTM to complete the Waxe New Testament. As a translation consultant, I am privileged to be a part of the mission’s commitment to ongoing training. Translators are made, not born, so our worldwide network of field consultants continues to train, guide and quality check a translator’s work until the project is complete. Similar consultant programs exist to assist missionaries with literacy and church planting projects. So even after the initial investment of training, somebody is there to walk alongside the missionary as needed.

By His grace we avoided the shortcut in our training and took Robert Frost’s road less travelled. And as with his traveler, that has made all the difference.