Re-thinking intercultural mission training in Latin America

IMTN A conversation of trainers that leads to action

Bulletin 3 December 2015

Re-thinking intercultural mission training in Latin America
By Omar Gava, with Mark Hedinger and Fabian Rey

Introduction
Ruth Wall PhD
Chair, IMTN

Welcome to our third IMTN Bulletin. This article presents some of the questions, concerns and recent experiences of intercultural mission training in Latin America. As mission trainers it is vital that we make a space for the kind of global conversation that helps us to learn with, and from, one another. The issues raised in Latin America are relevant in other contexts. For example, the challenges of finding local solutions for effective mission training instead of ‘copying and importing’ models and methods from outside. Omar Gava is an experienced mission trainer. In his article he shares how he has been able to get vital conversations ignited using ‘Webinars’. This has led to new thinking and action. As well as summarizing some training issues in Latin America Omar and his team provide three specific examples of recent conversations that have taken place in Latin America and how this forum for dialogue is resulting in new kinds of action. One example is ‘Manarah’, an approach to training where the learning takes place through working and serving in a multicultural environment rather than in the classroom. Omar invites us to join in and think “out-of-the-box”. Please do participate in the discussion or get in touch if you have something to say!

A Latin American date for your diaries!
Looking ahead to 2016 the WEA-Missions Commission will be hosting a global consultation in Panama from 3rd – 7th October. Please do consider whether you can be there. It would be excellent if we could dialogue as mission trainers face-to-face. For more details please visit the WEA-MC website: mc.worldea.org/

Re-thinking intercultural mission training in Latin America
Omar Gava <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

The Latin America context
Intercultural missionary training in Latin America is relatively new. It is growing alongside an increasing awareness by church leaders that taking the Good News to the nations – and especially to the unreached – is not the unique responsibility and heritage of the Lord’s church in what have traditionally been called “sending churches.”

Background
During the 1990s a series of consultations were held to explore the topic of training. A “Profile of the Latin American Missionary” emerged, based on the formation of curricula and programs of study. This ideal missionary profile affirmed principles of a holistic training. It assumed an integrated ministerial training based on desired outcomes or competencies. These sorts of concepts had been applied in other nations with good results.

Imported training assumptions
One of the topics that created serious problems and that led to the failure of various Centers has been the assumption that a good program would:
• Be delivered within a building
• Last for a period of nine months
• Include a residential component by which administrators, trainers, and trainees would live together
The creation of learning experiences in other settings also became part of the established doctrine. In the course of time, it became clear that these foundational concepts and interactions were not applicable in some nations (for instance, Cuba), due to the situational reality under which the trainers and trainees live and move in those nations. Good programs began to close their doors.

Challenging questions
Evaluating this problem, we grew to understand that the root of the issue grew from the use of models and methods “”copied and imported” (copy-paste method) from countries whose reality and financial capacity made those forms possible. The questions that we faced were:
1. How to create a successful program within another structure?
2. How to train without having property, and with inadequate educational elements?
3. How to train in the absence of books (both in terms of quantities of books and the best titles of books) and with scanty digital resources?
4. How can we have successful training when the students and mentors do not live together?
5. How to develop intercultural skills within a mono-cultural context and without the ability to provide immersion experiences for the trainees? (For example, leaving Cuba was not possible until two years ago).

Re-thinking our Missionary Training using ‘Webinars’
In June of 2014 we began a new conversation using ‘Webinars’ with Latin American trainers and other guests. We identified forms of training that could rightly be called, “out of the box” or “breaking paradigms.” The characteristics we were looking for included:
1. Programs that closely related to the practice of the Lord Jesus and the Apostles
2. Training that was more relevant in the socio-cultural context in which we work
3. Programs that were economically and logistically possible to be implemented and sustained.

New kinds of training were shared and talked about. For example, a program in Argentina began unconventionally, transporting students to various distinct provinces. This plan included provision of hospitality by the different congregations, taking teachers to the students instead of students to teachers. In the location where the students stayed, they practiced gospel ministry within the distinct people groups where they were housed. Another program began to function in a location where numerous Arabs, principally Muslim, live. The students interacted with these people, some of them staying in the homes of Muslim families learning their language and culture. The moto is: “While I Serve, I Learn”

As colleagues began to think and act “outside the box” various answers to the “How to” questions emerged and cold be shared via the Webinars. It is almost two years ago since I began promoting Webinars on the topic of “Re-thinking our Missionary Training” and we have moved forward in our thinking. The purpose is to dialog with an open mind and an open attitude to discover how we can make our training relevant within the different environments and circumstances in which we work.

The Webinar process
It is worth mentioning something about the process of the Webinars. The importance of genuine interaction does not decrease simply because the content is transmitted by internet. In order to facilitate personal interaction, we began with an exchange of the resumes and CV of the various Webinar participants. In this way, even though somewhat formal, we were able to introduce the 20 – 25 participants to one another. Besides that, many of the trainers had known each other for many years. Beyond the relationships that were thus established, we used an internet platform that permitted the exchange of ideas. Each Webinar session was enriched with a time of Q and A as well as comments by listeners about possible points of application. You could say that it was not only the content of the webinars that was important, but the very process also led us to “out of the box” conclusions.

If you would like to read examples of the Webinar conversations please read the additional documents: Case Studies from Latin America. I would like to share what has happened in these discussions as a way to open the dialogue for all who would like to contribute a case study that they consider appropriate. Through the Webinars we are opening the mind, leaving our four walls, thinking outside the box. The case studies illustrate the need to consider all of the new alternatives and everything that would permit us to interpret the best way to do missionary training. The idea is to know what is happening in the world, what variables there are; so that we interact and learn from one another. We do not pretend with our conclusions to instruct anyone, but rather to share, learn, and even modify what we have received, which up to now has been sufficient for us. All of this has happened with an open mind, thinking outside the box.

Learning by interacting and reflecting with others
As Latin Americans, we have not had interaction with other circles, and it is time that we do so because we are eager to do so and in need of learning. We are now in a work of interaction, of reflection, and of learning. Please join us!

Our thanks and appreciation for your contributions, even in advance!
If you would like to participate or contribute to a Webinar please email Omar on <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.> or IMTN on <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>