An Experiential Outlier: Six Takeaways (part 3)
ByIn the last post I expounded on five pitfalls that preclude effectiveness even after the requisite 10,000 hours have been invested. Here are six takeaways that we can benefit from in missions. (Obviously seven would be more spiritual, but….) Once again, much of this will apply to missional communities and living as well as church planting.
Start – Get experience. If it takes 10,000 hours of practice to attain some level of mastery, then starting in mission activity today is acceptable if you did not do so yesterday or last week. The clock is ticking, or rather it should be ticking. Practical ways for doing this in a cross-cultural setting include language acquisition, reading literature and history from your people group, and networking with people from the people group either with pockets of people around where you live and/or electronically via Craigslist, Twitter, FaceBook, blogs, etc.
Speed up – One very practical way to gain experience much faster is to learn from others. Personally, I have experienced failure a number of times in different mission attempts. However, there are so many things that I did not have to experience through my own personal failure because others had already put in the time and energy to fail ahead of me. Learning from them saved me time, energy, and resources (including the emotional investment). Thank God for these people and their willingness to be transparent!
Evaluate regularly – According to Socrates, the great philosopher of yesteryear, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” To restate Mr. Socrates as a missiologist, one might conclude that the unexamined missional endeavor is not worth doing. An experienced coach will prove invaluable at this point. This person must balance an adequate cultural examination and the merit of a strategy based on a number of criteria while allowing for what the Spirit is directing to be done in a particular situation. (Remember that Jesus did at times direct for the nets to be thrown back out where there had been no success for hours…to a great result.) At times a coach may be able to identify strategies that are uncertain that will end in either success or a reasonably small failure. However, where a coach can see that the outcome based on the present course will end up far off base, then redesigning the missional endeavor to promote alignment between the time invested and the desired outcomes will prove invaluable.
Recalibrate expectations – No one plans to take on a huge venture for the purpose of failing. To do so would be ridiculous and a guaranteed waste of all resources. Almost as foolhardy would be expecting immediate, overwhelming success. Though no one is likely to complain if it does occur, when a person makes the impossible their expectation, discouragement is likely to set in early in the process. Returning to the 10,000 hour rule, it will be helpful to remember that the violinist with 4,000 hours did not perform as well as the one with 8,000 hours experience, who did not perform as well as the one with 10,000 hours of experience. There is a variable parabolic effect where the time continuum moves at a constant while the effectiveness grows from imperceptible to having significant jumps in growth. It will be helpful for the missionary, missional community, et al to recalibrate expectations of what is normal while praying for God to bless in even greater ways.
See it through – Don’t stop in the process at 2,000 hours of experience. Be faithful to the process and see what the Lord will do as you near the 10,000 hour quota.
Take it with you – Look for areas of crossover where experience can be transferred to new situations, missional pursuits, etc. Language, cultural understanding, one’s ability to dissect what is important in a culture, contacts and relationships, lessons in contextualization, cross-cultural survival skills, missions and/or church planting life practicum, leadership, working with people, etc. may be areas that will benefit you in other contexts. Do rigorous evaluations personally. Also, consider pursuing input from trusted others about your experience which may indicate transferable skills or learning to embrace.
I wish this was taught during our training instead of so much other stuff. We have to realize that as good as short-term missions is…it doesn’t come close to accomplishing 10,000 hours of experience…this can only come through long-term commitments. After being with the board for over 3 years I’ve realized that what you’ve mentioned above isn’t the norm or part of our ethos. As I lead a team I need to create and put into action the things you’ve mentioned above such as coaching, continual development, evaluation and accountability.
Good stuff!
Agreed. Stick-to-it-iveness is not, from my experience and observations, common for most mission organizations and/or strategies. If we did not get results this week, month, or year, what are we going to do to change seems to be the question. While I am all for seeing results, it is helpful to bear in mind that a healthy change curve demands that we see things through to some state of normalcy after the last changes before further changes are implemented. When change follows change that follows change, fatigue, exasperation and a loss of vision result.
I think it would be helpful for a really strategic strategy (this may sound like a redundant phrase, but it IS important) to be implemented with a people group, niche, or region. Then stick with it. Sure, tweak as you go, but these are minor changes. For example, this is adjusting the sails on the sailboat as you glide along or even as you try to get the boat moving as you sit in the middle of the lake or ocean. It is not a cutting of the sail, reinforcing the back of the boat and installing a motor boat while out at sea.
Really enjoying this series. “gain experience much faster…learn from others” Due to the high attrition in our field, before we got here we asked those who have remained to be brutally honest, and I’m glad they were. I have advised several seeking to be LTM to ask the same of those already in their field. And you’re right, transparency by the LTM in the field is everything in this.
“Recalibrate expectations” Most all of the missionaries in my field started out thinking they would be doing something else in ministry, yet 2 years later they had to recalibrate to continue–and it appears to be one of the main factors in remaining.
“See it through” Not everyone can do this, but I’m shocked how many give up so soon. Understand I’m not being superior/judgmental in this, but there are so very few that can stick it out in a situation that it is troubling. I’ve heard a lot of people use the 6 month or 1 year rule (i.e., I’ll give it a year and if things aren’t where I want them, I’ll leave). It makes me cringe that we modern folk are so quick to give up on things when people in the Bible were waiting decades for changes or promises.
C. Holland, thank you for reading and responding. I am thankful and honored that it has been of value to you. I pray that God will bless you and your ministry where you are.
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