Sarah

You mentioned one finding: “Workers who are fluent in the local language consistently scored among the highest in the research.” That would seem to confirm the missionary pecking order. But does it? If you look back at the original study he also points out that using translation has neither a positive or negative effect on effectiveness. Meaning: someone using translation isn’t necessarily less effective than the person who is fluent (presumably because a translator is fluently communicating).

“Heresy!” Some will cry.

But as the study points out there are many other factors that have contribute to effectiveness. Doing those with translation are certainly more effective then not doing them while speaking the local language.

Case in point: I worked in Japan for 8 years, struggled to learn the language, preached, carried on friendships – all in Japanese. All the while, I kept hearing about Meeko-sensei the American missionary in the 1950’s who was so effective, unlike us in the 1990’s. One day I saw a photo of Joseph Meeko preaching and saw a Japanese woman standing next to him. I asked who she was. “She was his translator.” What! I thought. Yep, Meeko used a translator all 10 years of his ministry in Japan and saw more happen in that time then my whole team of 7 families did over an equal period of time. Obviously, the times and receptivity were different. But the point remains that Meeko was effective even WITH translation.

I’m not against learning the local language, I’ve learned two, but it’s not the end all of effectiveness. And I wish missionaries would get that into their heads and quit beating each other over the head with a lack of language fluency. Personally, I see other effectiveness factors as more important, such as hanging out with local people, creating local-language worship, coaching, verbally sharing the Gospel, putting time into local people (rather than a job or huge family needs, like home-schooling), having a reproducible strategy, and ministering with a like-minded team.

Ahh, I feel better. Thank for letting me rant for a bit.

Keith

If we just took these findings to heart and made some changes according to them we’d be all that much more effective. It’s not rocket science: spend time with locals, verbally share the Gospel, don’t spend all your time working at your job, get your family in order first, have a coach, read your Bible, etc.

Keith