We Are Not the Hero: A Missionarys Guide to Sharing Christ, Not a Culture of Dependency

by Jean Johnson

Overview

While globalization gives North American Christians unprecedented opportunities to influence the world, we need to take care not to slip into a type of postmodern colonialism in which we make ourselves the experts or the 'hero come to save the day.' The day has come when all of us who influence or practice missions need to intentionally guide others to look to God and to their own communities for resources, solutions, creativity, ingenuity, hard work, and interdependence, instead of making them perpetual recipients of all the good things we can do for them. In We Are Not the Hero, missionary Jean Johnson shares lessons learned from her sixteen years in Cambodia, in an area known as the Killing Fields, including why our North American culture, church experiences, and financial solutions to church growth will not work elsewhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937756451
Publisher:	Deep River Books LLC
Publication date:	10/16/2012
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jean Johnson served as a missionary with the Assemblies of God for sixteen years in Cambodia. Presently, she is an international teacher, trainer, and coach with World Mission Associates in Lancaster, PA. Jean holds a BA in cross-cultural communications from North Central University, Minneapolis, MN, where she worked as a missionary-in-residence, developing curriculum and teaching classes on church planting, global perspectives, missiology, and language acquisition.

Table of Contents

Foreword 9

Heroes and Premeditation 11

Preface 15

Part I A Call to Premeditate Multiplication, Indigeneity, and Sustainability

Chapter 1 Closing the Gap 23

Chapter 2 Common Ground 27

Chapter 3 "The Thinning" Revisited 35

Part II Reflection for Premeditating Multiplication, Indigeneity, and Sustainability

Chapter 4 Plan for Multiplication: Making Disciples Who Make Disciples Within Every Community 49

Chapter 5 Strategic from the Beginning: Recognizing How Day 1 Affects Day 100, 1000, 10,000 61

Chapter 6 Model for Reproducibility: Making the Way for Indigenous People to Have a Reproducible Ministry 75

Chapter 7 Facilitate the Growth of the Indigenous Church: Ensuring the Church Reflects the Soul of the Culture and Has Psychological Ownership of Its Purpose and Function 81

Chapter 8 Serve as a Low-Profile Missionary: Conducting Missions with Questions Instead of Answers 101

Chapter 9 Plan for Sustainability: Avoiding Unhealthy Dependency by Mobilizing Local Resources 115

Chapter 10 Make Disciples of Oral Learners: Using Oral Strategies Among Two-Thirds of the World's Population Interlude 167

Part III Multiplication, Indigeneity, and Sustainability in Action

Chapter 11 Multiplication in Action 173

Chapter 12 Strategic Beginnings in Action 199

Chapter 13 Reproducibility in Action 207

Chapter 14 Indigenous Church Growth in Action 213

Chapter 15 Low-Profile Coaching in Action 247

Chapter 16 Sustainability in Action 259

Chapter 17 Oral Communication Strategies in Action 299

Endnotes 323

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“My only disappointment is that I never had the opportunity to read a book like Jean's 10 years ago when I first moved to Haiti with very little cross-cultural ministry training. I recommend this book to every new missionary preparing to enter a cross-cultural field, as well as to any veteran missionary who would like to take steps toward indigenizing an existing ministry.”

- Daniel Carl, missionary to Haiti and co-founder of International Living Stone Ministries, Omaha, Nebraska

“New Testament guidelines for multiplying churches leap out with startling clarity from sharp, action-packed examples that need no abstract explanation. Had I read this before going to the field, I’d have avoided serious and painful cultural errors.”

- Dr. George Patterson, originator of Train and Multiply and author of Church Planting Multiplication Guide

“A treasure of interesting personal incidents as well as the gleanings from other like-minded experts in the field of missions. I enthusiastically endorse (Jean’s) book as a convincing incentive to review our mission vision and to modify our mission efforts!”

-Steve Saint, missionary to the (Ecuadorian) Waodani tribe, author of End of the Spear and Walking His Trail, narrator of Beyond the Gates of Splendor.