Integrating Missions and Ministry

Beginning in the Fall, 2000, Missions faculty, students, and courses will be integrated throughout the entire College of Biblical Studies.

For almost half a century, the missions programs at ACU have been at the forefront of the training of missionaries in Churches of Christ throughout the world.

In the last 15 years, as a separate department within the college, Missions has continued to add faculty and missionaries-in-residence as well as increase opportunities for mentoring, team formation, and assessment programs.

As a stand-alone department, it has been able to establish an identity as a leading center of missions training within the fellowship of Churches of Christ.

In the beginning years of the 21^st century, a different situation presents itself, causing us to re-think the role of missions programs as an entity segregated from other ministry-training programs and departments. Among the factors are these:

• The world is becoming a smaller place—Christians can no longer afford to be unaware of global needs and concerns, especially when it comes to teaching the lost. Every ministry major, therefore, must be thoroughly exposed to missions principles and practices.
• Ministry in the U.S. is increasingly cross-cultural—ministers in American churches must learn to do their work in situations of great diversity and ones which are becoming hostile to the Gospel.
• When Bible and ministry students are rarely exposed to missions faculty, courses, or students, they are robbed of an essential resource for their ministry preparation.
• When missions students are isolated from the rest of the Bible and ministry majors, they are cut off from an important spiritual community and great resources for training.

In general, over the last few years, the segregation of Missions majors and programs from students and programs in the departments of Bible and Ministry has undercut the training of all—not by intention, of course, but in effect. For these reasons, we are committed to integrating missions and evangelism throughout the entire college—both in terms of people and curriculum.

A "Moving" Summer

To facilitate these changes, many of the faculty in the college will be moving their offices during the Summer. All of the South side of the Biblical Studies building, second floor, will house graduate faculty and personnel. This will be the location of the Graduate School of Theology. Several missions faculty and missionaries-in-residence will office alongside Bible, ministry, history, and theology faculty.

The area that is now the Missions Department will house all undergraduate programs under a new name—the Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry—with several faculty moving in order to facilitate the task of integrating missions into all ministry programs and training. (The location of the Department of Marriage and Family Therapy will remain unchanged.)

Missions programs are not being decreased. On the contrary, they will receive greater emphasis than ever. Academic curricula throughout the college will be re-examined in order to ensure that all undergraduate and graduate majors are impacted by missions ideals and training.

At the same time, our commitment to the training of ministers for churches in the U.S. remains unchanged. But our methods for preparing these students will broaden considerably as we attempt to equip them for the rapidly changing world. As always, we will prepare each student with a love for and commitment to Scripture.

New Names, New Visions

All of the programs and activities which have always been a part of the Department of Missions will continue but in a new configuration and with new possibilities. All academic programs, of course, will be incorporated into the departments. However, many of the activities of the Missions Department have been "co-curricular" in nature—programs which augment courses but which are critical to the training of missionaries. These included mentoring, team assessment, team formation, continental interest groups, and others.

In order to continue and expand these activities, we are establishing an Institute for Missions and Evangelism which will coordinate missions programs and champion the cause of missions. A Director of this institute, who will also serve as faculty, will be appointed soon.

We are hoping to fund this new entity with a $5,000,000 endowment. As an essential part of the Institute for Missions and Evangelism, the role of missionaries-in-residence will be even more in evidence. Beginning in the Fall, these "missionaries on campus" will be called missions coordinators (e.g., African Missions Coordinator, Asian Missions Coordinator, Medical Missions Coordinator, etc.) As a critical part of their assignment, they will be working to draw mission teams to the field each year.

This is a significant time, both at ACU and in Churches of Christ. Our prayer is that concern about missions and evangelism will increase substantially in the beginning years of this new century.

Serving Women In Ministry

Various scenes from the past six years have drifted through my mind as I prepared to write this article on ACU’s Center for Women in Christian Service. Each one is rich and colorful and depicts a special snapshot of what the Center has come to mean to women around the world. I have chosen to share four with you. . . .

The room was crowded with women all talking at once and enjoying each other’s company. I sat back for a moment, quietly observing them, and offering prayers for the next few hours we would spend together. Even though I could not understand their conversations, it was easy to determine the thrust of them—these women loved the Lord, each other, and gathering together as his church to prepare for service. The hostess and leader of the Women’s Ministry, Rose, called the women to order and began to introduce me as the speaker for their ladies’ meeting. Instantly I began to change my lessons, quickly formulating questions that would lead us into a meaningful discussion about ministry to others. Sitting in a living room halfway around the world, in Nairobi, Kenya, I knew these women had more to teach me and each other than I could ever think of teaching them.

Bpun. I had said her name a thousand time in my prayers during the past year (and never been certain of the pronunciation!). I was about to meet Bpun and my heart was pounding with excitement even as my eyes filled with tears. Our daughter, Jessica, and other interns from the campus ministry in Chiang Mai, Thailand, had fallen in love with this young woman and longed for her to give her life to Christ. My husband, Jack, and I had served as speakers for the Asian Mission Forum and had planned a few days in Chiang Mai to visit with the missionaries there and evaluate the internship we direct from ACU each summer. During our stay we talked with Bpun, prayed with her, and joined the rest of the church in celebrating her baptism into Christ. What a privilege to welcome this new little sister into the family of God.

We stood in a circle holding hands at the end of an exhausting day preparing to pray. But we couldn’t quit talking, laughing, and crying long enough to formulate the words of prayer. These four women had traveled across several states to teach in the annual Equipping Women for Ministry Workshop. Although they were active in their local church, they had never thought what they did would be useful to others, until they came and presented it. They were overwhelmed by the response of the class participants and had even been asked to come to several congregations to present the material. Cindy looked at me and said, "I never knew what it meant to really give my gifts to God and let him use them for his glory until today. It is an incredibly humbling experience." Then the words of prayer flowed from our hearts and mouths.

Katie was the last lesson to be presented from the book of Philippians for the semester course, Teaching and Speaking to Women in the Church. She came wrapped up in a bed sheet carrying a big sword and told us that she was the "Peace of God" sent to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I sat with my mouth opened as Katie took a familiar passage from Philippians 4 and gave us new insights and applications from a book that we had spent a semester studying. I went back to my office after class and wept at the creativity, sensitivity, and faith God gave Katie and others like her. I prayed for her, for the churches she will serve, and for those who will be blessed by her ministry.

Rose, Bpun, Cindy, and Katie. These women are just representatives of the hundreds of women who are blessed by the sharing, teaching, evangelizing, counseling, mentoring, equipping, and praying done through the Center for Women in Christian Service at Abilene Christian University.

Christmas Ebini Atem: A Man of Faith and Vision

Christmas "just wandered," he says, onto the campus of Ohio Valley College and into a unique relationship with churches of Christ in January, 1983. Born and educated within a society influenced by British colonialism, he was reared in a family that valued politics, respect for the elderly, and extended family relationships. His clan is found in the coastal region of Cameroon, his father from the Banyang Tribe and his mother from the Douala Tribe. His legacy includes knowing that his great-grandfather instituted a democratic system of leadership among three tribes of the coastal region. He and his wife, Judith, also a native Cameroonian, are the parents of three children, Arsene, Scott, and Kwedi.

With business degrees in hand from Harding University and Abilene Christian University, he returned to his country in 1987 to teach economics in a high school setting. Appalled to find "intellectuals reduced to nothing" and a dictatorial political system that marginalized his people, the seeds of political activism, sown in his childhood, took root. His political poems were soon published in national newspapers, creating a measure of notoriety within the prevailing political party. Prison, though "a little scary," provided an opportunity for both himself and his comrades to organize their political ideas during the daily, six hour interrogations.

Declining an invitation by the British Consulate to seek political asylum in England, he moved back to the United States, lobbied for the Cameroon Anglophone Movement inside the Beltway of the nation’s capitol and at the United Nations, and enrolled again at ACU in 1994. Through those studies in theology and political science, he developed a personal philosophy of political activism based upon principles of nonviolence, a stance which has put him at odds with many of his people.

Following his graduation and move to the Washington DC area, his political involvement developed a new dimension during his three years of teaching at risk students in the DC Public Schools. Observing the students’ disrespect for teachers, their own lives, and the lives of others, Christmas began to listen to the stories of these young people. What he saw fueled his passion to make a difference in their lives, as he came to believe that the dysfunction of governments was fueled by the dysfunction of family systems and vice versa.

His vision now is to return to the DC area with new and fresh ideas, and training in marriage and family therapy, to influence the school system, those young people and their families, and to continue to work on behalf of his beloved Cameroon and her people.

So, when Christmas Ebini Atem comes to class, engages the material, the professor, and his peers in measured, reflective conversation, all of us know that we are studying with an ordinary man with extraordinary passions and dreams.

"UNFINISHED BUSINESS"

CHALLENGED ACU LECTURESHIP GUESTS

Increased attendance for the Annual Bible Lectureship last week was encouraging. Calculating attendance is an inexact science because registration of lectureship guests is minimal at best. Classes were generally well attended, and the seven theme speakers addressed several thousand attentive listeners in the Coliseum each day and evening. The exhibitors used all available space for their commercial and non-commercial displays. Parking, as always, was challenging. Lectureship guests competed for conventional spaces and demonstrated creativity by parking in areas not customarily designated. The important fellowship enjoyed in multiple breakfast, luncheon, and dinner meetings was typically exhilarating for everyone.

Beyond innumerable duties of physically managing a lectureship, an aura of inquiry and reflective thinking characterized the responses to messages focusing on the "unfinished business" facing the church in a new century and millennium. Speakers urged people of faith to enter into conversations with societies and cultures worldwide that evidence a common search for Christian values and principles.

Exhorting a courage to "sit at the table" with others who are fellow-strugglers to know Christ, speakers and teachers affirmed the charge to keep the faith and maintain the grace and truth that originates in Christ and the divinely inspired scriptures. Christ's prayer for unity on the eve of his sacrifice for the sins of the world constituted the "unfinished business" that threaded its plea throughout the lectureship theme. Lectureship 2001 (February 18-21) will underscore the challenges for advancing a Restoration principle on an international scale. The bold theme is Be My Witnesses: Studies in Acts.

Graduate School of Theology Retreat

Graduate School can be a lonely and isolated time for many students. Some may come to campus once or twice a week, attend class, and return home with little interaction with fellow students or professors outside of the classroom. The Graduate School of Theology is committed to providing opportunities for students to build relationships that will last through many years in ministry. As the Missions Department and the Graduate School of Bible merge into the new Graduate School of Theology, building community emerges as a top priority.

This year’s GST retreat theme was Building Community. Dr. Darryl Tippens spoke to us concerning how the American ideal of individualism has undermined spirituality and community. The academic life and advances in technology can hinder the growth of community. His emphasis on body life was exemplified by a discussion on communion, hospitality, and service to others. During the remainder of the evening Jeff Latham guided our thoughts in small group discussions. Thanks goes to Jay Hawkins, Jeff Latham, Shannon Russell, and Tim Sensing for planning the evening.

On the Making of a Missionary

Leading a person to Christ is one thing. Establishing a congregation is another. Nurturing that congregation to strength and reproduction is yet another. And fostering a people-movement toward Christian maturity is still another.

The task of preparing missionaries is daunting. From the outset it forces all involved to admit the job is too big for humans. At best, those preparing missionaries know they play a bit part in the great pageant of God’s purposes.

Still, each year ACU draws over one hundred Mission students—graduates and undergraduates— to prepare for foreign and domestic missions. They need knowledge that comes through disciplined study. And they need more.

Their needs beyond academics led to the establishment of the Missions Mentoring Program seven years ago. Long-term missionaries and missions faculty collaborated to identify elements vital for missionary readiness. They identified and grouped sixteen traits under four broad headings: Character, Ability, Relationship with God, and Experience (CARE).

In the ensuing years it has become clear that one size does not fit all in the arena of missions mentoring. Students in the program range from freshmen certificate students to seasoned veterans working on a Missions M.Div. To address these varied needs the program has evolved to include a range of experiences designed to meet students where they are and help them toward their goals.

Just after school begins each fall, missions students, faculty and staff leave Abilene for the Foundations Retreat. New students are introduced to the ACU missions community and oriented to the mentoring program. All students have opportunity to examine their current standing on the sixteen traits. Each student comes into one of three mentoring tracks for the year during this weekend.

New students join a first year cohort of four to six other students. With a mentor they walk through a basic introduction to the four CARE areas. Second and third year students gather in same gender groups of two to four and spend the year with a missionary coach providing more personal mentoring.

As students near the end of their study, they are encouraged to join several other students to form a proto-team. These groups normally form to experience team dynamics and team formation without long-term commitment. An encouraging trend is that these proto-teams are beginning to turn into real teams. By the spring semester this year, two of our five proto-teams committed to missionary work together.

Ongoing assessment of mission students coordinates closely with the mentoring program. Undergraduate students take a battery of inventories in their junior year through the ACU Department of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Graduate students undergo a unique assessment experience after their first semester—the Preliminary Missionary Assessment Center (Pre-MAC). Based on a combination of written instruments and observed behavior, this two-day experience provides students with a valuable analysis of current strengths and limitations. These in turn become subjects for continuing discussion and remedial action with their mentors.

The task of training missionaries remains daunting. Through the Missions Mentoring Program students—and their teachers—are learning better how to play their parts in the great work of God.

Summer Seminar In Missions

Summer Seminar in Missions gathers faculty and students in a learning community committed to increasing their effectiveness on the mission field. The key component of both two-week sessions is learning—learning about other cultures and how to proclaim the Gospel to them.

The Summer Seminar is attended by those who are going and those who have already been on the mission field. The mixture of different experiences becomes a laboratory for the exchange of principles on mission possibilities. The classes, equipping groups, chapels, devotionals, and worship services encourage, stimulate, and inspire each person to fulfill their commitment to world evangelism. Eleven classes are offered during the month of June.

Alumni of the Summer Seminar are grateful for the training they receive. As a missionary on furlough said, "I wish I had gone to the seminar before entering the mission field." Or, as another wrote, "Seminar is the most memorable experience in my academic career." Friendships are formed that will last a lifetime. Information is gained that assures an increased effectiveness on the field.

Financial aid is available to qualified applicants. To receive additional information or make application for enrollment, contact the Department of Missions, ACU Box 29433, Abilene, TX 79699-9433. Phone (915) 674-3711, fax (915) 674-3769, or e-mail phillips@bible.acu.edu.

In addition to the Summer Seminar in Missions, the College of Biblical Studies also offers numerous undergraduate and graduate short courses in Bible and Ministry between May and August this Summer. Most courses take one to two weeks of time to complete the classroom hours. For more information on these courses, contact Dr. Bob Marcho, ACU Box 29430, Abilene, TX 79699-9430. Phone 888-242-5360 or 915-674-3735, or e-mail at marcho@bible.acu.edu.

Report from Youth Conference

The Center for Youth and Family Ministry just finished another nation-wide research project on attitudes and beliefs of youth in Churches of Christ. The results were presented February 24-25 on the ACU campus to over 200 participants. The theme, "Going from Generation X to Generation Y" was designed to help youth ministers and churches understand the mindset of the next generation. Generation Y includes those born in 1983 to the present. The principal researchers were Dr. Carley Dodd and Robert Oglesby.

The results of the surveys have been compiled in a 150 page notebook. Overall, this generation is optimistic, and they feel they can make a positive impact on the world. Highlights of the research include statistics that show increasing virginity rates within our fellowship. There were strong correlations found when alcohol was used or teenagers became sexually active. Evidence demonstrates that crossing some behavioral boundaries changes a teenager’s prayer life, their respect for authority, and their relationship with the church.

A section of the survey highlighted theological beliefs for Generation Y. There is a strong belief in God and the divinity of Jesus Christ, but there is some erosion in the belief that church membership is important. Generation Y is questioning traditional core practices of the church. The information in this notebook previews pressure points the church will face in the next decade. If you would like this information, contact the Center for Youth and Family Ministry. Some of the past research is available on the following subjects: Adolescent Sexuality Impact of Fathers, Influence of Media, Generation X. You can contact Robert at (915) 674-3731 or oblesby@bible.acu.edu.

Spring Break Campaigns

ACU Mission Campaigns Near Record Participation

What did 590 students from Abilene Christian University do during their week of Spring Break this year? They did not vacation with the thousands of university students who rushed to the slopes or the beaches of some popular resort. Nor did they spend their week in leisure relaxing in Abilene or their own hometown. Rather, this army of ACU students journeyed to cities across the nation and to several international destinations to lead and to serve in the mission of the church.

In all, 29 student-led Spring Break Campaigns went out from ACU to 24 cities in the United States and five international destinations. The campaigns of March 11-18, 2000 stretched across the nation in western states such as Alaska and California, to the Midwest, South, and the great cities of the Northeast like Boston, Washington D.C., and New York City. International campaign groups traveled to the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala. The campaigns encouraged local churches, engaged in a variety of service projects, and served in evangelistic outreach.

Although young women and men from all departments at ACU led and participated in the campaigns, several of the leaders were students from the Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry at ACU. Several of our majors were involved in leadership for the 29 campaigns, while others led in recruitment and coordination for the entire Spring Break Campaign program. Among the leaders (pictured above left to right) were Jonathon Goudeau, senior Missions and Industrial Technology major from Midland, Texas who served for a second year as Travel Coordinator for all 29 campaigns; Doug Page, Junior Youth and Family major from Mesquite, Texas, who served as Publicity Chair for the campaigns; and Matt Wallace, senior Youth and Family and Missions major from Abilene, Texas, who served for a second year as the Chairman of ACU Spring Break Campaigns.

The 590 participants in the 29 campaigns are near record participation for the Spring Break Campaigns at ACU. The College of Biblical Studies commends the entire ACU student body for its participation in these mission efforts, and is very gratified for the involvement and leadership from our majors in the Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry. These students have made a dramatic impact on thousands of lives during Spring Break and will continue to lead and to serve in the Kingdom in years ahead.