Our Philosophy of Training

The foundational guide for our training and equipping program

The foundational guide for our training and equipping program.

To understand our thinking and reasoning better, read about our Philosophy of Missions and our Strategy of Missions.

Foundational Principles

  1. The Word of God saves. Nothing else. Therefore, the missionary should be deeply versed in the Word, both at the story/narrative level and at the exegesis level. Story is how the Holy Spirit communicated truth. To preach the Gospel is to tell the Story of Jesus, Genesis to Revelation. Thus the missionary should know the story and how to tell the story. Application and accuracy comes from solid exegesis. Cross-cultural missions involve complex and often unexpected application situations. Thus, the missionary should be able to “handle the word” clearly and accurately.
  2. The Word must be communicated clearly. The Gospel is not to be made easier or softer, but clear. This requires that the speaker and hearer understand each other clearly. This means that the missionary MUST learn the language and culture of the people they are reaching. If they do not, they will be like barbarians to the people and the people like barbarians to them.
  3. Character is key. A great presentation by a faithless man is a fraud. Godly men give the true call. A Missionary must have their character foundationally developed by their church. But, the character needed for missions will require testing at a higher level than the average believer experiences. Thus, the missionary should be trained and prepared for the situations and trials on missions. Furthermore, the apprentice missionary should be tested to see if this indeed is the calling from the Lord.
  4. Know the authorities, doctrines, and practices of the people. In order to communicate the Gospel clearly and to confront the works of the Devil in his lies among the people, the missionary should have a strong understanding of the authorities, doctrines, and practices of the people that keep them in bondage to darkness. In our context this is primarily Islam. The missionary should have a strong understanding of Sunni Islam, the Quran, the primary Hadith, and the stories and practices of it.
  5. The work of our missions predecessors is to be treasured, not passed over. This includes the lessons to be learned from the great works and the failures. We look to our missionary predecessors from Peter to the Jews and Paul to the Greeks, to Gregory of Armenia, to Patrick of Ireland, to Boniface in Germania, to Raymond Lull, and the modern missionaries William Carey, Hudson Taylor, Samuel Zwemer and thousands of others. They are our heritage. They are our history. A missionary should not just learn the latest acronym system in 4D, but walk in the heritage of missions, both the joys and the sorrows.
  6. There are specific challenges that relate to the context of missions in the Southern Philippines. These need to be addressed directly.

Contextual Challenges & Solutions

Challenge

Access to UPG communities is very difficult due to a culture of suspicion and a high-context culture of status judgement by Muslims that most Cebuanos are low status.

Solution

Provide vocational degrees and certifications that grant the missionary recognized status and potentially meet needs of the community.

Challenge

In the Philippines, spiritual and financial support partner churches for Muslim ministry are very few. Furthermore, most missionaries do not last longer than 5–7 years. Cross-cultural missions is generally an extremely stressful environment that takes up some of the most critical years of a young man’s life. High burnout rate is normative. In 3rd world contexts, at times, missionaries either become dependent on staying on mission longer than they should due to income dependency, or upon leaving the missions field face significant poverty.

Solution

Additional goals of vocational degrees and certifications are to develop a self-sustaining missions ecosystem:

  • Tent-making: Provide the missionary the option for tent making during ministry and post-missions employment.
  • Develop the missions ecosystem: Produce missions-minded Christian professionals and business leaders. These persons will graduate DMI and not go to the field directly, but stay in the “Contact Zone” and establish themselves as professionals and business leaders who can themselves and through the networks they develop help fund missions and support the missionaries. This is a critical and often overlooked component of missions.

Key Training Objectives

  • Highly Fluent in the Bible (Heart Language and English)
    • Understands the meta-narrative of Scripture and can clearly link the full narrative of Scripture to key Doctrines
    • Can fluently and with clarity exposit all the Bible using Exegetical and Inductive Study methods
    • From memory can accurately narrate significant portions of the Bible
  • Clear Understanding of Key Biblical Doctrines
    • Can clearly define and explain key Christian doctrines at a level understandable by elementary, high-school, and college level audiences
    • Can clearly link key Christian doctrines to the full narrative of Scripture, using the meta narrative, inductive, and exegetical study, not just “proof texts”
  • Character Meets Biblical Standards for Elders, Deacons, Teachers, and Evangelists
    • Demonstrates long-term and growing understanding of and obedience to the character and life called to by a Christian leader
    • Demonstrates their character as a clear product of understanding God’s grace, not as a work or accomplishment
  • Effective Team-Member and Team Leader
    • Demonstrates long-term and growing capacity to function as a healthy team member/servant under leadership that includes stressful conditions
    • Demonstrates long-term and growing capacity to function as a healthy team leader in the role of a servant/leader
  • Equipped for Long-Term Cross-Cultural Life and Church Planting
    • Strong foundation in Second Language Acquisition
    • Cross-Cultural Communication and Integration
    • Strong understanding of the foundations of Islam including Muhammad, the Quran & Hadith, as well as Filipino Muslim culture and beliefs
    • Animism / Catholic / Cults (ING, LDS, JW, SDA, etc.) as a secondary goal as applicable
    • Strong understanding of Church planting and development strategies as guided by historical lessons learned
  • Academically Prepared for Missions and Life-Long Learning
    • Minimum English CEFR B1+ (Objective of CEFR B2)
    • Growing capacity for independent research, integration, and comprehension of undergraduate level academic and literature products
  • Vocationally Prepared for Missions and Tent-Making Ministry
    • Parallel program for Advanced TESDA and Bachelor’s degree depending on aptitude/interests
    • Strong financial management & accountability skills
    • Strong project development and project management skills
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