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Beware the "Cross-Cultural" Degree

Discussion in 'Evangelism, Missions & Witnessing' started by John of Japan, Apr 21, 2015.

  1. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    If you are called to be a missionary or interested in missions, beware the so-called degree in cross-cultural studies. Here is an example of what I mean from Northland International U. (apparently soon to be defunct): http://www.ni.edu/academics/cross-cultural-studies

    Note that this is NOT a degree in missions or missiology, even though the paragraph at the top says it to be "quite valuable today for full-time missionaries." When you look at the PDF download under that paragraph ("Download Program Sheet") you see that it has dropped even that pretense.

    Look down through the courses. Though some of the classes would be useful to a missionary (linguistics perhaps), there are no courses on missions, missiology, cross-cultural evangelism (or even personal evangelism), church planting, the Book of Acts, Bible translation or anything similar.

    IMO, any time a Bible college decides to rename their program "cross-cultural" they have decided to abandon traditional missions, and that is a shame.

    By John of Japan, missionary to Japan 33 years (now teaching missions)
     
  2. Tom Bryant

    Tom Bryant Well-Known Member

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    John,
    are there any schools doing a good job of preparing future missionaries? With the demise of so many Bible colleges, it seems like there is now a void.
     
  3. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    For IFBs, these schools are consistently turning out soul-winning missionaries: Maranatha Baptist Bible College and seminary, Baptist College of Ministry (including their new seminary), West Coast Baptist Bible College, Ambassador Baptist College, Crown College.

    For SBC folk, Southeastern is very strong on the Great Commission, even having an inspiring building on campus strictly dedicated to that. (The Center for Great Commission Studies, maybe? Don't remember, though I've been in it.) They still have a strong BA in Global Studies in the college, and a strong M.Div., with good possibilities in the D.Min. and Ph.D.

    Liberty U.? Alas, not impressive at all. They've gone almost completely the "Cross Cultural Studies" route, though I believe they still have an M.Div. in missiology.
     
  4. Tom Bryant

    Tom Bryant Well-Known Member

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    Thanks, it's good to hear.
     
  5. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    Lest anyone think I am overstating the matter, here is a summary of the NIU requirements in 2014-2015 catalog for a major in "Cross Cultural Studies:

    SST 202 World Geography 3 (credits)

    LIN 331 Introduction to Language Acquisition 3

    LIN 401 Basic Linguistics 4

    CCS 301 Spirituality and World Religions 3

    CCS 311 Cultural Anthropology 3

    CCS 402 Cross-Cultural Communication 3

    CCS Cognate Coursework 12 (I don't even know what this is--JJ)

    CCS 419 Cross-Cultural Internship 3
     
  6. John of Japan

    John of Japan Well-Known Member
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    In contrast, here are the required courses for a missions minor (Missions Leadership Minor, 41 credits; everyone here has a Bible major) where I teach :

    HT 311 Survey of Church History........3

    CM 241 Discipleship [men]........3

    CM 425 Pastoral Theology and Administration [men]........3

    CM 429 Church Planting [or Church Ministry Elective, men only]........2

    CM 491 or 2 Church Planting or Pastoral Internship [men only]........3

    MI 301, 2 Advanced Missions I and II........4

    MI 321, 2 Language Acquisition I and II........4

    MI 401 World Harvest Fields........2

    MI 421, 2 Missionary Skills I and II........4

    MI 423-8 Missionary Skills III, IV, V, VI, VII or VIII4 ........2

    MI 491 Missions Practicum........3

    MI 332 Teaching ESL........3

    PH 211 Introduction to Logic........2

    SP 326 Homiletics and Pulpit Speech II [men]........3

    Electives [women]........14
     
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