*** Spoiler Alert ***
Study Guide: The Discipling of Mytra
Prologue
Sarah Chen excells at adapting to the “target culture,” meaning the culture that she and her teammates have been sent to reach with the gospel. Such adaptation is both necessary and biblical. Paul says that he became all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save some.
Occasionally readers are disturbed by Sarah’s actions in the Prologue. “Why is she selling her animals for such high prices? She shouldn’t be taking advantage of those primitive natives.” Such comments reflect a lack of missions experience. Anyone who has spent time on the field, laboring at the difficult task of reaching a strange people-group, would approve of her tactics without hesitation.
In fact, Sarah is simply doing what any good missionary does: adapt to the target culture so successfully that non-missionaries do not understand what she is doing or why. Ironically, the criticism indicates some success at portraying a genuine missionary. Only “real” missionaries get under people’s skin like this. Without even trying to, they make believers back in the sending culture very uncomfortable. As they should.
Sarah is a creative problem-solver, a “go-to” person, someone who knows how to get things done. Such outside-the-box thinkers must be sent to the field if the church is to succeed in discipling the nations. May God grant our missionaries the same creativity as Sarah – and the same fruitfulness!
Rich Coffeen 