Jean Johnson (12)

Nathan Schulte
Book Thoughts
4/23/2023

“We are not the Hero—A missionary’s guide for sharing Christ, not a culture of Dependency” by Jean Johnson.

I read this book in 2021 and again I’m struck at how many of Johnson’s points sound like things I learned from a number of 1LA missionaries, especially Phil Strackbein. I’m also thankful that our Latin American mission team is not falling into some of the major pitfalls she highlighted in her book—subsidy for buildings and payment of individuals to do local ministry.

I appreciated the emphasis on bringing converts into the ministry as soon as possible without the traditional “we will put responsibility on you later” type of transitions. The transfer of leadership and ministry is well intentioned but does not work. This theme played out nicely in the chapters about serving as a low-profile missionary and low-profile coaching, which reminded me of our consejero/lider relationships.

Perhaps some weaknesses of the book are that Johnson gives the impression that all mission work is done with people of a significantly lower class. A blessing of Academia Cristo ministry is that we have students of a huge variety of walks of life. This reality will invariably bring its own sets of complexities and Johnson’s book perhaps isn’t as helpful for groups that are blended and multicultural.

In addition, it is good to emphasize the importance of starting a mission well and that patterns and messages sent in the first steps of a ministry can positively or negatively affect the future. However, the book doesn’t give much encouragement to those who inherit missions that may have not started well nor does it address the fact that people (unless, maybe, it’s a completely uncontacted group) always bring their own missiologies to the table. We don’t start with our own blank slates.

Quotes:

“They do not want the project to happen as much as we do. For example, they might know the project will accomplish little in their context but are afraid to tell us for fear of offending us” (110).

“One of the surest ways to cripple a Church Planting Movement is to link church reproduction to foreign resources. Whenever pastors look beyond their membership and local resources for salaries or buildings, they bleed the life out of their movement” (123).

“As missionaries, we tend to start complex projects and institutions that over the long run require high maintenance, consume our human resources, and do not have the multiplication of disciples at their core” (173).

“When new missionaries arrive on the field, they are often appointed to fulfill roles in mission-established, non-sustainable ministries or projects which other missionaries have left behind in order to conduct their furloughs or return to living in their home countries. I call this phenomenon “the black hole.” New missionaries are often prevented from intentionally applying themselves to the goal of multiplication because the black hole sucks them into maintaining the same old mission-established projects” (174).

“How do I unfold ministry in such a way that I am making disciple-makers?” (184).

“Every Christian could sit in a church meeting thinking, ‘I could do this’” (207).

“Rather, I am convinced that we can and should encourage local churches to grow at the pace of their own willingness and ability to take responsibility for each phase and role of ministry” (223).

“The resources in the harvest” (278).

The term “Indigenous” can have some baggage the phrase but it is good to remember that it comes from the agriculture world. Plants thrive in their own environments. Transplants from completely different environments struggle or need special attention. “Generated from within” (29)

A church planting movement is “a rapid multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches that sweeps through a people group or population segment” (31).

“Bananas reproduce bananas and disciples reproduce disciples; mangoes reproduce mangoes and churches reproduce churches” (49).

“As missionaries, we need to avoid burying missiological landmines” (49).

“Day 1 affects Day 100” (64).

“I am convinced that if missionaries were to only follow one missiological principle—the principle of reproducibility—they would avoid most of the problems that strangle indigenous churches and keep them from mobilizing themselves to fulfill the Great Commission in their own context and beyond” (77).

“Embracing a mistake is like embracing a friend who is willing to tell me the truth” (25).

2021 Review

Book Summary—We are Not the Hero—Jean Johnson

As you will see from the appendix of this summary, over and over I was blown over at how much Jean Johnson speaks like Phil Strackbein. She served for many years as a missionary in Cambodia during the same time period that the Strackbeins served in Colombia and Dominican Republic. Even though they were on opposite sides of the planet they seemed to have learned the same missiological lessons and even the same way of speaking about them. Very impressive.

Jean Johnson’s 321 page book is full of analogies, stories, and quotes. As a context guy, I appreciated the plethora of heart-sinking-into-the-stomach stories of missionaries meaning well, but falling into “age-old mistakes.” They are important to hear in detail.

I was excited to read the book because I see so many of the principles she advocated for are implemented in our Academia Cristo ministry. For example, the book’s chapter on low-profile coaching goes hand in hand with our guía de metas sessions. She also heavily pushed the principle of reproducibility which I see in our 4 C’s method of teaching.

Most of the book taught lessons I have already heard from missionaries and other reading, but it is nice to hear it come from one more person. The book often nuanced some of my feelings toward certain ministry strategies. For example, I’ve generally been against English classes as a main pull for ministry contacts mostly because it is so easy for them to potentially become or be perceived as “bait’n’switch” tactics and also because they require one more level of recruitment (convincing the English students to take Bible classes). Johnson added one more—we always want to model reproducible strategies for evangelism. A new church built from people who were initially contacted through free English classes by Americanos isn’t reproducible for the new believers when they attempt to plant another church.

Most of the book revolved around the different types of subsidy which mission groups can fall into. Some of the principles will be very important to consider especially when we consider the pros and cons of paying seminary students to teach Academia Cristo classes in order that they can support the professors. I’ll be willing to share insights on that when we have that discussion in the future.

Some Weaknesses:

The books assumptions toward foreign missions tends toward ministries in poor, rural, and tribal communities. Academia Cristo’s umbrella not only includes those categories, but also makes sure that people like the Ecuadorians living in my building and in Matt’s conjunto are also part of the personas document. While all the principles would apply, I believe, Johnson does not interact with any ministry done within higher class, urban communities.

Flowing from that point, Johnson has a good chapter on storytelling and how to observe more carefully how a people group tells stories so that you can follow similar storytelling techniques in your teaching. However, she mostly refers to storytelling in parks and busses. It would have been interesting to see the dynamic of how Youtubers, social media, and technology influence storytelling.

Finally, a gospel emphasis which was lacking in the book, which Phil is always strong on, was that God even works through poor (from our perspective) missiological principles. God uses our weaknesses and mistakes to reach his chosen. None are lost.

Some Phil-like quotes:

“It is nearly impossible to undo such a mindset [the missionary provides and does the ministry], and the impact will negatively affect the church for years to come” (64).

“I am convinced that if missionaries were to only follow one missiological principle—the principle of reproducibility—they would avoid most of the problems that strangle indigenous churches and keep them from mobilizing themselves to fulfill the Great Commission in their own context and beyond” (77).

“When missionaries birth, develop, and then hand over ministries to local people, heartfelt ownership is put at serious risk. But there is a second issue as well. In cases where the missionaries initially fill high-profile ministry roles, the local leaders have difficulty filling the shoes of those missionaries. The majority of missionaries serve in ministry roles to their fullest capacity, leaning on years of experience, plenty of resources, and ample equipment. Additionally, they often provide fringe benefits such as English lessons, jobs, medical teams, musical instruments, and equipment. When it is the local leaders’ turn to conduct ministry, they struggle to find acceptance because the church members miss the missionary’s charity, expertise, and charismatic personality” (106).

“[Why handoff’s of ministry programs often don’t work.] They do not want the project to happen as much as we do” (110).

“On one particular Sunday in Cambodia, two ladies from a local church asked to borrow money from me to help them through a hard time. Without a second thought, I loaned them the money. These women meant well, but they had no workable plan to pay me back. They stopped coming to church to avoid embarrassment” (129).

“Missionaries and churches abroad often force growth by running out ahead of the national church” (140).

“As missionaries, we tend to start complex projects and institutions that over the long run require high maintenance, consume our human resources, and do not have the multiplication of disciples at their core” (173).

“In my early stages of ministry, I assumed that Cambodians would take what I implemented and make the appropriate adjustments to their own cultural setting. However, those who learned under my tutelage made their own assumptions. They presumed that whatever I did was a mandate from the Bible” (178).

“Lack of a phase-out strategy will negatively affect the development of the indigenous church” (218).

“Build in responsibility rather than transferring responsibility” (222).

“A timely ‘no’ can actually serve as an act of compassion” (281).… (mais)