Fieldwork as a Missions Tool for Teams and Churches

by Alan Howell

Director of Church Relations

“We’ve got a problem... I think I know what it is... but I might be wrong.  And I’m definitely, not sure what to do about it... What do I do next?”

In working with missionaries and missions committees, that type of comment pops up more often than you might think.  And while some people may see not knowing what to do as a bad sign, to me it’s a great sign because it means we’re done with assuming we have the right answers and we’re ready to ask the right questions.  It’s a good sign because it means we’re really ready to dig into the problem... or the problems behind the problem.

I love the story of Principal Cook, of the West Side High School in Newark, New Jersey.  He also had a problem.  Some students at his school resisted when security officers tried to check their bags at the front door.  While one of us might be quick to assume these young people resisted because they were carrying drugs or a weapon, when Principal Cook started asking questions, he found a very different reason.  Some of his students couldn’t afford to wash their clothes and they were carrying dirty laundry in their backpacks.  They didn’t want security people going through their bags because they were ashamed – in fact, the smell of dirty clothes was connected with bullying which, in turn, was connected with their chronic absences.  What seemed like one type of problem was actually part of a bigger system of problems.  So, what did the school do?  They addressed it by making washers and dryers available so that dirty laundry wouldn’t get in the way of anyone’s education.  By asking questions, Principal Cook better understood the problem(s) and was able to find a surprising solution.

Involvement in missions is about God and God’s world and curiosity about both can be extremely helpful.  Christian Scharen’s book, Fieldwork in Theology: Exploring the Social Context of God's Work in the World (2015), examines the relationship between theology and social situation – the connection between the story of the church (ecclesiology) and culture (ethnography).  Scharen summarizes the significance of our missionary task this way: “In order to engage ministry with vitality, perceive the new things God is doing, and ‘participate in God,’ leaders have to get out and learn what’s going on and how to relate to the people and context where they are. Fieldwork in theology is that simple—and that complicated!” (30).  By asking questions and not assuming we know the answers, we may be able to get to the root of what needs to change in our contexts.

Living in Mozambique, Africa, from 2003 to 2018, it was impossible for me to assume that I really understood the culture, the context of my ministry.  This appropriate sense of desperation led me to ask questions to learn their systems and how life worked in “their world.”  I used questions to investigate different parts of their culture in order to learn how the gospel can bring good news into that reality.  Over time, that desperation turned into fascination as I began to see not only the problems, but also the solutions or connections that could be made.  In moving back to the United States, I needed help again, and leaned on the university students I worked with to help me understand this new (to me) “foreign” culture.  And now, through my work with Mission Resource Network, I’m learning again as I ask churches and kingdom workers about what people perceive as their strengths and sticking points in the contexts where they serve. 

While Fieldwork in Ministry might be formally described as “qualitative interviews and triangulation of the data in small groups,” please don’t get thrown off if that feels too technical. In our ministry and mission contexts it may look more informal, although still very intentional.  It doesn’t mean trying to be amateur or armchair ethnographers, but it may look like keeping a list of questions handy (on your paper or on your phone) and paying attention to the answers we get over a meal or a call.  It may mean being purposeful in having conversations salted with phrases like, “I’ve noticed ____ happening… why is that?” and “Tell me more about that…;” “How’s that working for them?... for you?” “I’m curious to hear what you would say keeps _____ from happening?”  A Fieldwork approach can be the right tool in our ministry/missions toolkit when we need to: Revisit a problem; Revamp a program; Augment our preaching/teaching; or Engage a challenge.  Fieldwork may take various forms, but it is effective only when we truly have eyes to see and ears to hear.   

Scharen tells a story of one interviewee, a woman who had a beautiful response to being really listened to.  She said this: “You heard me. You heard me all the way... I have a strange feeling you heard me before I started. You heard me to my own story. You heard me to my own speech.” (29)  Powerful things, Kingdom of God-type things, happen when people are truly heard – things like clean clothes and an environment where learning and transformation can happen.

If your church or your mission team would like some help in forming some fieldwork questions to help you dig into a problem more effectively, we’d love to support you. Feel free to reach out to Alan Howell at Alan.howell@mrnet.org.

Missionary CareHallie Beth Halemissionary work, sending church, supporting church, missionary care, missionary care specialistComment