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Maynor
Clara Cheng
Introduction When missionaries undergo culture shock, they often experience feelings of uncertainty, apprehension, frustration, helplessness, a sense of inferiority, and anxiety. All these feelings threaten the self-image and self-esteem of the missionaries undergoing culture shock. New missionaries in general are more vulnerable to emotional depression. Satan would also utilize the cultural stress and the feelings of inadequacy new missionaries experience to aggravate their sense of low self-esteem. In spite of this expected effect of culture shock for new missionaries, theological educators for missionary students still tend to train students more in their ministry competency than in their hearts. The area of missionary care in missionary education is still underdeveloped. Missionary care is more on the remedial than on the preventive side. We should, however, be proactive in "creating" healthy workers for the Lord’s vineyard. In training missionaries, therefore, we should offer an evaluation time for students to understand their own emotional, social, and spiritual condition. If we would actively look to see if there are any emotional bruises in the students while they are still in training, we would also help them to be restored to sound emotional, social, and spiritual wholeness. Therefore, inner-healing should be an indispensable part of missionary training. Vulnerability of New Missionaries When people cross cultures, they are actually undergoing a process of loss. They lose their familiar cultural environment and network of emotional and social contacts. They experience a loss of self-esteem in the beginning of language and culture learning. Depression is closely related to such loss. I remember when I first left language school in Japan. I was sitting in a Bible study in my designated church planting site; I was lost and unable to understand what the Bible study group members were saying. I was very disappointed with myself. Even after having spent two years learning Japanese full-time, I was not able to follow the conversation. I sat there and could not participate, much less teach them the Bible as a missionary. In spite of my theological training and pastoral experience, I sat there feeling like a fool. I said to myself, "Clara, go home. It does not make any difference whether you are here or not. You make no difference!". I remember that day, I went home and cried for an hour. Surely, I was heading toward low self-esteem. In his 1983 book Culture Shock, Myron Loss tells us clearly that cross-cultural stress is "a process of making oneself vulnerable to disorientation and ... many emotional storms" (Loss 1983:47). "Individuals have low self-esteem when there is a great distance between what they want to be and what they are" (ibid.:38). The cultural stress missionaries undergo, especially in the early stage of cultural and language adjustments, puts the missionaries’ self-esteem and self-love to the test. Dr Marjory Foyle, a veteran missionary psychiatrist, explained that when missionaries undergo culture shock, they experience feelings of uncertainty, apprehension, frustration, helplessness, a sense of inferiority, anxiety, false guilt, and hurt feelings from being misunderstood (Foyle 1987:105-107). All these feelings threaten the self-image and self-esteem of the missionaries undergoing culture shock. This is because "feelings of security and significance are probably vital for self-esteem"(Jones 1995:83). Among all the cross-cultural causes of stress, interpersonal relationships is widely identified as the primary one. That the missionary force itself has become increasingly international complicates the situation even more. Sometimes cultural stresses can be so overwhelming that missionaries are not even able to identify the cross-cultural causes of stress. When missionaries undergo cross-cultural stress, they are most vulnerable in their social and psychological aspects. Although practically there are many problems and stresses that missionaries face, it is the missionaries’ wholeness which determines their well-being. It is their well-being that determines how they manage the stresses and problems in cross-cultural missionary life. Crossing Culture and "Bruises" Cross-cultural missionaries are faced with personal issues that they had never been faced with before. Ken Williams has coined a term called "bruises". He defines bruises as hurts caused by earlier traumas in one’s life. I would extend Williams’s definition of bruises as past traumas to any unmet developmental psychological need that is still impacting a person negatively in his/her personality or character. Williams categorizes the stresses and problems missionaries encounter overseas into external stresses and internal stresses. The field situations are the external stresses, and the emotional burden from bruises the missionaries have carried onto the mission field are the internal stresses. "What missionaries take to the field is far more important than what they find there" (Williams 1993:1). Bruises magnify and aggravate the internal stresses of a cross-cultural missionary and the internal stresses also magnify the stresses perceived. Therefore, missionaries with bruises are very vulnerable during the initial period of time when they cross to a new culture. If the missionary team or organization is composed of members from various cultures, the vulnerability increases even more. Definitions Before proceeding further, it may be helpful to define a few terms that I will use frequently in this article. They are "person-formation", "emotional bruise", "damaged emotion", and "inner-healing". "Person-formation" refers to the deliberate programmes in the theological education in training missionary students’ hearts and core beings. On one hand, missionary trainers help the students to understand the "natural person-formation" of their own past. Natural person-formation in one’s past is the natural formation of how a person is shaped by one’s culture to be who he/she is culturally, socially, psychologically and spiritually. This kind of understanding should also account for the dynamics of one’s own family and individual personality. On the other hand, missionary trainers help the students to correct any negative impact from either one’s own culture, family or life happenings. This involves inner healing and also equipping them to lead a healthy cross-cultural life emotionally, socially and spiritually. In other words, person-formation includes illuminating the students’ psychological self-understanding and helps the students be restored to psychological, social and spiritual wholeness. It enhances the student’s social skills and cultural awareness as related to one’s national character and that of those encountered. It facilitates the students developing intimacy with God. I have adopted the term "damaged emotion" from a book of David A. Seamands’s series entitled Healing for Damaged Emotions. "Damaged emotions" refer to emotions which "directly and deeply affect our concepts, our feelings, and our relationships (in a damaging way). They affect the way we look at life and God, at others and ourselves" (Seamands 1981:11). These emotions are damaged as a result of some life experience in the past. And as for "emotional bruise", as defined previously, it refers to the hurts or impact caused by traumas or any unmet developmental psychological need. "Inner-healing" refers to the healing work of the Holy Spirit of a person from any emotional bruise and setting the person free from any damaged emotions, sins, spiritual sickness or oppression. This healing usually is facilitated by Christians who minister some degree of counseling and a lot of prayer. They rely on the revelation of the Holy Spirit to surface the roots of the damaged emotions or spiritual problems, guidance to know how to administer healing and restoration, and ultimately the transforming work of the Holy Spirit on the person being prayed for. Although in inner-healing ministry we may encounter people who have psychiatric problems or people who have problems in their sexuality, I will not address these issues in this article. The goal of this article is to seek a general understanding of emotional problems and then build an applicable inner-healing model for training missionary students. Nevertheless, students who have psychiatric or sexual problems should seek professional help from psychologists and from ministers who specialize in inner-healing. Common Damaged Emotions There are four kinds of damaged emotions depicted by Seamands in his Healing for Damaged Emotions. The damaged emotions are a sense of unworthiness, the perfectionist complex, supersensitivity and depression. According to Seamands, the parent-child relationship, conditional parental love, a cultural overemphasis on being "strong", sexual abuse; and faulty Christian concepts are common causes for emotional problems. Sense of Unworthiness This sense of unworthiness is "a continuous (deep) feeling of anxiety, inadequacy and inferiority" (ibid.: 14). Persons with such a sense of unworthiness do not believe that they are worthy as a person. Moreover, they do not think that they are worthy of anyone else’s care for them either. This sense of unworthiness not only affects their own self-esteem and social relationships, but it also penetrates into their relationship with and faith in God. They have a hard time personally receiving God’s love and forgiveness for them. Perfectionist Complex The perfectionist complex is the inner feeling that says, "I can never quite achieve. I never do anything well enough. I can’t please myself, others, or God". This kind of a person is always groping, striving, usually feeling guilty, driven by inner oughts and shoulds. "I ought to be able to do this. I should be able to do that. I must be a little bit better". He’s ever climbing, but never reaching (ibid.:15). Seamands has expanded this complex in his book called Healing Grace (1988). He explains that people who have developed a false super self will always have to perform in order to fulfill themselves. However, they have a hard time relating to God, to people and of course, even to themselves. The person himself/herself will not be satisfied by their own achievements. Moreover, the person is constantly struggling for approval and trying to prove herself or himself. His or her heart does not know grace. At this point, I would like to add another dimension to perfectionism. Perfectionism drives a person to work so hard that the person is willing to pay even the cost of extinguishing him/herself. This inner drive also works to run the lives of those the person is working with. When that person is confronted with such an issue, he/she feels threatened because his/her own self-image is disturbed by the realization that he/she is not perfect. Therefore, perfectionism has the power to drive people with "workaholism", to blind people to the reality which threatens their self-image, and to cause them to sacrifice social relationships for tasks. Supersensitivity Supersensitive people usually have the experience of having been deeply hurt emotionally when they reached out for affection. They "need a lot of approval" (Seamands 1981:17). Their need for approval is so intense that they may "read" disapproval and negligence from others out of nothing and take on the matter personally. Nevertheless, some supersensitive people cover their sensitivity by "being hard, tough … pushing people around, hurting and dominating them" (ibid.:17). Depression Another very common emotional problem among adults is depression. Seamands identifies biological deposition, learned feeling concepts, and the temperament of a person as the factors of depression. Depression is related to personality structure, physical makeup, body chemistry, glandular functions, emotional patterns, and learned feeling concepts (ibid.:129). By nature and temperament, some people are nervous, apprehensive, or easily frightened. They are supersensitive and their feelings are easily touched and changed…. People who are extremely introspective and sensitive often have the worst problems with depression (ibid.:130). Seamands has also made two interesting and important points about depression. They are acceptance of the prone-to depression self, and the relation between depression and spiritual warfare. Rejection of one’s own temperament and not accepting oneself aggravates depression in a person even more. Satan will also try "to turn temperamental depression into spiritual depression … emotional depression into spiritual defeat … burned-out emotion … into a burned-out trust" (Seamands 1982:131). Common Causes of Damaged Emotions According to Seamands, the parent-child relationship, conditional parental love, a cultural overemphasis on being "strong", sexual abuse, and faulty Christian concepts are common causes for emotional problems. The Parent-Child Relationship The parent-child relationship is very much a key factor in conditioning the emotional responses deposited in an adult. Somewhere, sometime, you were a child. Although you don’t remember all the details of your childhood, the child and teenager you once were is still important to you today because it continues to exist within you. The hidden child of your past is very much alive and affects everything you do, for good or for ill. Many of the most important threads in the complex design of who you are were introduced in your childhood, especially in the parent-child relationships (ibid.:9). In his book Deep Wounds, Deep Healing, Charles Kraft describes the symptoms people suffer from when they are raised by certain parents. One may have the issue of abandonment if the parent(s) were unavailable or absent. One with the issue of rejection could have had parents who were too quick or too frequent in correction. Or the parents might not have wanted the child. A person may suffer from fear or a sense of insecurity if he/she has family members who were unpredictable and erupted in anger. Or, if the person was pressured by parents to conform, he or she could become rebellious (Kraft 1993:184-187). Conditional Parental Love If a child is raised in a family with parents who interact with conditional love and conditional relationships, the child will try very hard to gain acceptance and love. The child may then develop a motto of "Measure up!" (perfectionism) (Seamands 1982:32). This inner-child in adults can be emotionally destructive in that they may "feel shame or guilt about nearly everything they do and even for who they are" (Kraft 1993:185). Cultural Overemphasis on Being "Strong" Another motto is "be strong and silent!". The effect of this childish motto is that the person will not be able to express his/her feelings (Seamands 1982:42). Even if feelings do surface, the adult will not know how to handle them. Consequently, the adult will not be able to express or handle sorrow, grief, anger, compassion, loneliness, anguish, depression, or a complex combination of several emotions. Sexual Abuse Although I have stated above that I will not address how to minister to people with sexual difficulty, it is still important to emphasize that this emotional bruise is serious and very deep. The abusive incidents "leave them feeling soiled, dirty, and ashamed" (ibid.:142). Williams has compiled a list of characteristics of victims of incest and rape (with ideas from Gardner 1982). They include: 1) intense rage, 2) irrational fears and/or anxiety, 3) a deep, pervading sense of guilt, 4) feelings of being different from others, 5) extremely low self-esteem, 6) waves of overwhelming loneliness, 7) great difficulty in trusting others, 8) intermittent depression, and 9) difficulty relating to spouse and sexual dysfunction (Williams 1993). Therefore, I cannot emphasize enough that we must pay attention to refer the person to well-trained counsellors to heal such bruises. Faulty Christian Concepts Seamands warns Christians that zeal for the Lord does not mean self-extinction. This false humility only "leaves the person self-sufficient, self-righteous, self-willed, seeking his own glory" (Seamands 1982:117). Such people do not have adequate and true self-esteem and self-love. They are not able to love other people with God’s agape love. Their dilemma is that they need to understand God’s love in order to have adequate and true self-esteem and self-love. However, they are not able to correctly perceive the character of God, without any distortion. Although people with damaged emotions, are not, for the most part, responsible for causing their own damaged emotions, they are responsible if they allow "the inner child of [their] past to dominate [their] life" (ibid.: 10). Adults cannot blame their parents or abusers for how they are handling their emotions as adults and as children of God. This is where inner-healing ministry comes in to heal the bruises and to transform the bruised person. Inner-Healing and Missionary Training We live in a time in which families are often sick and broken. A higher percentage of missionary students come from such broken families than ever before. Christian missionary works, regardless of the form (for example, Bible translation, medicine, community relief or church planting), are a spiritual ministry, and such ministry intrinsically involves spiritual struggle. We cannot afford to subject God’s precious and beloved children to a struggle in which they will only be "injured" socially, emotionally, spiritually, and even physically! How do we eliminate "injuries"? Today, many mission agencies give psychological tests to the missionary candidates during their selection process, and they do not send out people found to have excessive emotional bruises. Or, if injuries happen on the mission field, they may even provide measures of missionary care to treat the wounds. Although these measures are necessary, they are sometimes administered too late. I believe that preventive measures should be made at the very early stages of missionary training in theological education. We should offer a period of time to students in missionary training to recognize their own emotional, social and spiritual conditions. And I believe that inner beings with bruises can be restored to sound emotional, social and spiritual wholeness through inner-healing and counselling. In other words, we should actively look to see if there are any bruises and then actively heal those bruises. Then we can actively "create" and send out healthy workers into the Lord’s vineyard. The Ministry of Inner-Healing Let me summarize Mike Flynn’s description of what inner healing is and is not from his chapter on "What is the Ministry of Inner Healing?" (Flynn 1993:15-22). These points certainly help both the missionary trainers ministering inner-healing and the students receiving the ministry to know what to expect, what not to expect, and how to proceed. What Inner-Healing Is Inner-healing is a set of biblically-based dynamics and procedures taught by the Holy Spirit which must be respected in the ministry. It is a means of grace to let God address the emotional bruise and also a process with a sequence from "getting in touch with the pain" (ibid.: 19) to actual healing. It: 1. releases the immobilizing aspects of damaged emotions; 2. corrects the responses to emotional bruises, especially with unforgiveness; 3. reframes a past event to gain perspective of the event or person(s) involved; 4. exchanges the negative effects of the emotional bruise with positive blessings from Jesus; 5. heals memories from the continuing negative effects; and 6. applies forgiveness to the person in order to heal the self-inflicted damage to one’s self-image. What Inner Healing is Not Inner-healing is not: 1. "psychiatry" seeking to analyze a person’s personality; 2. a "positive thinking" method; 3. an act of "meditation" but rather Jesus’ very own presence; 4. "escapism" from emotional bruises but rather penetration into and healing from bruises; 5. "group therapy", but rather an encounter with Jesus for the person needing healing; 6. "grief work", but appropriation of insights and emotions to Jesus; 7. a "recovery programme", but the person’s faith in the power of God; 8. application of "salvation" to a person’s eternal destiny; 9. a "New Age" technique which taps an individual’s inner resources to reach for wholeness, or 10. a "panacea" which replaces the disciplines of sanctification and Jesus himself. General Checklist Here is an emotional and spiritual problems checklist I have combined from six authors on inner-healing. They are from Mike Flynn and Doug Gregg (1993: 25), Charles Kraft (1993: 73), John and Paula Sandford (1985: 107-8, 165, 214, 226, 246, 256, and vii) and David Seamands (1981: 52, 86-90 and 126; 1985: 79-93). This checklist is composed of five areas: 1) traumatic and damaging life experiences, 2) damaged emotions, 3) reactions to emotional bruises, 4)spiritual sicknesses and sins, and 5) things which impinge and wound our spirits. Some of the items in each area cannot be categorized in a clear cut way. They are then categorized in the category that is most applicable, and they may even be repeated under another category. Traumatic and Damaging Life Experiences 1. Any recurring disturbing mental pictures, scenes, or dreams are a good indication of having had such an experience. 2. Hurt: rejection, abandonment, and not being wanted. 3. Memories of specific humiliation, embarrassment, and shame, and the overall atmosphere of the growing years. 4. Frightening experiences, unhealthy teachings and poor relationships in the past which lead to various kinds of fear. 5. Abuses: physical, emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse. 6. Unfulfilled Emotional Needs: lack of love, acceptance, affirmation, and intimacy. 7. Parental Inversion: Instead of being taken care of as a child by the parent(s), the child is put in a situation that she or he has to take care of the parent(s). 8. Utero Encounters: damaged emotions resulting from any persistent strong negative feelings from or through the mother by what she was going through. Damaged Emotions 1. Performance orientation: need to please others. 2. Perfectionism: constant feeling of never doing well enough, continuous sense of self-depreciation, anxiety, legalism, anger and resentment against the oughts, oneself, people and even God, and denial of the anger. 3. Low self-esteem: feelings of inferiority, inadequacy, and low self-worth. 4. Depression: prolonged times of feeling downcast, sorrowful, tearful and even despairing of life. 5. Various kinds of fear: rejection, the dark, heights, being alone, being in crowds, disease, death, intimacy. 6. Guilt: regret, confusion, sense of shame and disappointment. 7. Compulsions: need to control, possessiveness, intellectualism and rationalization, and any addictive drug habit and/or behaviour. 8. Lust: sexual fantasizing and pornography, obsessive masturbation, and sexual immorality. Reactions to Emotional Bruises 1. Unforgiveness: anger at others, bitterness, and resentment. 2. Hatred: a desire for revenge. 3. Self-rejection: anger at self, feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, critical spirit against oneself, feelings of rejection by others, and hypersensitivity. 4. Guilt: shame and embarrassment. 5. Critical Spirit: faultfinding, judgmentalism, intolerance, and condemnation. 6. Discouragement: disappointment, anger at God or fate or life in general. 7. Rebellion: stubbornness. Spiritual Sicknesses and Sins 1. Strictly speaking, all the items in damaged emotions and reactions to emotional bruises involve certain degrees in some factors of spiritual sickness; some can even be identified as sins, if not sickness. 2. Slumbering Spirit: a spirit that is never nurtured and drawn forth to life in early infancy, or a hardened Spirit which is incapable to commune with the Holy Spirit, but only relates to people and God mentally. 3. Depression: a spirit which is incapable of sustaining the person emotionally or physically and despairs of hope for recovery. 4. Defilement: a spirit that, because of having committed a certain sin(s), sets out to seduce/ manipulate others to cooperate, or being defiled by such a spirit. 5. Death Wish: a person’s spirit not sustaining the body normally as a result of a traumatic experience in the mother’s womb. 6. False identifications of love: unregenerated love which only demands and wants. 7. Shrikism: a need to establish personal righteousness at the expense of others. 8. Involvement in occult, spiritualism, spiritual adultery and idolatry. Things Impinging and Wounding Our Spirits 1. Inner vows: unbiblical vows made in our past consciously or unconsciously . 2. Generational curse(s): curses) resulting from our ancestors’ sins 3. Demonization: affliction by demons who have gained footholds in people’s lives. A Brief Introduction to Three Inner-healing Approaches While Kraft and the Sandfords are renowned authorities in inner-healing ministry, Dave and Linda Olson also contribute to a unique approach to inner-healing. Kraft names inner-healing as "deep-level healing". Deep-level healing releases people from deep-level spiritual and emotional problems and restores them to a correct self-image and intimacy with God. Kraft’s approach emphasizes using our spiritual authority to wage a war against the kingdom of Satan so that we can liberate the captives. Therefore, he actively employs techniques like memory retrieval, faith-picturing, interrogation of demons and casting them out. Then, he gives follow-up counselling for growth in emotional and spiritual health. To the Sandfords, inner-healing should be called "prayer and counsel for sanctification and transformation" (Sanford, John and Mark 1992:18). Their approach is to confront the counsellees with truth and to help the "unbelieving part of the heart" to die on the cross in order to be transformed. They do not try to cover extensively everything in the counsellees’ lives. They concentrate on helping the counsellees to repent of their bitter root judgments toward their parents and others. Although the Olsons were trained by the Sandfords, they have developed an approach called "listening prayer counselling". This approach helps the counsellees to dialogue with God directly and to obtain insights, healing and comfort directly from God. Nevertheless, their philosophic emphasis for inner-healing is similar to the Sandfords that is repentance of bitter root judgments. In addition, they see "sins" as human efforts to meet unfulfilled but legitimate needs, which could be met by God only. Therefore, they help the counsellees to get healing from God for their unfulfilled needs. Directness of Guidance in Inner-Healing The Sandfords’ model includes much direct confrontation with biblical truths from the counsellor to the counsellee. Then, much repentance is emphasized. The Olsons’ model defers all the counselling and comforting to Jesus. Although they are indeed guiding the counselling process, they turn every thought into a question directed towards Jesus. Meanwhile, Kraft’s model falls in the middle of the spectrum. Kraft gently reminds the counsellees of the biblical truth and gently guides the counsellees to receive forgiveness from God. Much of his practice employs guided imagination and deliverance. Although I like very much the Olsons’ philosophy of having people get counselling directly from "listening" to God — listening referring not only to audible sounds but to visual images and to the imagination as well — I still believe that we need to speak forth biblical truth directly to the counsellees. Sometimes, people are so spiritually and emotionally sick that they are not able to believe that God will speak to them. Or, they do not think that they can actually hear God speaking to them. In order to enable them to hear from God directly, we have to remove their "listening blockages" by speaking forth truth directly to them. As to whether we "confront" the counsellees with the biblical truth or just "remind" them, depends on the spiritual condition of the counsellees. Sometimes it takes a slap on the face to get an unconscious person to wake up; other times just calling their name will wake them. Sometimes, when the counsellee is "stubbornly deaf’ to God, we need to confront him/her directly and forcefully. But if the counsellee is ready to "wake up and listen", all it takes is a gentle reminder of the truth so that we can remove the "listening blockage". As soon as we get the counselee ready to hear from God directly, I would favour the Olsons’ practice of deferring the counselling to Jesus. I believe that just as the Lord can guide and speak to the counselors, He will also speak to the counsellees. It is simply a matter of practice whether we encourage the students to listen to the Lord directly or not. I would recommend refraining from the practice of retrieving memories and guiding their imagination. I would leave that to the initiation of the Holy Spirit in retrieving any memories and in giving any visions directly to the counsellees during the "listening prayer" sessions. I would recommend, however, the use of sacraments such as the Lord’s communion, the cross and oil to facilitate reminding the counsellees of the healing and transforming power of the cross and the presence of the Holy Spirit. And if the Lord shows that there is demonization of the counsellees, I would recommend asking the Lord to show both the counsellors and the students what to do in order to cast the demon(s) out. Then they respond accordingly. In my opinion, there is no more powerful or joyous substitute for hearing directly from the Lord. It is my hope that we can equip the students with adequate biblical truth so that they are "healthy" enough to be able to listen to God and receive healing and transformation directly. Moreover, when the students become missionaries on the mission field, they may not have the "luxury" of having counsellors there. They need to be trained to listen to God and receive healing from God directly. They will also be able to utilize listening prayer as they disciple their converts and relate to their teammates. An Inner-Healing Model for Person Formation My philosophy of inner-healing is that it is both healing and transformation. The goal of inner-healing ministry among missionary students is to heal the students’ emotional and spiritual wounds through the use of the Word of God and by the work of the Holy Spirit and to transform them into mighty instruments of God. Then they can be instruments of transformation to wholeness in Christ for others. We need the Lord to reveal what in the students’ lives is in need of healing. In a healing process, we need the authority of the Holy Spirit to set the students free from any bondage of the enemy as well as the Lord’s own comfort for their hurts. We also need the power of the Holy Spirit to establish and to restore them back to an abundant life in Christ. We also need his power to stabilize and to instill strength in the students so that they can have shalom (wholeness) to be healthy soldiers on the mission field and to be resilient as wounded healers. Intimacy with God I agree with Kraft that intimacy is the most crucial dynamic in inner-healing. Without the intimacy with God in one’s own private spiritual life, no one is able to conduct/receive inner-healing with sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, to exercise the necessary spiritual authority, or to love and to be loved. Therefore, both the trainers and the students must maintain their personal intimacy with God and not rely on the techniques or models of inner-healing already developed. The Vitality of Using the Word of God In order to achieve the desired healing and transformation in the healing process, we need to apply the Word of God effectively throughout the whole process. In other words, both the trainers and the students need the truth of the Bible to reveal what is wrong in the students’ lives. We need to equip the students with the truth so that their lives will be transformed. Besides, both the trainers and the students need biblical principles to discern whether or not what is happening in the inner-healing ministry (eg. words of knowledge, prophesy, and visions) is compatible with God’s own heart for us. The Key for Inner-Healing: The Cross The trainers ministering inner-healing to the students should emphasize that the cross is the key place for inner-healing. Leanne Payne, another renowned writer on inner-healing, contends that we should appropriate the cross to get a person into the presence of God; then one can be healed by identifying one’s life with Jesus’ death and resurrection. There is no other transformation more powerful than to put a sinful heart to death and live a holy life before God. Just as Flynn writes about the "dynamic of exchange", there is no other comfort more healing than to know that Jesus took our pain so that we can "release hurt to him [Jesus as] he releases healing to us" (Flynn and Greg 1993:97). Inner-healing as a Training Programme Since person-formation is a preventive measure to injury or fatality on the mission field, we actively seek to help the students to identify their vulnerable areas and to be healed from their bruises and damaged emotions. Although in the Sandfords’ approach the counsellors do not try to cover extensively everything in the counsellees’ lives, we cannot afford to neglect even one area in person-formation. I would propose that missionary students should study the basic knowledge of common emotional bruises and damaged emotions, and the common causes of these matters. Alongside this study, I would have the students trace their own life. In addition, the students should ask any family members about the lives of their ancestors and parents. They should trace how life was for their parents when they were in their mothers’ wombs as well as how life was for themselves during their childhood and up to the present. In doing so, they would come up with a checklist of what possible vulnerable areas they should address. Moreover, the students should go overseas and do at least three months of missionary work. This is to provide the students a chance to experience what their vulnerable spots might be and what inner-healing they might need. If the Holy Spirit does reveal that a certain student needs inner-healing, individual inner-healing ministry to the students by missionary trainers will be provided for them. It would also be advisable that the students receive professional counselling therapy alongside their inner-healing ministry. This approach is different from the common practice in which people come for inner-healing when they are already in an actual situation that demands intervention. This process, however, is not to encourage the students to be introspective, or to be manipulated in any suggestive way to imagine matters that do not exist. Instead, both the students and the trainer are to be very prayerful to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what should be dealt with, if anything. I agree with the Sandfords in that we should only focus on the issue which the Holy Spirit is working on. The counsellors should not hurry the counsellees. We have to trust the Lord’s wisdom and timing. Therefore, it is best to put the study on basic knowledge of emotional bruises and damaged emotions and the assignment of tracing their lives at the beginning of their entire study programme; the overseas experience should be in the middle of their programme. If at any time the Lord prompts the students to work on issues during the span of their enrollment in their training, there will still be ample time to deal with the issues with the help of the trainers. References Cited Allen, Frank, Burnis Bushong, Dave Camburn, Michael Pocock, and Tim Ratzloff, 1986 "Why Do They Leave? Reflection on Attrition", Evangelical Missions Quarterly, 22.2: 118-129. Cheng, Maynor Clara, 1996 "What Is Person-Formation?", unpublished Ph.D. Tutorial, Pasadena, CA: Fuller Theological Seminary. 1997 "Issues of Missionary Wholeness", unpublished Ph.D. Tutorial, Pasadena, CA: Fuller Theological Seminary. Chester, Raymond M., 1983 "Stress on Missionary Families Living in ‘Other Culture’ Situations", Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 2.4: 30-37. Flynn, Mike and Doug Gregg, 1993 Inner Healing, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, Foyle, Marjory F. 1987 Overcoming Missionary Stress, Wheaton, IL: Evangelical Missions Information Service. Gardner, Laura Mae, 1982 "Another Aspect of Foot Binding: Incest", unpublished. Gish, Dorothy, 1983 "Sources of Missionary Stress", Journal of Psychology and Theology, 11.3: 238-242. Holden, Gregory B., 1994 "Crossing the Missionary Boundary: The Role of Personal Expectations in the Transition to Cross-Cultural Ministry", Ph. D. Dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminary. Jones, Marge, 1995 Psychology of Missionary Adjustment, Springfield, MI: Gospel Publishing House. Kraft, Charles H., Ellen Kearney and Mark H. White, 1992 Defeating Dark Angels, Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications. 1993 Deep Wound, Deep Healing, Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Publications. 1997 I Give You Authority, Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books Linguist, Stanley E., ed. 1970 Problems of Missionaries, Fresno, CA: Link Care Center. Loss, Myron, 1983 Culture Shock, Winona, IN: Light & Life Press. Olson, Dave and Linda, 1997 Listening Prayer, El Cajon, CA: Listening Prayer Ministries. Payne, Leanne, 1989 The Healing Presence, Westchester, IL: Crossway Books. 1991 Restoring The Christian Soul, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. 1994 Listening Prayer, Grand Rapids, MI: Hamewith Books. Sandford, John and Mark, 1992 Guide to Deliverance and Inner Healing, Grand Rapids, MI: Chosen Books. Sandford, John and Paula, 1979 Restoring the Christian Family, Tulsa, OK: Victory House. 1982 Transformation of the Inner Man, Tulsa, OK: Victory House. 1985 Healing the Wounded Spirit, Tulsa, OK: Victory House. Seamands, David, 1981 Healing for Damaged Emotions, Special Edition, Australia: Christian Press and Scripture Press Foundation (UK) Ltd. 1982 Putting Away Childish Things, Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 1985 Healing of Memories, Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 1988 Healing Grace, Wheaton, IL: Victor Books Tylor, William D., 1997 Too Valuable To Lose, Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library. Williams, Ken, 1993 "A Stress Model For Understanding Bruised Backgrounds", Dallas, TX: Counseling Department Reprint, Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Ref.: Mission Studies, IAMS, Vol. XVIII, n. 2, 36, 2001, pp. 126-143.
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