The Heart of a Missionary

Do I have the heart of a missionary? I have pondered that question a number of times in the three weeks that I have been here in the Dominican Republic teaching in a small Christian school. When I was hired a few months ago one of the questions the interview committee asked me was, “What does your family think of your decision to be a missionary?” I guess I had not thought of this move to Santiago to teach as becoming a missionary. I am simply teaching the same kind of things I would do as if I were still in public education like I was for 38 years before I retired last summer. So am I truly a missionary?


During an evening spent with one of my colleagues who invited my wife and me to supper one evening last week he showed us a DVD that was made about a mission called T.E.A.R.S. (To Evangelize Always Requires Sacrifice). A man who attended a large church in Portland, Oregon felt convicted to share the gospel with people less fortunate than he. So he quit his job and without knowing Spanish moved to the Dominican Republic with his young family into one of the poorest ghettoes of the country near Santiago … not far from where I am teaching. It is now several years later and one of his sons is now in high school in a couple of the classes that I am teaching.


This man lives with the poor and shares the gospel. A church has started there and he has been able to help the people learn to purify the water system and teach the children who are barred from public schools because they don’t have a Catholic certificate of baptism. Most of them are born at home and have no certificate. This, in my estimation, is what a true missionary is, and although I have a huge admiration for people whom God has gifted in that area, I feel embarrassed to be classified in the same category. Do you know what I mean?


So in the mean time, until I can sort this all out, I am simply referring to myself as a teacher in a Christian school. However, this is truly an opportunity to share my faith in a way I have never had a chance to do when I was teaching in the public schools. Let me try to explain.
Santiago Christian School was founded back in the 60’s by a Free Methodist missionary who was interested in helping missionary families give a good quality American education to their children as they served the Lord in a foreign country. A few years later, as the city’s wealthy class noticed the quality of education given by this school, they petitioned the school if their children could attend so they could be better prepared to attend American universities. The board prayed about this and decided it would be a tremendous opportunity to evangelize an influential segment of the island’s mostly Roman Catholic population if they continued to teach as a Christian school. So in 1973 they allowed people to apply and charged a fee similar to a private school.


The teachers that are hired come on a minimum of a two-year contract at first, and then are encouraged to stay. All of them are screened before they are hired to make sure they have a clear Christian testimony and a desire to share the gospel. As near as I can tell most of the teachers are recruited from Christian Reform colleges located mostly in the mid-West and on the East coast. However, the only requirement that the school has is that we agree to the school’s statement of faith. This explains why they would allow a denominational maverick like I am to teach.


The school has 520 students right now and is growing each year. Children as young as two years old come so I guess you could also say that it is a day care center. My responsibilities are in the high school wing. Since it is a small school the teachers are spread pretty thin as they use whatever skills they have in the best way possible. I am teaching biology, health, SAT preparation, calculus, Algebra 1, and Algebra 2… the first four of these I have never taught before. This is the hardest I have ever worked. I realize that it is physically impossible to do well what they have asked me to do, so I am learning to do the best I can and be contented with imperfection.


The high school has around 200 students. Around 80% of them are not Christian, although they would not admit to that since they are from Catholic homes and backgrounds. About 20% are from missionary families or children of the staff who work here. If you are paying attention to all these facts, you may be wondering if there may be a caste system developing since we have many very wealthy families here side by side with so-called poorer families. And, of course, that is true. We have to be very aware of the problems that occur when kids pick on others simply because they aren’t allowed to be in the “right” group when they are playing, etc. We live in a very cruel world as most of us can remember as we went through school.


These demographics give some opportunities that I have only dreamed about as a teacher in the last 38 years. Here is one example. In the biology book it started out right away with the statement, “Earth has a very long history … over four billion years.” Although we require a Bible class for every student each semester and we have chapel every Friday, the books they have purchased for the school are the normal books that any public school in the States would have. I’m not sure of the actual reason for this but I am assuming it has something to do with accreditation.


Anyway, I stopped the class right there and gave them the warning about statements like this that they are going to encounter as they study most of the sciences. We had a great discussion about how anyone could actually tell how old the earth really is, how we know, what evidence there is, where God is in the picture. Then I showed a tape which presented the young earth theory. At the end was a very clear presentation of the gospel that no one could miss.

In a health class we were talking about being healthy in three important areas … physical, mental, and social … which we call the health triangle. Then I explained that since it is a secular book it left out a very important aspect of health called spiritual health. So tomorrow I am having them write a paper on how they would describe their personal spiritual health after I read the verse in Matthew about how dumb it would be to gain the whole world and then lose your soul. After they write the paper, in which they will invariably list all the good things they do, we will have a discussion on how we are truly accepted by God. You didn’t think that faith could have an effect on your health, did you?


The freedom I have to incorporate God’s truth into anything I teach is a little intoxicating right now, if you know what I mean, so I truly need direction on how to be effective and to reach these young students on a personal level.


The biggest problems I am facing right now is the same as I have always had … classroom control. The kids in this country don’t seem to have the generation gap syndrome that seems so prevalent in the States. When they enter class they will shake your hand, give you a hearty eye-contact greeting, and enjoy the banter of each other’s company until class starts. In fact, this is the rub. It seems that the general propensity in this culture is social fun rather than hard work. I suppose it is not in principle any different in any school in the states. It comes with the territory when you are involved with less than mature students. However, it just seems more pronounced here. Maybe it is the open louvered-windows or the cement construction that gives everything an echoing sound. Whatever it is, I discovered right away that these kids need structure. So I have developed a routine.


Since our school does not have bells ring to begin or dismiss class (can you imagine such a thing) every class has to be released according to the teacher and then I have to start my class by my clock. So I stand by the door with the grade book at the beginning of each class period. At the right time I close the door and then stand ready to write down the tardies and deal with the barrage of excuses. Then I walk to the front of the room and spend a couple of minutes taking roll and getting my materials ready. When I am ready, I stand in the front with my book open and say, “I am ready.” They have been prompted to know that when I say that, it means that they are supposed to be ready also. After saying this every day for two weeks they know that when I am ready, they are ready … which means:

1. Homework out 2. Book open 3. Mouth shut.

If they are not, then I deal out the consequences … AGAIN!


Just when I thought that training these kids would be about as possible as herding cats, I started a class last Thursday with the routine warning, “I’m ready.” To my surprise the class responded in a mechanical chant, “We are ready.” So they can be trained if I am consistent. I hear from other teachers who have my same students in other classes that they can’t quite understand a teacher like myself who appears so unbending and disciplined. But we are learning to tolerate each other and in the process education will take place.


Apart from the culture shock which I am hoping will be fairly temporary, this is a small thing to move to a tropical country and teach some kids math and science when you compare it with the giants of missionary faith. But it is something that my wife and I feel that God wants us to do in order to contribute to the Kingdom in a small way.


Recently in my reading in Jeremiah I noticed a rhetorical question that God asked the false prophets of the Israelites when he declared that He would have to judge them for their disobedience:

For who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard his
word? Who hath marked his word, and heard it? Jer 23:18


My heart responded to that question. I asked the Lord to help the answer to that question be, “James, my servant, did while he was in Santiago.” Although I am not worthy to be classified in the company of real missionaries, my sincere desire is to demonstrate the heart of a missionary as I am ministering to these spiritually needy students.