Jon and Jen Quast Learning Language and Culture of Paraguay 
Our silly old bear
One of the things that we like to do with this blog is highlight a current course that we are in, and tie that into what we are doing with becoming missionaries to plant a church among the unreached people groups of the world. We get a lot of questions from time to time on this topic of missions, but there is a topic that we don’t get questions on often. The topic is how do you teach a tribal culture from the Bible. The question here is not what do you teach, but how do you teach. Not a commonly asked question, but one worth considering.
Think about how we think of a teaching situation. What comes to mind? You probably first picture a room, with people sitting down at desks. Maybe tables, maybe chairs. Oh yeah, and the room is probably climate controlled in your imagination. Now I’m guessing that in your mind there is someone standing up front. Perhaps he is dressed formerly, and he is addressing the sitting down people. He probably has a projector and a screen displaying the points he is trying to make. (which by the way he probably has three points all starting with the letter j, and a conclusion to finish his speech) The sitting down people have books and pen and paper in front of them and they are writing furiously to keep up. Oh yeah, and one more thing…QUIET!
As we look to present ourselves as teachers in someone else’s universe we have to figure out how we are going to teach. More than likely (in fact most definitely) the scenario will not look like what we saw above. The way we pass on information in the west is completely foreign to the majority of the people of the world. To quote a friend of mine: “3 points and a poem ain’t gonna cut the mustard…”
Why not? Let’s break it down. The place that we are going to meet to teach God’s word will more than likely not qualify for a room. Try 4 posts and a roof, and you might have a better idea of a typical jungle classroom. Because there are no walls, many unexpected company may decide to join the meeting as well. By unexpected company I mean dogs, chickens, goats….I have even heard of a cassowary deciding to join the church meeting and then running off with a model of the ark of the covenant that the missionary was teaching on. So distractions are in. Quiet is out.
What about standing in front of the class and lecturing? In many cultures it may be more appropriate to sit down and teach. Some may teach by stories. In whatever situation we find ourselves we will have to be a learner first, a teacher second. We must learn how they do it. Teach them they way they learn information already. Big challenge.
Some other things to consider is our sense of urgency; actually communicating to them through our words and actions that this message is important. Teaching in the heart language of the people is another huge thing to consider. If you’ve followed what we have said at all about tribal missions you will know that we will take 2-5 years learning the language of the people before we ever teach. Why? We want the language to penetrate all the way down to their hearts. Teaching in a language other than their heart language (the language they grew up speaking, not a language they have learned) could result in an incomplete knowledge, or simply a partial understanding of the message. We want the message to take root in their hearts.
So this is kind of a recap (maybe introduction is a better word) to our class we just had called teaching considerations (go figure). Stay tuned for more next week. Remember us as we pursue Paraguay.
Till All Are Reached
Jon and Jen Quast
