Three reasons that missionaries (both expatriates and nationals) in predominantly oral cultures should actively incorporate the use of traditional proverbs in their ministry.

The Mulla was walking down the village street deep in thought, when some urchins began to throw stones at him. He was taken by surprise, and besides he was not a big man.

There’s no getting around it—I am a WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant). No matter how hard I might try to identify myself with another culture, which all missionaries are supposed to do, I am still a WASP.

By the second half of the twentieth century, missiologists had recognized the inaccuracy of the colonialist assumption, “West is best” and replaced it with the culturally sensitive assumption that “Indigenous is best.” In a culturally complex and changing twenty-first century world, isn’t it time to challenge the simplicity of both?

I would like to suggest that as we work to improve the quality of our training, we must address an additional important aspect: the qualities and qualifications of the people who are going through this training process.