the course

8 weeks into it, maybe it's time to talk about it, isn't it?

Yes, 8 weeks already done, only 2 to go for our "En Route" course, training for those "on the missionary road", at All Nations Christian College.

So, what would you like to know?

Students? 19, from Europe (UK, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands), Asia (Japan, Hong Kong) and Africa (Nigeria), of different ages (early 20s to over 50) and background (fairly new Christians, ministers, missionaries back from years on the field, missionaries leaving soon, would-be missionaries...)

They're the best aspect of the course! Some very good friends, all nice people, a great deal of faith  stories and experiences to share

Maybe too much difference, especially as to faith-missionary journey? Definitely.

Tutors? 3 main ones, plus several others, both from the College and external.

All very friendly, dedicated, with a lot of missionary experience and a lot of reading/studying/experience on the subjects, which doesn't necessarily converts into good teaching methods/skills...

Structure? 5 modules: 

  -  Who Am I? (expectations, personality/learning/team role types, Christian identity...) 

  -  The Bible and Mission? (bible overview from a missional point of view, personal creed, what is mission?, motivation, different approaches, trends...)

  -  Culture and World Religion? (culture and worldview, culture shock, major religions, folk religion, how to approach different religions...)

  -  Relating and Integrating (cross-cultural approaches, learning languages, life-style, families/singles in mission, health, safety, poverty&development, spiritual gifts, conflict handling, communicating with supporters...)

  -  What is mission? (Integral mission, evangelism, church planting, bible studies, creation care, suffering, contextualisation, arts...)

A lot of challenging, interesting, valid, useful, relevant... themes? Yes. Well tackled? No, apart from a few cases.

A bit too much for 10 weeks? Not just a bit...

Good for you? A lot is not really relevant, a few aspects would surely be good, but there's no time/will/method to delve into them.

Workload? 3 hours of lessons per morning, 4 days a week, 1.5 hrs the 5th day / endless personal questionnaires / plenty of suggested reading / a workbook per module with questions on the programme done during those weeks / other assignments: a personal creed, a cross-cultural profile (interviewing a student from a different culture), a newsletter "from the mission", a "farewell plan" / a final research project on a subject of the student's choice.

Is that much? It depends on how much you want to do and how much time you have: as a family, with kids to manage before and after the lessons, there's not much time left, so it's not easy; still, we've done a lot of other things on the sides (different readings, travel arrangements, a little language studies, sport and/or music to survive...) and we are well on track, though it meant loads of evening/night study and very little of the suggested reading (not a great loss).

Anything else? Outside the course, there's a lot more going on for students, not compulsory, but still expected: Community prayer meetings on Monday and Wednesday morning / Tutor Group (with other students, not just from our course) prayer meetings on the other days / Community worship on Sunday evening (people go to different churches for morning service) / prayer partners weekly meeting 

Wow, great community life! Absolutely, but that means less time for studying or personal devotion (especially as parents, with less time available). And with so many moments not all of them can be really suited to everyone...

General evaluation? As you might have guessed from the above comments, not very positive, so it's better not to elaborate too much on it now and let the course finish, then we'll give our final verdict.