Contemporary missions literature places a high value on reproducibility.The acceptability of a methodology is judged in large part by how reproducible it is.
Even if a method is biblical, contemporary missionaries are increasing demanding that it be easily reproduced by local believers. The idea is that a new or uneducated believer could leave our training and reproduce what they were taught to others. Among recent books, Steve Smith’s T4T (WIGTake, 2011) may be the most forceful in emphasizing this point.
At one level, this is an obvious point anyone can agree on. Who wants to teach something that others can’t reproduce? On the other hand, when does a legitimate value verge on idolatry? This is a serious question that should not be cast off too quickly. Good things have their limits. Idols by nature are “good things” enjoyed out of proportion to their worth. Trees, money, and television are not inherently bad until they get turned into objects of worship. We must resist the temptation to oversimplify the question as if reproducibility were either all good or all bad.
A friend recently criticized me, after he attended some meetings that I had facilitated, claiming that the way I led the discussion was not reproducible. He suggested that everything we teach should be able to be reproduced by our hearers, otherwise we should note teach it. Finally, he asserted that if something is not reproducible then we open the door for heresy. After all, he added, if it is not reproducible, then it is only for the “head” and not their heart and hands. This got me to thinking. What is meant by “reproducible?”
Confusing Speed and the Spirit?
I don’t think it is a real point of dispute whether “reproducibility” is an important missionary value; instead, I think the crux of our problem, when it comes to “reproducibility,” is the matter of time or speed. How fast should something be able to be reproduced? In T4T, for example, it is hoped that trainees can leave their meeting and immediately be able to train others as they were trained. Obviously, new Christians and illiterate or uneducated believers will not be able to reproduce some things at the same rate as more mature or more educated Christians.
Different processes have differing rates of reproduction. First hand experience unfortunately taught me that fruit flies reproduce really fast. On the other hand, the human reproduction cycle typically takes 20+ years; at a minimum, biology sets a minimum wait time of 12–14 years.
In addition, we never expect students to rapidly reproduce what they learn when we talk about other subjects, like math, history, or art. A number of topics take many days, months, or even years. Can you imagine trying to teach differential equations to someone on a Monday and expect them to turn around and teach it on Tuesday? Of course not. Pedagogically speaking, there are some topics that it’s better to first get the big picture before one can get a grasp of the details. However, in those situations, learners would never be able to reproduce the big picture so quickly.
Reproducibility is Relative
Why do we have a different standard when it comes to understanding Scripture and developing ministry skills? For instance, we should not expect people to study the books of Matthew or Romans, actually grasp the writers’ main points, and then reproduce that teaching the next day if they do not have in mind the grand narrative of the Bible, including God’s covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David or events like the Exodus and Israel’s exile.
If we want people to reproduce the teachings of these books, it will take significant time. Of course, this doesn’t mean they can’t get something out of it; however, the point I’m making is simply this: reproducibility is a relative goal.
One simply needs of think of Peter. If there was anyone who should be able to reproduce whatever a Christian teacher says, it should be Jesus’ closest disciple. However, in 2 Peter 3:16, Peter refers to Paul’s letters when he says, “There are some things in them that are hard to understand.” By definition, things that are hard to understand cannot be rapidly reproduced. Essentially, Peter just told us that not even Paul’s teachings were “reproducible.” If we get to the point where we exclude Paul from our missionary organizations and strategy meetings, we have a problem.
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