The Joys of Being a Novice

Our family have now spent over a week in Madagascar on our first overseas missionary assignment. We have completed a three year course in Biblical and Intercultural Studies. Then we gained further experience on the field in the East Midlands reaching out to North African Muslims. Finally, we arrive in Madagascar following a three week orientation in Nairobi. On the face of it, you could be forgiven for thinking we would be ready for many things.

And yet, in Madagascar, we are nothing but novices.

Struggling to string together cogent sentences in French, only to discover that the recipient only speaks Malagasy. Not knowing how to pull the aisle seat out on the taxi-B when the bus is full of people, or incidentally how to prop it up with a plank of wood when the seat is broken. Babbling some sort of acknowledgement after missing the correct greeting, or smiling sheepishly when we are called vazaha (foreigner). The sheer panic as a child approaches with his hand out, expecting a small amount of ariary. Twice, we have been overcharged by the taxi driver, and who knows how many times we have been overcharged elsewhere. In all things, we are back to being novices, learning things all over again.

Yet, as I reflect on the state of affairs, I acknowledge that there are actually some benefits to being a novice. Perhaps even joy. Especially as a fledgling missionary, owning the title of novice is incredibly important. In future posts, I hope to outline my perception of what a missionary is (or I probably should say: what a missionary should be). For now though, as I have not been in the job for long, I will focus my attention on the joys of being a novice in a new country.

Novices are learners

To be a novice nowadays is to be completely inexperienced in the field that they are entering, with a certain hopelessness attached to this predicament. It isn't a desirable position to be wet behind the ears in our modern day, where status, qualifications and experience ascribe power to individuals. But originally, the term novice had a much more expanded definition. As novices entered the monastery, there was an air of expectation. Potential for what could be. The novitiate period was an intense, challenging period for monks who aspired to take their vows. Novices are tested and tried. They live in community. They intensely imitate their elders. But above all, the novice has the privilege of learning, and learning from the best. Our little time in Madagascar has yielded a treasury of knowledge and understanding, and it will continue to do so as we devote ourselves during this novitiate period. It has been a joy to learn from a culture that is not my own. For instance, I have seen how the Malagasy language is structured to reflect their deference to one another in society. I see the scars of colonialism but also I am understanding how these cultural mores have been grafted into traditional Madagascan culture. Most importantly, I am becoming more aware and reflective of how my personal inclinations (and even prejudices) react to alien practices and values. This helps me deconstruct any cultural superiority that I may have, and realise that all cultures reflect the Imago Dei, and the creating wonder of our glorious God.

Novices are free

In previous iterations of Christian missions, it is fair to say that many missionaries were not keen to be novices. On the contrary, many missionaries of the 19th Century, for example, believed that they had the knowledge, that they were the experts. Their task was to share their knowledge to "the natives", and often this included imposing their Western culture on what was deemed primitive. Although this still happens today, missionaries are less able to get away with this mindset. The power dynamic is shifting, and the Global South is burgeoning with white-hot faithful Christians eager to share the gospel of Christ. So that will mean that modern Western missionaries would do well to sit back and soak in the insight of new perspectives, strategies and ideas from other cultures. I am so pleased that our unit leader is a Malagasy national - he is the expert on how to reach Malagasies with the gospel and mobilise the Malagasy church. As the novice, I am free to revel in the newness of difference cultural perceptions of evangelism and mission. Don't misunderstand me, I am not arguing for alternative gospels or ideas that exist outside the boundaries of scriptural orthodoxy. But it is a joy to not be beholden to my culture's application of the Gospel in daily life. Christian living, by nature, is different in Madagascar as it is to England, and this is immensely freeing.

Novices are...also dependent

Novices cannot survive their period of reflective learning without being dependent on the aid of those with experience and wisdom. As I struggle with all of the scenarios I mentioned in the beginning, what can a novice like me do when he's thrown in the deep end? When confronted, in the moment, with a cross-cultural encounter that disturbs and unsettles, being a novice helps me cling to my Master. Jesus is the Master to all missionary novices, indeed all disciples of Christianity. As we learn and are free to pursue a new, enriching culture, it is Christ who is our guide. In reality, our entire lives are lived out in the novitiate period, a process of sanctifying proving before we are evaluated at the end of all things. To be a novice is to acknowledge Jesus as the Rabbi. We must imitate him, be tested by him, learn from him and rely on him in all things.

So even though, at times, being a novice can be tough, unforgiving and frustrating, I hope to "count it all joy, my brothers...for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" [James 1:2-4]