Exit Strategies; Turning over the work
From JJ, From Passing the Baton ch. 1: This chapter is something that every missionary should read before they or even if they are already there. Steffen talks about his experience in the Philippines in this introductory chapter of his book, Passing the Baton. He proposes five stages to missionaries when on the mission field. He wrote the book because he found that when the missionary left the mission field the people there had no way of continuing the church after the missionary left the mission field. So his book was very cutting edge forty years ago when it was copyrighted. The five stages he proposes are as follows:
- Pre-entry Stage
- Pre-evangelism Stage
- Evangelism Stage
- Post-evangelism Stage
- Phase Out Stage
The main purpose then was to be a missionary, but anyone knows that a missionary can’t be on the mission field forever, especially because at some point he or she will die. So in light of this Steffen thought to make a phase out plan. The proclamation of the Gospel is still important but it is also important for the church to go on that the people can continue the church after the missionary leaves.