Ronald Richard Mudge, Jr.

1. 2/28/1970 Flint, Michigan USA

 

Spouse/Family

Wife: Lisa Kathleen (nee Roslansky), b. 3/23/1972 San Luis Obispo, California USA

1. 8/26/1995

Children: Jonah David (1998); Isaiah Andrew (2000); Ella Elizabeth (2003); Aaron

Christian (2006)

 

Dates of Service Field Call Assignment

1997-2002 Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Theological Education by Extension

2003-2005 Togo Professor; TEE; Area Facilitator

 

Biographical Summary

Ronald (Ron) Mudge developed an interest in foreign mission work while doing his undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan (Flint).  He graduated with a degree in English and Music and a minor in French in spring 1992 and began studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis that summer.  He studied at Concordia until 1996, when he received his M.Div. degree.  At the time the seminary did not have a specific foreign mission track, but Ron took a leadership development course from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne and served his vicarage in Montreal in a French-speaking congregation to prepare.  Upon receiving his M.Div, he was called as a missionary to Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and he spent the next few months studying missiology at Fort Wayne.  Ron and his wife Lisa had been married in 1995, and she spent the first months of 1995 in Montreal learning French.  Her training (at the University of Minnesota – Morris) was in education, and she spent 1995-96 teaching at Lutheran High School in St. Charles.  Once Ron graduated, she undertook language and culture training, as well as some computer training.  Ron and Lisa departed the U.S. for Ivory Coast in January 1997.

 

Ron’s call was to set up and administer theological education structures that would meet the needs of the Lutheran Church in Africa, Synod of Ivory Coast (ELA-SCI).  The method he established was a form of Theological Education by Extension (TEE).  He first found and formulated materials that contained good Christian doctrine and were at a fairly basic, readable level of French.  He then worked with local leaders to make a plan for formation of pastors and church leaders.  This plan involved two main approaches: 1) classical distance education, in which a local leader with at least some training met with students who could walk or bike to a central area and led study based on a textbook; and 2) a method by which some students came to a central area for learning and then went out to teach others.  Ron led some of the centralized courses for church leaders and gave support to the indigenous leaders who led courses in various locales.

 

Although Ron already knew French, he learned the local Guere language during his time in Ivory Coast.  He had no formal classes, but he learned by immersion and eventually advanced far enough to be able to preach in Guere.  Once he was familiar with the language, he became involved in a literacy program for speakers of Guere.  Besides his work in education and literacy, he gave some assistance and encouragement  as the ELA-SCI put together its constitutions and bylaws and petitioned for recognition by the government.  Finally, he also spent some time working with and advising volunteers, particularly American volunteers, who had come with various Lutheran organizations to work in Ivory Coast.

 

Lisa began her time in Ivory Coast struggling with depression caused by a loss of employment and no sense of “calling.” Over the next few years she applied her own training as she taught health and biology at an English-language refugee high school as a volunteer.  She led Bible studies for women and became involved in social care activities, particularly working with the medical arm of the Lutheran mission and helping provide adequate nutrition for orphans.  Lisa also became quite involved in the effort to educate local people about a plant called moringa and to convince people to use it for food.  Moringa is a plant which grows well in Ivory Coast and is high in protein and iron, which makes it a good staple for meeting nutritional needs in the area.  The Mudges also began their family during their time of service in Ivory Coast, although their children were actually born in the U.S.  Jonah was born in 1998 and and Isaiah in 2000.

 

In 2002, civil war broke out in Ivory Coast and all LCMS missionary families were forced to evacuate, including the Mudges.  They returned to the U.S. with no firm plan to go back overseas immediately, but it did not take long before they were called to Togo.  While in the United States, they made mission visits to congregations and spent some time reflecting and processing their experience in Ivory Coast, particularly the trauma of the war that had cut short their time there.  Lisa was pregnant when they arrived in the U.S., and they waited for baby Ella to be born in 2003 before departing for Togo.

 

Ron’s work in Togo included teaching at the Lutheran Center for Theological Studies (CLET – abbreviated from the French), as well as doing some work on TEE and other theological education programs in seven French-speaking countries of Africa.  At CLET, he taught exegetical and systematic courses, and though not heavily involved in the TEE program, he served as a consultant, assisting local leaders to formulate plans and find resources.  Now that their children were getting older, Lisa focused mainly on raising and beginning to educate them.  The mission had some volunteer teachers from the U.S., and missionary families joined together to work with these teachers and provide their children a homeschool-type experience with different teachers.  Lisa herself did some teaching of the missionary children.  Based on her work in Ivory Coast, she also found time in Togo to promote and encourage the use of the moringa plant for nutritional needs. She also led a Bible study for missionary women during this time.

 

In January 2005, after Ron had worked for some time in Togo, he was asked to take on an added responsibility as Area Facilitator for French-speaking Africa.  This required travel to the seven French-speaking countries in Africa, made easier because Ron was already doing some traveling to consult about TEE programs.  Serving as Area Facilitator meant that during his travels he met with missionaries, talked with them about their work and made sure their needs were met.  He served as liaison between missionaries and LCMS World Mission leaders, as well as between church leaders and the LCMS.

 

The family returned to the U.S. in June 2005 for what they intended to be a year-long furlough.  Initially, they thought the time away from the mission field would rejuvenate them sufficiently to be able to return, but as they settled in, Ron and Lisa began to question whether they were ready to go back to Africa right away.  For one thing, their time on the mission field had been traumatic in several ways.  The outbreak of civil war and evacuation from Ivory Coast was difficult, and in Togo their own house had been attacked by thieves, while there were also some civil disturbances in that country.  Together these events caused ongoing stress that led to diagnoses and subsequent counseling for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..  They also discovered while in the U.S. that their two older sons both had a condition of the eyes that required special treatment to make sure they would not lose sight in one eye.  Given the family’s emotional and physical needs, they made the decision that it would be better for them to settle in the U.S. and consider going overseas again at a later time.

 

In fall of 2005, Ron resumed the doctoral studies he had begun in 2000 (while on furlough) at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.  He took courses in St. Louis for two years.  He continued serving as Area Facilitator for French-speaking Africa until June 2006, making trips back to Africa and using phone and e-mail to communicate overseas.  Lisa devoted her time to caring for their family; their older children began attending school in St. Louis and their youngest son Aaron was born in 2006.  Lisa also took the lead in planning childcare for the LCMS all-world missionary meeting in summer 2007 – no small undertaking.  In August 2007, the family moved to Wisconsin, where Ron was hired as a professor at Concordia University Wisconsin.  In Wisconsin, Lisa homeschools their children, serves on the board of their church, leads Bible studies and does some speaking related to their mission service.  Ron has spoken about missions on campus several times, both for students and for faculty and local pastors.  He acts as an informal mentor for students who are curious about missions and is faculty advisor for a student club composed of students concerned about social issues in Africa, particularly poverty and AIDS.  Outside of his role at the university, Ron has served as a consultant for a few instances in which church leaders in the U.S. have been interested in forming international mission relationships.  In June 2008, he returned to CLET in Togo to teach a course.  The Mudges continue to do God’s work and support missions in their current position in the U.S., and they remain open for God’s call wherever it may take them.

 

Nota Bene

While in Togo, Ron served as an advisor to the Board of Regents for the Lutheran Center for Theological Studies.  The Board of Regents is made up of leaders from a number of different nationalities and tribal groups, and Ron was proud to be part of the struggle against tribalism, in which the group tried to overcome the tradition that people mostly look out for their own tribe and family.  The board did important work together and served as an example of strong Christian community in which tribal loyalties were mitigated for the purpose of sharing the Gospel and supporting the church.

 

Ron’s forthcoming doctoral dissertation will use concepts of sociology and anthropology to study the concept of “shame” in Ezekiel 36:16-32, asking how shame functioned in the culture of the time.  Although the dissertation will focus on the Biblical passage, Ron’s interest in the question of shame comes out of his experience learning about and living in West Africa in a culture new to him.

 

Phase 2 Information

Biggest missiological issue faced?

The biggest issue Ron observed was the role that money plays in missions.  The biggest danger was that money might replace the Gospel as the main mover in the whole enterprise.  This can happen on both sides of mission work (sending and receiving church): often the sending church in the U.S. would become unduly concerned about raising money and managing it, while those in the African church wanted access to money that came from the U.S.  While money issues are always a part of mission work and cannot be ignored, an inappropriate concern with money sometimes undermined the work of the Gospel or caused the work to develop in a way that wasn’t organic to the culture and the mission

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Along the same lines, Ron also found himself dealing with the relationship between the missionaries and church in Africa and Americans who were not involved with the LCMS mission.  These might be volunteers or people who donated money or other resources.  Often people who are well-meaning but have limited cross-cultural experience end up being involved or giving in a way that is detrimental to the Gospel.  This was one reason Ron found it important to communicate and work with American volunteers in the areas where he worked.

 

Most significant contribution during missionary service?

Ron was able to have some role in developing and maintaining the Board of Regents for the seminary in Togo, which was made up of leaders from many countries and tribes.  That a board of this kind would be so diverse is a relatively rare and a very important thing in missions, particularly in Africa.  Culturally, the people Ron worked with were inclined to think in tribal terms (taking care of one’s own family or group before any other consideration), but in the case of the Board of Regents people from different tribes and nations were able to work together to promote and administer the seminary’s training of church leaders.  The seminary itself is a truly international school; it’s located in Togo but reflects the needs and interests of the church in several countries.

 

In Ivory Coast Ron made a consistent effort to confront church leaders with their own autonomy before God and with God’s ability to work through them.  Because the church in Ivory Coast developed largely out of the civil war in Liberia, it developed in an international aid situation, where even for their basic needs people had to look to Westerners to take charge of things, provide funds, and tell them what to do.  Because of the circumstances of its founding, the members of the church in Ivory Coast have wrestled with their own ability to make wise decisions (rather than having others make decisions for them) and have had to gradually learn to trust God’s ability to use them to do His mission.  Ron tried to encourage this change in attitude.

 

As Area Facilitator, Ron was able to honor church leaders and expatriate missionaries in a way that affirmed them as people and as Christians and encouraged the work they were doing.

 

Ron also had the privilege of playing a role in the theological formation of some of the first ordained pastors in a number of Lutheran churches in French-speaking countries in Africa.

 

Connection to today’s mission?

CLET continues as an international seminary with leaders from several different countries, training students from all over Africa.

 

The ELA-SCI in Ivory Coast is still functioning as a church, although the partnership with LCMS is still somewhat disrupted because of political issues.  While he was there, Ron was part of the effort to help the ELA-SCI achieve a certain amount of independence.   He encouraged the leadership to trust in God instead of relying on Western ideas and aid.  The church continues to work towards gaining full independence.

 

As Area Facilitator, Ron worked in some countries that did not have expatriate missionaries, and he set something of a precedent by making personal visits to church leaders and listening to and observing their work and concerns.  This helped to strengthen ties between LCMS and church leaders in those countries, particularly in Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

 

Ron’s concern for good education and training of leaders in all areas of the world continues.  He has had some conversations about the possibility of a place like the seminary in Togo providing graduate-level education in conjunction with another university which could help provide a higher level of learning.  The idea is not realized yet, but Ron has not lost sight of his concern for theological students, particularly in Africa.

 

Lessons Learned

• Extremely important in mission work is clear and repeated communication.  Part of this is learning how to communicate within another culture, and part is a general commitment to teamwork and honesty.  In working with African leaders, Ron found that it was important for him to state his thoughts and opinions clearly and to be upfront about how he represented LCMS in his work.  It was also necessary to speak clearly about his confidence in God’s Word and the freedom of local leaders to do their work in confidence that God was leading them.  With other missionaries, it was important to talk through any differences of ideas or convictions and to discuss their expectations for working relationships.  With mission leaders in the U.S., the expectations of those leaders and the missionaries’ concerns and experiences needed to be communicated clearly.  Finally, a fair amount of Ron’s time in Africa was spent working with volunteers, and communication was important so that he could provide some education to those who had not spent a lot of time learning another language or culture.  This helped volunteers to know more about African cultures and what they might expect when working short-term, including being aware of problems that could arise if they didn’t carefully consider the cultural ramifications of their actions.
• It’s crucially important for expatriate missionaries to learn the culture that they’re working in.  Part of that, of course, is learning the language.  Those who are working as short-term volunteers or missionaries need to learn as much as they can regardless of length of stay.
• Missionaries need to be genuine about learning culture “in an automatic, intimate, gut-felt way.”  Otherwise, expatriates may be “playing” at learning culture, as if they’re learning the rules of a game but don’t really play the game themselves.  The example Ron gives is the difference between thinking of the chance to eat African food as kind of an exotic thing that’s part of a vacation and honestly believing that the food is the best in the world.
• Those who do long-term mission work need to learn to establish and maintain boundaries in a “winsome but effective manner.”  Many mission workers are driven to do good and to do for others, and it’s possible to be manipulated because of guilt or a sense of responsibility.  Manipulation, intentional or not, can come from the sending or receiving church, and in either case it leads to burnout.  So it’s important to be able to say no, but because missionaries are balancing many needs and working in a culture that’s new to them, they need to learn to say no in a way that’s unlikely to offend people.
• It is important for missionaries to spend time and effort on maintaining good mental health in the face of ongoing stress that can occur in missions.
• In mission work, seek a balance between planning and measuring on the one side and the power of God on the other.  It’s certainly important to make plans for and evaluate your work so that you can be honest about what you’re doing and whether it has been effective – it shouldn’t just be assumed that “since we were there, we’ve done something” without considering the consequences of missionary actions.  On the other hand, the danger of over-planning is that you can close yourself off from God’s surprises; God may bring up opportunities and plans that human beings have not anticipated.  Too much planning can lead to an over-dependence on our own resources so that we try to take God out of the equation because God might not do what we expect Him to do.  This can lead to missionaries  focusing on using relationships and financial or other resources to try to be “successful” in their goals, instead of focusing on the power of the Gospel and trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Missionaries always have to balance the needs of the sending church and the indigenous church.  Ron recalls certain examples of this balancing act in the Ivory Coast: for example, the national church in Ivory Coast wanted the mission to provide salaries for local pastors and those who served as “distance” teachers, but LCMS was concerned not to create that sort of dependency for salaries.  Therefore Ron and other missionaries simply had to say they couldn’t be involved in providing those funds. On the other hand, when local leaders decided they would set up a modified residential program to train church workers, it was not exactly the type of training program that LCMS World Mission recommended, but the missionaries made the case that this was important for the local church and agreed that they would assist with the training program.

 

Best Practices

• It’s extremely important to maintain a healthy balance between sharing the Gospel and forming leaders on the one hand, and distribution of material resources on the other hand.  Each mission field is different, and that balance must be struck through careful consideration of each individual situation.  Missionaries must guard against the possibility that material resources will end up overwhelming the Gospel and that the gift of the Gospel will get lost in distribution of funds or other material.  However, this does not mean that mission should avoid helping people in need and bringing healing and education.  Ron notes that in particular, Westerners tend to think in a relatively materialistic way, which means we’re prone to think in terms of money and material resources in a way that can hinder the Gospel.  We need to check ourselves and understand that there are some situations when mission work should not start out with distribution of material goods, or at least that there needs to be a separation so that there is no confusion between material resources and the Gospel.
• In the same vein, it’s possible for distribution of material goods to mask problems with the spreading of the Gospel.  If a mission hires a lot of people and makes resources available, it’s likely that the church will grow, but it’s very possible that people are attracted by the material resources rather than the Gospel.
• It might be argued that the time missionaries spend learning language and becoming immersed in culture is a time when the Gospel is not being spread directly.  This may be true at first, but the importance of relating to others in their own language and with an understanding of cultural norms and issues ends up making much more of a difference in the spread of the Gospel message as time goes on.
• In all mission fields, missionaries need to have an understanding of how they are perceived and the history of relations between their home country and the country to which they’re sent.  Ron notes that in his experience, it’s easy for there to be misunderstandings between Westerners and Africans because of the history of interaction between the two groups.  Currently, Africans expect most Westerners to have the mentality of a non-governmental organization, meaning that while they may help, they aren’t concerned about truly connecting with people.  The missionaries in Africa had to work through that and try to reach a point where connections are made and local people are empowered to use the wisdom God has given them to find solutions to the issues they wrestle with.  For example, on the question of whether the mission would pay national pastors, many of the church leaders in Ivory Coast both expected Westerners to come in with money and provide all the resources for the church, and also saw other mission groups paying national pastors.  However, such a structure is not sustainable for the local church, and Ron and the other missionaries had to work on connecting and communicating clearly with church leaders in order to empower the church to make use of the resources it did have, even if material resources were scarce.
• Mission organizations must view each mission field as an individual entity with particular cultural and contextual issues.  It’s important to get a lot of input from missionaries on the field and from local leaders, so that all groups involved in the mission work can formulate plans and discuss concerns together.

 

Phase 3 Information

Inspiration for entering foreign missions?

While in college, Ron learned about and became interested in world missions.  He began considering the possibility that God wanted him to be a foreign missionary.  His main concern was simply the sheer number of professional church workers in the U.S. compared to other parts of the world.  It didn’t seem quite “fair”!  Africa, in particular, was on his mind almost from the beginning of his interest in missions.  In the summer of 1990 he had a short-term mission visit to Peru to visit and work with some Assemblies of God missionaries there.  He recalls that “during that trip I was quite frightened.”  In part this was the difficulty of being exposed to a new culture, but it was also fear of physical danger – the missionaries he was with told him stories about the Shining Path rebel group, and he was afraid he might be killed.  Nevertheless, in the midst of his fear he still felt confident that God’s involvement in his life was infinite – no matter what happened to him physically – and the faith that God would always be with him gave him a renewed confidence for mission.  The next year Ron spent six weeks with a Bible translator in Ivory Coast, a trip which convinced him he was not cut out for translation!  But this trip also affirmed his desire to do mission work, as he found himself drawn to other aspects of mission that he saw happening.

 

Once in Africa, Ron had the privilege of being involved in the very beginning of the church in Ivory Coast.  He found it extremely exciting to watch people come to Christ and to observe how a group that had not previously known Christ wrestled with how Christ was going to form the church and how they could live out the Gospel.

 

He has also found it exciting to learn another language and culture; “it’s like doing a one-million piece jigsaw puzzle where the more you succeed, the more you can relate to other people and go farther in learning a language and culture.”  His interaction with people who were wrestling with how the Bible spoke to their culture was extremely helpful for his own faith.  It challenged what he had taken for granted about the Bible because of his own cultural viewpoint, and he had to step back and consider new possibilities.  He was inspired in his work by the excitement of taking in different viewpoints, considering them and finding new ways to work with Scripture.

 

Quotation by/about or brief story:

• Although Ron was not called as a translator, he had had an early interest in Bible translation and translation in general.  This interest did help in his work in Ivory Coast. The Guere dialect in the area where he worked had already been written and used to translate the New Testament, but there was no literacy work to follow up this effort because missionaries had had to leave the area.  Ron was able to meet with the man who was working as translator.  With this introduction, Ron began encouraging literacy and the use of the Bible in worship.  Some of the people in the area did know how to read French and could read a French Bible during worship, but not the Guere Bible; others had no reading skills at all.  Normally a congregation’s worship service would be in Guere, but the Scripture readings would be in French (or translated into Guere as best as the reader could).  As literacy progressed, Ron found it exciting to attend worship services where the Scripture could be read in Guere as well.  Early in his work, he had attended a service in a village called Cebli in which he asked permission to read a few New Testament passages in Guere. Afterward an old man stood up and said, “Today I have heard God speak to me in my own language.”  Seeing the difference as more and more people could read Scripture in their own language was exciting and heartening.