Institute of World Mission

An entity of the Seventh-day Adventist Church that came into existence by Annual Council action in 1956. Because the missionary situation was radically changing at the time, it was felt that missionaries needed better training to cope with the new and ever-changing challenges of cross-cultural missions. It was voted that all newly appointed missionaries, missionaries on furlough, and national workers returning to their home fields would receive an intensive missionary training of six weeks’ duration in such areas as missionary anthropology, the Adventist message in a changing world, health and hygiene, principles of Adventist mission work, and specific area studies. The Annual Council action of 1956 was first implemented in the summer of 1966, when Myrl O. Manley and Gottfried Oosterwal led out in a four-week intensive training institute. It was conducted on the campus of Andrews University and attended by 21 newly appointed and furloughing missionaries. From that year on, intensive training sessions on Adventist world mission have been conducted every summer. They became known as the Summer Institute of World Mission. At first they were of four weeks’ duration. In 1971 an extra week was added, and the next year the Annual Council action of 1956 was fully implemented when another week was added to the program. In that same year the name Summer Institute of World Mission was dropped and the name Institute of World Mission adopted. Soon after the first training began, mission administrators in the field saw the great difference this new missionary training made in the life and work of the missionaries. They insisted that all missionaries should attend these institutes before departing for their fields of labor. In 1972 another institute was added, conducted in the winter. As the number of missionaries grew in this heyday of Adventist overseas missions, a third was added in 1975. From that year until the present three intensive missionary training programs have been conducted every year in North America: one in the summer, one in the fall, and one in the spring. The effectiveness of such missionary training showed itself in many different ways: a sharp decline in the number of missionaries returning prematurely, an increase in the number of those who stayed longer than one term of service, less suffering from culture shock, and greater effectiveness in missionaries’ work, including language learning. As North America was not the only home base of missionaries at the time, areas such as Europe and Australia also showed an interest in offering better training for their missionaries. First in 1972, then in 1975, and again in 1978, Gottfried Oosterwal, who in 1969 had been appointed the director of the Institute of World Mission, led out in missionary training institutes in Europe. The first two were held on the campus of Newbold College, England, and the last one at the seminary at Collonges, France. Three years later these institutes led to the establishment of the European Institute of World Mission under the direction of Borge Schantz. In the same way, the Institute of World Mission spawned the Australian Institute of World Mission. Dr. Oosterwal first led out in a special missionary training program at Avondale College in 1981, and then every year from 1983 on. In 1993 the Australian Institute of World Mission was established with its own director, John Gate, and its own board. At first the Institute of World Mission was organizationally linked to the newly established Department of World Mission at the SDA Theological Seminary, of which Gottfried Oosterwal was the founder and first chair (1969). As the institutes continued to grow in size and in number, and as new functions were added to their operation, a separate organization was needed for a more efficient operation. This happened in 1981 when what is now known as the Seventh-day Adventist Institute of World Mission was established, with its own board (chaired by the secretary of the General Conference), its own budgets, its own staff, and its own building. Dr. Oosterwal was called to lead out in this new and expanded venture of the institute. Besides the training of missionaries around the world, other functions given to the Institute of World Mission included research and publications on missions, missionary consultations in the field, and the promotion of missions in the SDA Church, worldwide. As the institute grew in size, tasks, and functions, more staff were added. In 1971 Russell Staples joined Gottfried Oosterwal as a staff member of the Institute and the Department of World Mission. Four years later Werner Vyhmeister was called to join the staff, and in 1980 Nancy Vyhmeister was invited to join. After the separation of the Institute of World Mission from the Department of World Mission at the SDA Theological Seminary, Gottfried Oosterwal and Werner Vyhmeister stayed with the institute, while Russell Staples and Nancy Vyhmeister remained with the department. In 1987 the institute ventured out into a new endeavor: the training of nonchurch workers for their assignment in cultures other than their own. This included business leaders, health personnel, educators, and people in technical aid and development. To accomplish this new venture, a separate organization was called into existence: the Center for Intercultural Relations. Structurally, this center is part of Andrews University. Gottfried Oosterwal is its director. As of January 1993 the staff of the institute consisted of Gottfried Oosterwal, director; Jon Dybdahl, associate director; Reinder Bruinsma, staff member; and Mrs. Pam Swanson, administrative assistant. The institute is located in the Sutherland House on the campus of Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.