Cedarville Magazine, Fall 2018

Matthew Bennett, Assistant Professor of Missions and Theology, joined Cedarville in 2017 after serving six years teaching and leading an English as a Second Language (ESL) school and cultural exchange program in Egypt. The ESL program became the catalyst for cultural exchange … and stereotype correction. “People in the Middle East consider the United States a Christian nation, so anything produced here is a Christian product, like MTV and Hollywood,” Bennett said. “We were able to bring groups over who countered those ideas, infused with Gospel purpose.” Now at Cedarville, Bennett wants to help students realize that whatever their major — business, nursing, engineering, to name a few — there is tremendous potential for Gospel impact on an international level. “You may have a vocation that seems to locate you in the United States,” he said, “but with a globalized society, you can take those skills anywhere and leverage them strategically to come alongside what the Lord is doing in His world.” expertise and the Good News of the Gospel, but they also have the blessing of encountering God’s work through their international brothers and sisters. While these trips often prove fruitful in the lives and ministries of the hosts, the students themselves regularly return with a fresh excitement for the Gospel because they have learned that the truth about Jesus is not an American phenomenon, but a universal message. Furthermore, students see their vocations through a fresh lens, recognizing how they might leverage their vocation for the Kingdom. In many ways, each of our missions trips are vision trips for our students, and we pray the Lord will use these domestic and international experiences to ignite a passion for lifelong missions. In light of this, the third reason Cedarville invests in missions is to equip our graduates for a new wave of mission endeavors. HOW IS CEDARVILLE EQUIPPING STUDENTS FOR A LIFETIME OF MISSIONS AND GOSPEL IMPACT? This is what excites me the most. I took this job, in part, because of the chance to teach not only those planning a life of long-termmissions, but to inspire those whose vocations are not traditionally associated with missions. These very vocations, however, serve an important role in many contemporary missions strategies for gaining access to countries and regions increasingly opposed to traditional Christian missionaries. Since nearly all of the world’s unreached people groups live in places of restricted access, missionaries who can find work as engineers, educators, healthcare professionals, and computer programmers have a strategic advantage over traditional approaches. Many of these students already have a vision to use their vocation to access otherwise-closed countries as tentmaker missionaries. However, most tentmaking or business-as-missions models are heavy on preparing people for their vocation, yet light on missions and theology. Our Bible minor ensures that every one of our graduates receives robust scriptural training and is challenged to consider his or her vocation through a biblical worldview. In addition, The Graduate School at Cedarville University has the unique ability to create additional pathways for business, nursing, engineering, and education majors to receive further theological preparation in only about two additional years. For example, with our newly approved Advanced M.Div. program, we are creating ways to complete a bachelor’s degree in business and an M.Div. in as little as six years. Similar pathways are possible for most of our existing programs, allowing students to prepare with excellence both for their job and for missions. By God’s grace, Cedarville University has become a strategic leader for equipping people professionally and theologically to serve the Church on mission throughout the world. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for Cedarville and how what He does here will impact His world. Matthew Bennett serves as Assistant Professor of Missions and Theology at Cedarville University. He earned his Ph.D. in missiology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Meet Matthew Bennett Cedarville Magazine | 5