6 Reasons I am Pursuing a Ph.D... "even though" I am a missionary

New College, University of Edinburgh (Photo: Kim Traynor)

As some readers of this blog may already be aware, our family is planning to move to Scotland for a few years so I can work on a Ph.D at the University of Edinburgh. As we’ve been visiting churches and mission partners in the States, a number of people have asked me why I'm going to do a Ph.D. That's an excellent question.

For most missionaries, a doctorate really isn't necessary. They plant churches. They do direct evangelism. They work with street kids. This is all important work and it is really helpful to have some kind of bible college or seminary degree for greatest effectiveness (why?), but probably not a doctorate. So why am I going for a Ph.D?

In this post, I want to answer that question by briefly laying out six reasons that are motivating my pursuit of doctoral studies. It is my hope that readers in general will understand why Ph.D studies might be right for some missionaries, and that our mission partners in particular will understand why I personally am pursing a Ph.D. At the end of the post, you’ll find a curated list of some helpful articles by myself and others about the relationship between theological education and mission work.

Written by Karl Dahlfred on 01 May 2017.

6 Visa Options for Missionaries in Thailand

Over the years, many people have asked me how to get a visa to do missionary work in Thailand, so I have put together this post to give a brief overview of the options. My intention here is to give signposts for where to start, not to provide comprehensive instructions for everything you need to do to successfully apply for a visa. Government regulations and requirements can change without notice, and vary from location to location, so what follows is merely general guidance and pointers, which may or may not match what you actually find when you apply for a visa. With that said, the various visa options for those wanting to do (Protestant) missionary work in Thailand are as follows:

"Extension of Stay" stamp for Religious Affairs (RA) Visa

Written by Karl Dahlfred on 25 April 2017.

20 More Things I Have Noticed Upon Returning to America

About one week after our family returned to the United States after spending the last four and a half years living and working in Bangkok, Thailand, I wrote a blog about "20 Things I Have Noticed Upon Returning to America." Those were my initial observations. But now that our family is more than two months into our stay in the U.S, I have noticed a bunch of other things that I didn't run into during my first week here.

Reverse culture shock is the gift that keeps on giving, and while I don't walk around every day feeling stressed, there are still a lot of things that make me think, "Well, they don't do it like THAT back in Thailand!" Sometimes, that is a good thing. Sometimes that is a bad thing. But sometimes it is just neutral. Not good - not bad - just different.

So, without further ado, here are...

Written by Karl Dahlfred on 06 April 2017.

Sledding in New Hampshire

Last year, when our family was planning for our 2017 home assignment in the U.S., one of our kids' top requests was snow. They wanted to see snow and play in it. So we planned accordingly and now we are here in New Hampshire enjoying the snow. God providentially sent a big snowstorm the day after we arrived and we have taken the kids sledding a couple of times. In fact, I took them to the very same hill that I loved to sled on when I was growing up.

Below is a video of the kids (and occasionally Mom and Dad) sledding at Mack's Hill in Londonderry, NH. As you can see, the kids have realized that there is a bit of learning curve when it comes to sledding. If you scroll down, there are also some regular photos of our kids and family in the snow.