How Does a Missionary Get Member Care if/when Needed?
Short & Simple Summary
The short answer is that it depends on the kind of member care the missionary wants. Missionaries have to decide what is wrong, and then decide what kind of help, if any, they need. Here are some of the options missionaries may have.
God’s Care
Self Care
Colleague’s Mutual Care
Sender Care
Specialist’s Care
Network Care
An Example
If you want more detail and links to other sources, read on.
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This chapter covers the same topics found in Chapter 7. Chapter 7 was about the people who gave that particular kind of member care; however, this chapter is about how missionaries who want member care are likely to come to those who provide it.
God’s Care
Missionaries are likely to perceive God as caring for them. They believe that they can get God’s care in several ways, but primarily through prayer and reading his Word. When missionaries sense a need, they usually pray to God about it—asking God to meet that need. If they are not completely satisfied with that, they may study what God has said about that need in the Bible as they continue praying. Many times these actions of asking God and obeying what he says meet the need.
Self Care
Sometimes missionaries need to take action themselves to meet their own needs. When they are not eating right, exercising enough, or resting well, they may find that correcting these health habits will meet their need. They often know what they should do, and they need to “Just do it!” If they do so they may not need to seek help from anyone else. If so, that is wonderful.
Colleagues Mutual Care
When they are unable to make needed changes on their own, some missionaries may look to someone nearby who is able to help them. This may come in the form of asking another colleague with their agency for help. They may prefer to look to another expatriate who lives nearby. They may rather have someone or some small group hold them accountable. If so they can begin an accountability group or a support group to help meet their needs. This is the first level at which the needs are shared with another person.
Sender Care
Some missionaries would prefer to look for help from someone they know among their senders. They may contact their agency about their needs; they may contact their local church or denomination about their needs; or they may contact individual supporters whom they know and trust. Such missionaries may feel more comfortable sharing their problem with someone they do not see every day rather than with someone they meet frequently nearby.
Other missionaries prefer someone that has little connection with them. In 1993 Christopher Rosik published an article titled, “Mission-Affiliated Versus Non-Affiliated Counselors: A Brief Research Report on Missionary Preferences with Implications for Member Care” in the Journal of Psychology and Christianity. One of the things he found was that who missionaries wanted to counsel them depended on the missionary’s status. He asked more than 50 missionaries who had served on the field and more than 50 missionary candidates who had not served on the field whether they would prefer to have a counselor from within their agency or from outside the agency. Here are the results for those with these preferences.
Missionaries who had served on the field:
11% preferred someone from inside the agency.
88% preferred someone from outside the agency
Missionary candidates who had not served on the field:
50% preferred someone from inside the agency
29% preferred someone from outside the agency
Specialist’s Care
When missionaries are not satisfied with the help they receive from people they know, they may want to consult a specialist of some kind. They want an expert in some particular area rather than the people to whom they have access. When they do, much depends on the agency policy, what their insurance covers, and the availability of such personnel.
These missionaries may not realize that the treatment they get often depends on who they choose to see. For example, they may not realize that if they choose to see a psychiatrist they are more likely to receive a prescription for medication than if they see a psychologist. Furthermore, they may not know that a cognitive behavioral psychologist will treat them quite differently than a psychodynamic one. They may not know that biblical counselors, pastoral counselors and Christian counselors may do quite different things. Specialists need to be sure that the missionaries coming to see them know what they do.
Network Care
Chapter 7 mentioned the availability of care from international care networks. These networks connect and help develop missionary member care worldwide. As mentioned in Chapter 7, this section elaborates on what is available now. Listed below are services available at this time. See more options at the Global Member Care Network at
http://www.globalmembercare.org/index.php?id=177 “connecting and developing member care worldwide”
Conferences MHM;PTM
· Conference on Mental Health and Missions http://www.mti.org/programs/MHM
· Barnabas International http://www.barnabas.org/
· Global Missions Health Conference http://www.medicalmissions.com/conferences/
Workshops/courses
· Mission Training International http://www.mti.org/
· Heartstream Resources http://www.heartstreamresources.org/
Facilities/hubs of member care
· Link Care center http://www.linkcare.org/
· Marble Retreat http://www.marbleretreat.org/
· Heartstream Resources http://www.heartstreamresources.org/
· Godspeed Services http://www.godspeedservices.org/
· Alongside http://www.alongsidecares.net/
· Le Rucher Ministries https://www.lerucher.org/
· Missionary Resources Connection http://www.mresourcesconnection.org/
Overseas counseling centers
· Tumaini Counselling Centre http://tumainicounselling.net/
· The Well https://www.thewellcm.com/
· Mobile Member Care Team http://www.mmct.org/
· Cornerstone Counseling foundation http://www.cornerstonecounseling.in.th/index.html
Free or low cost retreats
· Missionary Care Ministry http://www.missionarycareministry.org/
· A Quiet Place http://www.aqpretreat.org/
· ELIM Retreats http://www.elimretreats.org/
· EdenRidge http://www.edenridge.org/
· Thrive http://thriveministry.org/
· Single Vision http://www.singlevisioninternational.com/
Resources for MK/TCK
· Interaction International http://www.interactionintl.org/home.asp
· Mu Kappa http://www.mukappa.org/
Internet Resources for missionaries
· Missionary Care http://www.missionarycare.com/
· Member Care Radio http://www.membercareradio.com/
· Cross-Cultural Workers http://www.crossculturalworkers.com/
· Member Caravan https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/home
An Example
What member care missionaries receive depends very much on what they “diagnose” is wrong with themselves. Here are several examples of what that might be for missionaries who feel sad and discouraged.
· Normal mood swing. Nothing needs to be done because they will return to normal soon.
· Reaction to some loss. Nothing needs to be done because it just takes time to get over it.
· Spiritual problem because of lack of devotions and church attendance. Make new commitment to God, talk to pastor, join accountability group.
· Spiritual problem because of intentional sin. Repent and ask God’s forgiveness, talk with pastoral counselor.
· Poor health habits. Eat better, get more sleep, exercise.
· Chemical imbalance. Have doctor change blood pressure medicine, prescribe an antidepressant, see psychiatrist.
· Poor cognitive habits. Get cognitive-behavioral therapy from a counselor or psychologist, or follow instructions in Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy.
· Social isolation. Interact more with people or join support group.
· Demonic. See someone who has deliverance ministry.
The help missionaries receive depends on what they think is wrong and what kind of help they want.
Note to the reader: If you have suggestions about other things that would better answer this chapter’s question, please email those to me at ron@missionarycare.com. In that email please tell me three things: (1) what you believe needs to be included, (2) links to relevant websites if available, and (3) how it better answers the question “How does a missionary get member care if/when needed?” I plan to periodically update and expand the book with these suggestions.