When Is Missionary Member Care Done?
Short & Simple Summary
The short answer to this question is “from recruitment through retirement.” People who remain in their passport cultures tend to have a support system that remains relatively constant for them. Missionaries used to spend four years in their host countries, then one year at “home,” and repeat the cycle. Today many of them spend two years in their host countries and half a year at “home.” Regardless of what schedule they have, missionaries are in transition much of their lives and need a support from a flow of caregivers. Here are the topics covered in the chapter.
Stage 1: Recruitment
Stage 2: Screening
Stage 3: Preparation and Pre-Departure Orientation
Stage 4: Departure
Stage 5: Arrival
Stage 6: Field Life
Stage 7: Preparation for Returning “Home”
Stage 8: Reentry
Stage 9: Ongoing Support
If you want more detail and links to other sources, read on.
**********************
Many definitions of missionary member care say that it should be given from recruitment to retirement, meaning that various types of member care are needed for life from the time the people become missionaries. David Pollock wrote “Developing a flow of care and caregivers” for Interact in 1997 and expanded it for inclusion in Doing Member Care Well: Perspectives and Practices from Around the World in 2002. It is available free as chapter two at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/doing-member-care-well. The headings in this chapter are taken from that chapter, as is a summary of some of the content.
The longer potential missionaries have been part of a healthy, caring, local church the better it is. The more that part of the body of Christ has been nurturing growth through membership in small groups and teaching the word from the pulpit, the more likely it is that those new missionaries will have positive experiences serving in other cultures. When those people move toward cross-cultural service, a new level of care is needed as they move from stage to stage.
Stage 1: Recruitment
When people begin to feel God calling them to service or hear a plea from missionaries for help, they may begin contacting mission agencies. At this point they may need help discerning whether their “call” is from God to them personally or whether the call is just their sense of compassion for poor people.
Potential missionaries and recruiters from agencies must be careful to remember what Jesus told the crowd in Luke 14:28-30—that if they are planning to do something, they need to count the cost to see if they can complete it so they will not be ridiculed. If prospective missionaries are overly optimistic and/or recruiters are trying to meet a quota, neither of them may ask the hard questions. Recruiters need to be honest about the cost, and prospective missionaries need to be realistic.
Someone needs to ask the “hard” questions. For example: Should a family go if teenagers in it do not want to go? Should a married couple go if only one of them feels called? Is a single person prepared for a life of celibacy? Are the prospective missionaries prepared for the positions they expect to fill? Likewise, someone needs to encourage the prospective missionary to ask questions. How will my children be educated? Who do we talk to if we need counsel? What about my taking an antidepressant? In general, ask lots of member care questions as well as others.
The major caregivers during this time are friends, family, pastors, and recruiters who want to find people who will have a long and fruitful ministry cross-culturally.
Roy Johnston has a helpful chapter, “Should I be a missionary,” in Helping Missionaries Grow: Readings in Mental Health and Missions. This article contains many helpful questions and is available as Chapter 2 at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/helping-ms-grow-book .
Stage 2: Screening
At this stage some people need to be “screened out” and other people need to be “screened in.” These screenings are for the good of the applicant, the good of the agency, and the good of the nationals being served in the host country.
People who have severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, that are not responding to treatment should be screened out. People who have disorders that will disrupt the team on the field, such as borderline personality disorder, need at least to be kept from serving cross-culturally—though they may serve at home. People who want to serve but are unqualified for the position need to be told “no” or “not yet.” This screening needs to be done early in the process, before they have taken major steps such as quitting their job or selling their house—or even announced that they are going to be missionaries.
People not screened out need to be screened in. The agency needs to find out as much about the candidate as it can to evaluate how they may serve best and what needs they may have in the future. If they have chronic medical issues, a history of relationship problems, come from dysfunctional families, and so forth, plans need to be made for the member care that may be needed to prevent potential problems or treat those problems if they occur.
Physicians, mental health professionals, and personnel officers are the member care people involved here.
Helping Missionaries Grow: Readings in Mental Health and Missions at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/helping-ms-grow-book contains several chapters that are relevant to screening.
· Chapter 3: “How to choose the right missionary” by Marjory Foyle
· Chapter 4: “Candidate selection criteria: A survey” by Larry Ferguson, Dean Kliewer, Stanley Lindquist, Donald Williams and Robert Heinrich
· Chapter 5: “How to select church planters” by Thomas Graham
· Chapter 6: “A rationale for psychological assessment” by Stanley Lindquist
· Chapter 7: “Essentials and tools of psychological assessment” by Larry Ferguson, Kean Kliewer, Brent Lindquist, and Stanley Lindquist
· Chapter 8: “Misuses of psychological assessment” by Brent Lindquist
“Current issues in screening and selection” by Esther Schubert is available as Chapter 6 in Missionary Care: Counting the Cost for World Evangelization at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/mc-counting-the-cost-book- .
Stage 3: Preparation and Pre-Departure Orientation
People need to have not only formal training but also practical experience in their passport culture. For example, individuals who want to be teachers but have never taught may find that actual teaching is quite different from education classes, and they need to learn that before they attempt to teach on the field. People who want to plant churches but have never served in a ministry position may find that shepherding a congregation is quite different from attending church regularly. In addition, people must have some degree of spiritual maturity to face situations that occur when living in another culture.
Before leaving, prospective missionaries need some kind of orientation to prepare them for what is ahead. They need to learn how to “leave right” so that they will be able to “enter right” when they arrive in their host country—and again when they reenter their passport country. Most individuals have high expectations for their missionary service, and these should be made more realistic. They also need to have some idea about what kind of adjustments they will have to make, and what they may experience. Becoming helpless as a child when one does not know the language is very difficult.
Veteran missionaries and cross-cultural trainers are the member care providers at this stage.
Helping Missionaries Grow: Readings in Mental Health and Missions at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/helping-ms-grow-book contains several chapters that are relevant to preparation and pre-departure training.
· Chapter 11: “Pretraining variables in the prediction of missionary success overseas” by William Gordon Britt III
· Chapter 12: “Preparation: Pay the price!” by Phil Elkins
Stage 4: Departure
Pollock is well-known for suggesting that people build a RAFT to depart. RAFT is an acronym as follows.
· Reconciliation. Unresolved conflicts need to be settled if possible.
· Affirmation. Both the missionary who is leaving and the friends and family staying at home need to express appreciation for each other.
· Farewells. Goodbyes need to be said to everyone involved.
· Think destination. Looking forward to getting where they are going and planning for what they will be doing is helpful.
Friends, family, and the local body of believers are the primary caregivers for this stage.
Stage 5: Arrival
When new missionaries arrive on the field, it is good if the field director and available missionaries greet them at the airport or at least during the first few days. However, the primary member care provider at this time is a good mentor. This mentor has primary responsibility for introducing the missionary to the culture and the local community to the missionary.
The mentor should be available to answer questions and make suggestions about living in the new culture, advice about everyday things that are not included in guidebooks. In addition the mentor should take newcomers to meetings, shopping, on local transportation, teach them how to cross the street, etc. This will make the new individuals feel as “comfortable” as possible and that someone cares.
Helping Missionaries Grow: Readings in Mental Health and Missions at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/helping-ms-grow-book contains several chapters that are relevant to arrival.
· Chapter 31: “Finding a sense of belonging in your new place” by Terri Gibbs
· Chapter 32: “How we reduced those early cultural surprises” by Alexander Bolyanatz
Stage 6: Field Life
On the field there can be many sources of care. Weekly prayer/fellowship times, accountability groups, quarterly staff retreats, annual conferences, and other such meetings provide opportunities for care. If/when crises occur, specialists in debriefing can come, pastoral visits bring care, counselors or psychologists can visit at regular intervals, and other specialists can visit when needed.
Leaders at the home office who are responsible for given areas of the world, country field directors, and team leaders for given cities all need to be evaluated on how they view the people under them. Missionaries who find themselves responsible to inept or vengeful leaders are in a very difficult position and are likely to leave the field, leave the agency, or leave missions completely.
Local churches of missionaries are responsible for not only praying for them and sending their monthly financial support but also for communicating with them, sending items they need, and letting them know they are not forgotten.
(See Chapter 18)
“A model for mutual care in missions” by Kenneth Williams is available as Chapter 4 in Missionary Care: Counting the Cost for World Evangelization at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/mc-counting-the-cost-book- This model applies to all stages, but is particularly important for field life.
Stage 7: Preparation for Returning “Home”
Returning “home” may be more difficult then moving to the host country was. Pollock suggests building a RAFT for this transition as well: reconciling, affirming, saying farewells, and thinking about the future back “home.” Using the Internet, missionaries can often look at rental properties, enroll children in school, apply for work, and other essentials.
The local church can help with this process. It can be the “hands and feet” for doing what cannot be done on-line. Church members can clean the house and stock the shelves of the pantries. They can send information about how to get utilities started, and perhaps actually do it for the returning missionary.
For more complete information see Before You Get “Home:” Preparing for Reentry at http://www.missionarycare.com/ebook.htm#before_reentry.
Stage 8: Reentry
Ideally, the mission agency, the local church, and the family will work together to make reentry as easy as possible for missionaries returning home. It is vital for good communication to coordinate the three. If mentors are available, they may be able to do this. Mentors in reentry play the same roles as those in arrival, answering questions and helping the missionaries fit in at “home.”
Reentry retreats or seminars help returning missionaries process how they have changed, where they are going, and how they are doing relative to others. As a part of the retreat, or about that time, most missionaries have two types of debrief. First, they have an organizational debrief conducted by someone in the agency. This debrief is about their work-related experiences. Second, they have a personal debrief in which they can talk about feelings and express themselves freely without fear of rejection or condemnation. Such debriefs are to help them heal wounds from the past and prepare for the future.
For more complete information see Coming “Home”: The Reentry Transition at http://www.missionarycare.com/ebook.htm#reentry.
Helping Missionaries Grow: Readings in Mental Health and Missions at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/helping-ms-grow-book contains several chapters that are relevant to reentry.
· Chapter 48: “Reentry stress: The pain of coming home” by Clyde Austin
· Chapter 49: “Welcome home! Easing the pain of MK reentry” by David Pollock
Stage 9: Ongoing Support
Some missionaries may need continued attention after they reenter their passport countries. Retiring missionaries may feel like their identity as missionaries has been destroyed, may not have a social support system back in their local community, or may not have adequate financial resources to support them for life. Long-term missionaries may have sacrificed financially and socially for the sake of the gospel, and they deserve continued attention.
Other missionaries may have quit because they have been deeply hurt. Majory Foyle called them the “honourably wounded.” They may have physical ailments that continue to plague them. They may have psychological disorders that they cannot overcome. They may be devastated spiritually. They have sacrificed for the sake of world evangelization and deserve someone to come alongside and see them restored.
Third Culture Kids (TCKs) who have spent a significant part of their developmental years between cultures may not understand how and why they are different. Even as adults, these TCKs may need seminars, reunions, internet networking, and coaching to help them fit in.
Maintaining a constant flow of various kinds of member care for people on the move all the time is difficult, but it is possible.
Remember that you can download David Pollock’s chapter in “Developing a flow of care and caregivers” in Doing Member Care Well: Perspectives and Practices from Around the World in 2002. It is available free as chapter two at https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/doing-member-care-well. His chapter elaborates on all stages presented in this chapter.
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 “When is missionary member care done?” I plan to periodically update and expand the book with these suggestions.