Jul 15, 2011
Tender Care: The Heart and Soul of Caring for God’s Scattered Servants
The Seabrook Seven
Barnabas Books 2010
There are various aspects of missionary care, and they are all vital. There is coaching, mentoring, self-care, clinical care, and agency care. But the one area that has suffered from a relative lack of literature is pastoral care. That name is not to imply the sole source of such care, rather to describe the type of care that missionaries need. Now there is this ground-breaking volume on “the heart and soul of caring for God’s scattered servants.”
Using the analogy of a deep-sea diver’s tender (the partner on the surface who literally holds the diver’s life in his hands), the authors provide an excellent overview of pastoral care for cross-cultural workers. They know whereof they speak; all seven of the collaborating writers are practitioners with decades of experience between them. Not only is their expertise obvious in what they share, but their hearts clearly communicate what they pray would be the heart of everyone who endeavors to function as a caregiver for missionaries.
This book defines pastoral care, its scope, and its duration. It is full of practical applications as well as challenging insights. It is a call to the body of Christ to rise up and practice “one-another” principles with those of its members who are serving in the global harvest fields.
This is a book I wish I had written. But since I did not (and could not have), I wish everyone interested in caring for missionaries would read it, study it, employ it. Read our full review at http://paracletos.org/resources/reviews/books/ and see if you’re not motivated to buy your own copy as soon as possible.
No Comments. Be the first to share your opinion!
