We can easily say that our missionary friends are persistent and care about their ministries. But are they thriving? Too often global workers are working hard in their ministry but spending little time to recharge spiritually. How can you and I, as advocates to nurture spiritual growth, extend hope, and inject courage?
In His life on earth, Jesus demonstrated a pattern of work and rest, of ministering and of spending time alone with the Father. As followers of Christ, and coworkers in ministry, missionaries need the same balance of rest and work.
These resources are here to inform and equip you to become engaged with your friends on the mission field. To help them thrive.
Important Announcement About Dave And Irene’s Sabbatical
Dave and Irene, the live-in hosts at Baan Sabai Lodge, and the facilitators for Recalibrate debriefing events, will be on sabbatical from February 1, 2023 through October 31, 2023. They will not be involved in any Paracletos ministry work for most of that time....
Casual First of February Friday
Happy groundhog day – if you’re into that. Believe it or not, some people are not eager for winter to be over. What if, at the end of this day, you had a chance to do it again? Would you do the same things? When it comes to caring for the missionaries you know and...
Casual Friday Care Resources
The flu visited our house recently, just like quite a few others, evidently. The onset was dramatic, and the recovery abysmally slow. So many parallels to “diseases” on the mission field. When you’re sick, you want someone at your side. Someone who will dote on you a...
Casual Advent Season Friday
I skipped last week’s post because I didn’t want to compete with Black Friday. (Personally, I wish it would just go away.) So this week I have a longer than usual list of missionary care resources for you to pick through. Pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy! LIFE...
Casual Almost Thanksgiving Friday
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. When you think of the things for which you are thankful, do your missionary friends come to mind? Are you grateful for your relationships that provide you with opportunities to speak into their lives? I am thankful for you, my...
Casual Fall Friday
It’s a beautiful Fall day as I write. Tempting to lay this aside and go take a walk outdoors. But I want to make sure you get the latest batch of missionary care resources because I know how much you care for your friends working cross-culturally. So here you go....
Casual Oktoberfest Friday
Confession time: I did not post last week. But you probably already knew that. I skipped a week because I was at a conference on missionary care. My head is overflowing with things to write about from those 4 days. But today…today I need to hustle and get my backlog...
Casual Autumn Friday
(I mention autumn in the title this week so maybe the weather will get the hint!) A quick trip to New Hampshire gave us a chance to interact with a sending church and some of the folks they’ve sent out. So encouraged by their desire to grow in their understanding of...
Casual Friday Resources
The past two weeks in California were extremely productive for us as we visited with previous partners on the field, former missionaries, future missionaries, and current missionaries. We had the privilege of conducting a missionary care workshop at a large church,...
Casual Every Little Bit Helps Friday
The horrific events unfolding in Houston, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh this past week remind us all of how desperately we need each other to be the expression of God’s care and compassion. Physical tragedies produce obvious opportunities to step up and contribute...
Casual Post-Eclipse Friday
This week’s solar eclipse certainly got everyone’s attention. Even at 85% where I live, it was an uncanny experience. But for most of the rest of the world it was business as usual. That means your missionary friends continue to need your help and encouragement. These...
Casual Friday Missionary Care Resources
Around here the leaves are already transitioning from various shades of green to a spectrum of chartreuses. Some (like our walnut trees) are starting their annual pilgrimage toward the burial grounds of their forefathers. Though it seems bit early, the calendar and...
Casual Friday Missionary Care
Well, here we are...back in the saddle! Sorry about last week's mishap. But at least the old site is now history and we have this beautiful new site to enjoy! I hope you enjoy these resources as well. LIFE ON THE FIELD Hardly a day goes by that doesn’t remind us of...
Casual Friday
Every time I interact with a missionary I am reminded how vitally important it is for them to have a solid network of care providers standing with them. You are part of someone’s network. Maximize your potential for helping them thrive with resources like these. LIFE...
Casual Friday Missionary Care Resources
Anyone else feel like this year is running away with them? Is it really June already? Missionaries are in the process of returning to their passport country in droves. That means you and I have tons of opportunities to care for them using resources like these. And for...
Casual Short And Sweet Friday
Short and sweet this week. We’ve had a very full guest load and little free time for scouring the internet. But I trust that these few links will be of some use to you in your ongoing efforts to improve your missionary care skills. LIFE ON THE FIELD An alternative to...
Casual Friday Resources
Is it Friday again already? What happened to this week? Of wait…I remember—I was sick. While hosting eight guests. I love what we do here at the lodge, but sometimes it’s flat-out inconvenient. Then again, caring for others is rarely convenient. The best way to make...
Casual Small World Friday
It’s a small world. No – really. Our latest guest was just dropped off by her friend, someone we’d never met. As we chatted with this friend we discovered that we not only know several of the same people, but one family in particular lives just a few miles from here....
Casual Friday Cinco De Mayo Friday
Hello from Atlanta, Georgia where we are currently visiting with our daughter and her family. We have some big decisions ahead of us, but I’ll have to report on that subject a little later. Meanwhile, your friends and families on the mission field need your continued...
Casual Friday
Well, we’re back from our month of travels. The worst part of being gone is digging out from under the backlog when you return. But the good part is we have a ton of resources to share with you this week. So without further ado… LIFE ON THE FIELD Michelle Gielan...
Casual German Friday
This week I’m coming to you from Frankfurt, Germany. We added a couple of days to our return trip so we could decompress a bit on the way home. We have been so painfully reminded in these past three weeks of just how vital your role is in helping global workers thrive...
Casual Friday Resources
Greetings from the ancient silk road—a fascinating region with a long history of Christian activity. The more I interact with global workers the more convinced I am that we need to rally every member of the body of Christ we can to get involved in caring for them....
Casual Friday From Central Asia
I am writing this week from central Asia, in a place that seems to be the international headquarters for the Amalgamated Exhaustion Corporation. I felt this on my last visit back in November, and I feel it again: I’ve never been in the midst of so much worn-outness...
Casual Friday Missionary Care Resources
By the time you read this we will be in central Asia. That means I put this together a bit earlier in the week than usual, so there are a few less links. Rest assured that these are the cream of the crop. I’m sure you’ll find them useful and informative. EVENTS Keep...
Casual Friday Missionary Care Resources
‘Tis the season. No, not that season. The season of exodus from the mission field. For many global workers, as soon as the school year is over, they head back to their passport country for a time of “home assignment.” Are you prepared to interact with them? Many of...
Casual Friday Systemic Care Resources
Years ago a tree surgeon explained to me the difference between systemic care and symptomatic care. To put it simply, systemic treatment deals with the root of problems, not just the manifestations. To truly help our missionary friends thrive in their ministries, we...
Casual Friday Missionary Care Resources
What do they say about March? In like a lion, out like…? We’ve certainly had that first part; we’ll see if the second half comes to pass. Like life on the mission field, you never know what any given day will bring. That’s why it’s good that global workers have...
Casual Friday Missionary Care Resources
Never a dull moment around these parts! On Tuesday we had a series of severe storms crash through our neck of the woods. Besides flooding and downed trees all over the place, we lost our phone/internet connection. Fortunately we have a public library with great WI-FI...
The non-negotiable core of missionary care
One final thought about the networked future of missionary care. We serve the Shepherd who cares enough for one wayward sheep to leave 99 safe ones to go after it. The one who will snatch an endangered lamb from the jaws of a lion or a bear. The one who touches...
The most important component of missionary care
Required, enriched, continuous… That’s how Roni Pruitt summarized member care of the future after attending 2016 Mission Nexus conference. Yesterday we talked about those three aspects. Today I’d like to add one more: Networked There are literally hundreds of...
What the future will require
Roni Pruitt’s recap of the 2016 Mission Nexus conference included the statement that “the future mission of the Church…will require an enriched continuous care of workers.” I’m not sure what all she had in mind, but here’s how I would unpack that: Required....
Creating the future
So yesterday I posted Roni Pruitt’s recap of the 2016 Mission Nexus conference. She said that “how to finance missions will require creative thinking in the future.” This is a topic of particular interest to me. We have coached and encouraged quite a few...
Let’s create the future
The following editorial appeared in a recent update from the Global Member Care Network. I thought it was worth commenting on. Editorial:The Future of Member Care Is it true that missions is in decline and what impact does this have on Member Care? At the 2016...
We need to shift our sending paradigm
We have been using Zach Bradley’s penetrating book, The Sending Church Defined, as a catalyst for discussing what sending should look like. We cannot have adequate missionary care without first having a proper concept of sending to undergird it. Here are some...
Rethinking the sending paradigm
In his thought-provoking book, The Sending Church Defined, Zach Bradley of the Upstream Collective goes to great lengths to explain what sending should look like. If we are ever going to have a healthy, effective missionary care model... we will need to return to a...
Reclaiming the sending paradigm
A healthy missionary care model can only be built upon a healthy model of sending. In his provocative book, The Sending Church Defined, Zach Bradley of the Upstream Collective meticulously defines his understanding of what sending should look like. (I highly recommend...
Reframing the sending paradigm
So from Acts 13 we note that: God the Holy Spirit selected Barnabas and Saul God the Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul God revealed his plan to the church God issued the call within the context of ongoing church ministry The church sent Barnabas and Saul on their...
Rethinking what it means to be sent
In Acts 13 we see the beginning of missionary work as we think of it today. Who received the call? How was the call “heard”? How was the call acted upon? Let’s look at the passage: Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as...
Missionary care in a partnership model
As soon as I read it I knew it applied to missionary care. In the current issue of Mission Frontiers, guest editor Robby Butler talked about three biblical principles that Jesus and his disciples modeled: Going to the lost instead of asking them to come to us Training...
Single Missionaries and Burnout
Burnout |noun|: The condition of someone who has become physically and emotionally exhausted after doing a difficult job for a long time or as a result of prolonged stress or frustration. Burnout is a subject that has long been discussed in missionary circles. The...
Help a missionary stay on the field by asking questions
A couple of years ago I wrote about Brenda Bosch's survey project to determine what missionaries felt were their top stressors. These are the twelve that head her list. I've come up with a list of questions you can use to help you interact with your missionary friends...
Misunderstandings: Loneliness
The only time most people have ever been around a missionary is when one spoke at their church. They see missionaries in public settings and draw conclusions based on short presentations. Perhaps they sign up to receive prayer letters. Their understanding of...
Burnout: when passion is a problem
“'Caring’ is a fire that burns, and burning fires require fuel.” So says Brad Hambrick in his helpful booklet Burnout: Resting in God’s Fairness. Burnout is more than fatigue, more than an overload of stress, Hambrick says. It is similar to depression, but it adds a...
Major Causes for Attrition: Insufficient Support
It is obvious that missionaries cannot carry out their ministry without money. What does it mean for us to be their partners in ministry? If, for whatever reason, they find themselves under supported it can be nearly impossible to raise funds while on the field. I...
Major Causes for Attrition: Conflict
Conflict with co-workers is often cited as the number one reason for unnecessary missionary attrition. Most every missionary will experience conflict at some point in their career. Not just minor differences of opinion that must be tolerated, but gut-wrenching...
The Sad Facts About Missionary Attrition
This year more than 7000 missionaries will quit. Nearly half of those will have managed only one term on the field. But that’s not the worst part. At least twenty missionaries will pull the plug today. Every fifteen minutes one decides to throw in the towel. But...