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.

Missionary care is required.

It is an absolutely necessary component of the larger missions task.

Without healthy missionaries, mission work cannot be accomplished.

Enriched.

While I applaud all current efforts to care well for harvest workers,

we are far from doing enough.

Those who quit for preventable reasons are still far too numerous.

Those who slip through the cracks are still embarrassingly prevalent.

Enriched care will include a greater percentage of the body of Christ…

with a much more diverse set of skills and gifts…

purposefully engaged within a greatly expanded range of needs…

functioning as the manifestation of God’s own concern.

Enriched care means that every aspect of missionary health…

mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual…

will receive appropriate attention.

Enriched care will have an extended duration,

from the earliest aspects of selection and training

to the final days of a missionary’s life…

and every moment in between.

Continuous care…

speaks for itself.

Not just in times of crisis,

and not just restorative care.

Pre-emptive care…

pro-active care…

vigilant and diligent care.

Necessary, enriched, continuous care…

Obvious necessities if we are to press ahead to the completion of world missions.

But there is one more aspect we need to address.

I’ll do that tomorrow.