MC2 2017: Hard Pressed But Not Crushed: Caring for Missionaries Under Pressure

Whenever there is a man or woman of God accomplishing the work of God, there will always be opposition. Daily, missionaries face a multitude of life and ministry pressures. Often they have expectations from their mission organizations and sending churches that can add to these stressors. As senders we need to be aware of pressures our missionaries face and seek ways to encourage and enrich their lives. During our time together we will take a look at some biblical & practical principles that we can use to help encourage our global workers.

Cross-cultural workers deal daily with painful experiences such as culture shock, language learning, medical issues, marital adjustments, transition issues, and children’s education to name a few. Missionaries can find themselves trying to deal with these stressors with little help from the local church. What is the role of the local church in identifying these pressures and finding ways to encourage those they are sending? During this interactive workshop we will be naming key ministry pressures that impact the lives of global workers. We’ll suggest practical ways that local church caregivers can come alongside to provide quality care.

Missionaries long to tell their full story, but they often ask, “Who can I trust?” Safe people are those who draw us closer to being the people God intended us to be. Cross-cultural workers find themselves having few people, especially from the local church where they can share their deepest issues of life. The fear of losing financial support or the fear of being pulled off the field can hinder such depth of relationship. During our breakout session we will explore how a theology of grace can serve as a foundation to build safety. We will suggest and discuss some practical steps a church can take toward being a place of safety.

People in ministry and those caring for them are faced with multiple stressors every day. And yet, many times aren’t aware of them, deny them, or feel ill equipped to manage them. Jesus exemplified a person committed to ministry and yet a person who modeled self-care in the midst of ministry. This session will focus on practical ways of understanding and evaluating the stressors that are universal as well as unique to missionaries and missionary caregivers. We will talk about how caregivers can emphasize the importance of self-care, preventing vicarious trauma, and the mindfulness needed to manage stress well.

Cross-cultural workers deal daily with painful experiences such as culture shock, language learning, medical issues, marital adjustments, transition issues, and children’s education to name a few. Missionaries can find themselves trying to deal with these stressors with little help from the local church. What is the role of the local church in identifying these pressures and finding ways to encourage those they are sending? During this interactive workshop we will be naming key ministry pressures that impact the lives of global workers. We’ll suggest practical ways that local church caregivers can come alongside to provide quality care.

It is no secret that missionaries and caregivers encounter a significant amount of stress in their work and their work environment. In this session we will focus more specifically on particularly harmful and addictive ways of coping such as pornography and other forms of “escape” that are common and have potentially serious ramifications to a person’s relationships and work.

Todd and Tamara began serving in their current roles at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis in 2012.  Todd is the pastor for global outreach and Tamara is the coordinator for global partner care.  God drew Todd and Tamara to faith when they were children.  Tamara was discipled in campus ministry as an undergraduate, and a pastor discipled Todd in graduate school.  Todd’s graduate studies were centered on communicating to the glory of God.  Tamara studied theology, linguistics, and biblical counseling.  Todd taught Communication at Bethel University for five years, and then God dramatically pointed their lives to missions. Todd and Tamara served for eight years with Mission: Moving Mountains (M:MM) in Tanzania. In 2002, Todd accepted the role as president of M:MM. From 2006–2011, he served as Executive Director of Daystar U.S., serving to advance Daystar University in Kenya.  Todd & Tamara live in the Phillips Neighborhood of South Minneapolis.  Their oldest son, Jacob (age 27) is married to Jaime and living in Iowa City, working on educational software.  Their first grandchild is due in February 2017.  Daniel (age 23) is living in San Francisco, working on a technology start-up to program drones for agricultural and construction purposes.

All communication from a missionary is a risk at some level, and we need God’s help for wisdom, faith, and courage to know when to take greater risks or not in sharing the gospel in word and deed.  After laying out a biblical foundation, we will put our attendees in the role of “missionary consultants” to some real life scenarios and ask them questions such as: What level of risk should be considered by the missionary?  Why not more or less risk? What do we say to missionaries going through risks and suffering?

Our discussion and Q&A will be with panelists who are parents of missionaries and grandparents to their children.  We will hear of their children’s experiences, especially the pressures that they faced, and how our panelists tried to parent and grandparent in faith.

Joann Pittman served in China for 28 years, as a teacher and educational program director. She currently serves as Senior Vice-President at ChinaSource.

In this panel we will hear from people who experienced a significant crisis while on the field. The focus will be less on what happened, and more on how they experienced God’s grace in the midst of that crisis. We will also explore the role their churches played in ministering to them in the crisis.

Every year 8000 missionaries leave the field prematurely! Preventable reasons account for 71% of those departures. How does stewardship relate to missionary care?  What is the missionaries’ responsibility in self-care as stewardship?  Does the stewardship of the senders or supporters include holding missionaries accountable for their own self-care? If so, how would one carry out that mandate? How can the church and the missionary partner to see that the missionary is faithful to self-care? This session will look at two elements in this concern: The complex range of Missionary needs and the mandate of Self Care.  Questions will be raised for discussion to help us focus on our responsibilities and opportunities. We will also discuss some of the resources available to help us think through and implement missionary care.

Paul K. McAlister has an M. Div. in Theology and Philosophy from Lincoln Christian University and a Doctoral degree from Bethel Theological Seminary.  He taught for 30 years in areas of Theology and Missions at Minnesota Bible College. He also taught Ethics courses for Augsburg, Bethel, and the Mayo Medical School.  He currently serves as Chair of the Community Relations Board of the Federal Medical Center (U.S. Bureau of Prisons) and does Hospital Chaplaincy training from the Mayo Clinic.  Paul has served with Pioneer Bible Translators first as a Board member then full time in the area of member care with special attention to Child Safety and Development.  He also serves as a training consultant for PBT and does interventions in interpersonal issues on field visits.  He has provided numerous Perspectives lectures as well as serving as program coordinator for Perspective courses.

Often churches are unengaged or unprepared when it comes to helping their missionaries who are faced with the pressures of missionary life and ministry.  This session will offer a sample resource to guide churches in evaluating the missionaries’ life and ministry in partnership with the sending agency.  The strategic impact of “The Sending Triangle” (collaboration between the Church – Sending Agency – and the Missionary) with regards to member care will also be presented.  Hear from the Missions Pastor of one local church share how they have benefited from doing member care in partnership with an agency.  Learn how churches can create an open, safe place for their missionaries to confide when under pressure.

John Pederson spent 12 years in Venezuela with his wife, Kathie, serving with TEAM (The Evangelical Alliance Mission) before returning to the U.S. to mobilize others to reach the least, the last, and the lost.  Since 2000, he has recruited, trained, and led teams for STEM (Short Term Evangelical Missions) and Bethany Global Teams.  John served as President of STEM Share (short-term teams to restricted-access nations) from 2006-2009.  Currently John serves as Director of Church Engagement for Bethany Gateways, a mission sending agency in Bloomington, MN serving in 25 countries. Bethany International’s main vision is to Take the Church to Where it is Not.  John has a Master’s Degree from Azusa Pacific University in Global Leadership. The Pedersons have 3 adult children and live in Bloomington, MN. 

Speaker Bio: Jay Ludwig and his wife Pam live in Minneapolis, have been married 41 years, and have 4 grown children and 2 grandchildren. Jay and Pam were missionaries in France for 15 years, 10 of which were with Bethany International Missions. Jay is currently the Missions Director for City Hill Church in Eden Prairie, as well as their Children’s Pastor and Director of Operations. In his spare time Jay portrays Rev. Gideon Pond, a frontier missionary to the Dakota Indians in Minnesota.

This workshop will explore how to unlock the potential in the relationship between the agency, the church and the missionaries who serve.  The church does not always know that they are welcome to participate in this relationship beyond prayer and sending money. Often, the agency doesn’t fully realize the untapped possibilities of a church that is properly engaged in missionary care and mobilization. And missionaries are eager to discover the blessing of a dynamic and fully engaged support network that seeks to care for them spiritually, physically and emotionally. How can we mind the gaps of care together?

David J Wilson, DMin., has a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctorate of Ministry from Campbell University. He has been serving as a Mission Pastor in the local church since 1996. Recently, he and his wife, Lorene, moved to Kansas City, MO to serve as the Director of Church Relations at Avant Ministries.

What can you ask missionary women that will minister to their hearts and also give you deeper information on what they do and why? Explore ways to get to the heart of global ministry by asking the right questions.

Elizabeth Givens has served with SEND International for almost 40 years in several Asian countries and the US office. Her work in SENDmedia has taken her to over 20 countries of the world, interfacing with missionaries and hearing their stories to better communicate to partners in home countries. She and her husband, David, now work with a large university in China as lecturers and directing a summer English program. She writes for Thrive, The Missions Blog, and Ask a Missionary; and is a conference speaker, a Perspectives speaker and coordinator, a mother of three global daughters, and five Third Culture grand-Kids.

If we could do only one thing to care for the missionary soul, one thing with lasting impact, it would be to listen. Henri Nowen puts it well, 

“The beauty of listening is that those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously, and start discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even dare to be silent with you.”
This interactive breakout session will help improve one’s listening skills by offering practical tools in living out James 1:19, “…be quick to listen and slow to speak.”
Speaker bio:

John Certalic is the executive director of Caring for Others, a member care ministry devoted to increasing the effectiveness of missionaries and reducing their attrition rate. Along with training and debriefing work with cross cultural workers, John has trained lay counselors and taught pastoral care seminars in Brazil, Turkey, Tajikistan, Mali, and North Africa. He also conducts workshops to help churches better care for their missionaries.  To date, Caring for Others has ministered to over 950 missionaries from 62 different sending agencies serving in 85 countries around the world. 

Being a missionary is more stressful than being an inner city cop. Part of the stress is intensified by the number of transitions missionaries experiences on the field. This workshop will present four key questions for you to ask missionaries to help foster self-awareness in their handling of transition stress. Understanding themselves will result in understanding others around them better too. While it won’t remove all stress, these questions will aid in understanding what is happening and mitigate being blindsided by transition stress.

Amy Young served in China for nearly 20 years, holding various leadership roles, including being the Member Care Director for 10 years. Currently she works extensively with Velvet Ashes, an online community for missionaries. In part, her responsibilities include content creator and curator, book club host, and connection group coordinator. Her book Looming Transitions: Starting and Finishing Well in Cross-Cultural Service was written with missionaries in mind (also available in audio). It also has two companion resources: 22 Activities for Families in Transitions and Looming Transitions Workbook.

Velvet Ashes is on online community for women missionaries (though we never use the “M” word, so people can participate in closed countries). This workshop will introduce you to the resources for those transiting to the field, on the field, and those on Home Assignment or returning. Velvet Ashes is far more than a blog as we have a book club, Connection Groups, an online retreat that had over 1,300 participants last year, and more. Come learn how to use Velvet Ashes to serve your missionaries better.

Amy Young served in China for nearly 20 years, holding various leadership roles, including being the Member Care Director for 10 years.  Currently she works extensively with Velvet Ashes, an online community for missionaries. In part, her responsibilities include content creator and curator, book club host, and connection group coordinator. Her book Looming Transitions: Starting and Finishing Well in Cross-Cultural Service was written with missionaries in mind (also available in audio). It also has two companion resources: 22 Activities for Families in Transitions and Looming Transitions Workbook.

When a married couple responds to God’s call to serve cross-culturally they become a great threat to Satan and his kingdom.  Leaving the security of home, adapting to a different culture, and finding a place within a new community presents an unbelievable amount of stress on a marriage.  During this workshop we will explore how caregivers can minister from a distance and as well provide tools for debriefing married couples. 

Perry and Sandi Bradford began their missionary journey in 1980 with Wycliffe Bible Translators.  Perry served as a teacher and principal of a missionary kid school in Papua New Guinea.  In 1994 they returned to the United States after 10 years of service in PNG to join Barnabas International, a ministry of pastoral care to global workers.  Perry serves as the Executive Director of Barnabas, providing guidance and leadership to 90 staff members serving around the world.  Perry and Sandi together were also directors of Mu Kappa, a ministry to MKs returning from the field.  For 17 years Sandi served as the Director of Women’s ministries for Calvary Community Church in Williams Bay, WI.  She travels locally and internationally using God’s Word and her own life experiences to enrich and encourage women of all ages in their Christian faith.  Together, Perry and Sandi have a heart to shepherd missionaries and national church leaders around the globe.  They are both graduates of Moody Bible Institute.  Perry holds two degrees in Education and Sandi has a degree in Physical Therapy.  Perry grew up in KY and Sandi grew up in a farm town in IL.  They are the proud parents of 3 adult children, 4 grandchildren and one on the way!

To help sending churches better support their missionaries, Steve and Janice will discuss some typical patterns of cultural adjustment from the missions research. They will illustrate with real stories including their own family’s difficult cultural adjustment as missionaries to Tanzania and later, to Kenya.  

For the past 22 years in East Africa, Dr. Steve and Janice Rasmussen have trained and mentored missionaries and church leaders, while raising 4 children.  Rev. Steve directs Training East African Ministers and teaches missions at masters and PhD level at Africa International University. He is currently on sabbatical and serving as Interim Lead Pastor of their multi-cultural sending church in St. Paul.  He also consults with churches on missions programs and policies. Janice is writing her dissertation research on improved learning and cultural adjustment for international students in Kenya.

When security on the field becomes precarious stress rises within the missionaries.  It is critical for leadership at home to understand what missionaries are going through, how to help them in the midst of the crisis, and more so, how to walk them through the aftermath.  The facilitator will examine principles learned through leading an international mission and through his personal experiences on the field of: 

• Living through extended civil unrest.
• Being car-jacked and held hostage by criminals.
• Running evacuations in the face of vicious terrorist activity.

Dan Germo, originally from Canada, is the International Director of Bethany Gateways.  He and his wife, Nancy, both graduated from Bethany Global University in Minneapolis.  Upon graduation Dan worked for several years within BGU, while Nancy pursued Nurses training.  In 1999 they moved to Nairobi, Kenya to work within a new Kenyan mission initiative where they were involved in training African missionaries to reach unreached tribes throughout the country.   Dan & Nancy have three kids, two who were born in Kenya.  As of their return from Africa in 2014 they have made their home in the inner-city of Minneapolis.