CROSS-CULTURAL DIRECTION FOR MISSIONARIES provides comprehensive, culturally-sensitive approaches to sustain and nurture stateside and on the field.

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CROSS-CULTURAL DIRECTION FOR MISSIONARIES

Departing in Peace or Pieces? Research on Missionary Attrition

“We in missions must commit ourselves to more comprehensive, culturally-sensitive approaches to sustain and nurture our personnel over the long-haul. Who will do all this? Caring leaders (church and mission) who make time for their people. Personnel development specialists who are available to support and further train our workers. And finally colleagues and friends - you and me - whose mutual encouragement provide the backbone for effective member care programs.”
~Dr. Kelly O'Donnell~

COPING MECHANISMS OF THE CROSS-CULTURAL MISSIONARY FAMILY

Missionaries develop a 'quick release button' and jettison the 'relationship' to minimize pain of separation from colleagues when transition is imminent,. Newcomers can likewise be jettisoned, since current friendships and workloads make little time for them. (Dave Pollock of Interaction).

Life-style Issues Intensify in Cross-cultural Ministry. Missionaries share with their children many of these characteristics (see Missionary Kids). General Busyness in Ministry Stress MISSIONARIES as well as PASTORS. The missionary shares with the pastor many of the same stressors, but the cross-cultural lifestyle intensifies these and has its own set of unique stressors.

Financial issues and maintaining relations with supporting constituency at home interrupt ministry pursuit;
Culture Shock, Culture Stress and Reentry through the missions travel cycle is constant; Crisis and/or Trauma increase potential for hostility or violence to "Foreigners;" Isolation, Separation and loss. Family Opposition intensify the impact "normal" crises; Multi-national Teams and Relational Issues create conflict or misunderstanding; Transience, even planned transition, destabilizes due to a sense of loss or mourning.

"Member care is the ongoing investment of resources by mission agencies, churches, and other mission organizations for the nurture and development of missionary personnel. It focuses on everyone in missions (missionaries, support staff, children and families) and does so over the course of the missionary life cycle, from recruitment through retirement . . . the goal is to develop godly character, inner strength and skills to help personnel remain . . resilient . . . and effective in their work."
(Dr. Kelly O'Donnell, Doing Member Care Well, WCL 2002, p.4)

Ten Reasons Why Workers Leave the Field and Don't Return (George Verwer Chairman,
Mission Mobilization)

MISSIONARY ATTRITION

12,000+ missionaries are lost each year out of the 400,000 (Catholic and Protestant) global missionary pool (Barrett, 1998; International Bulletin of Missionary Research).

World Evangelical Fellowship in 1995 surveyed mission administrators from 453 missionary sending societies in 14 countries concerning attrition (full report in Too Valuable to Lose, edited by Dr. Bill Taylor, 1997). At the April, 1996 WEF Missions Commission Consultation on Missionary Attrition, at All Nations Christian College, England, Peter Brierley of Christian Research presented an analysis:

5.1% of the career or long-term global mission force leaves the mission field to return home every year, 3.5% leave for preventable reasons.
Of those leaving 27% are single women, 14% single men, and 59% married couples.
13% of the time and 12% of the resources of agencies are spent on pastoral care and supervision.
In terms of preventing attrition, the key issues to address relate to management, leadership and spirituality; the larger and older the mission society, the lower the preventable attrition rate. Those who worked in the same culture vs cross-culturally had almost the same preventable attrition rates. Workers in pioneer / church planting settings had lower preventable attrition rates than those in relief and development settings.

Sound the ALARMM to mission agencies!

85% of attrition stems from systemic issues. "When the system stops working the purpose gets lost." (Too Valuable to Lose, John Powell) Systems issues would include all of the following: Avoiding confrontation until transitioning out, leaders pass problems to successors (Larry and Lois Dodds of Heartstream Resources have named this "fired on furlough"); Lack of continuity in care because it is viewed as the realm of either the home or field entity, but not both; Authoritarian use of power rather than servant leadership on the mission field; Recruitment goals push the mission to accept people who should not be accepted or misrepresent the actual field situation and/or job assignment, creating unrealistic expectations for new members. Missions operate on the premise that missionaries need to be independent, strong, and resilient individuals who can care for themselves; Mission organizations develop a personality or culture which does not effectively deal with, but rather screens out, “no fit” people who offer balance.

This is ALARMMing!

MULTI-CULTURAL, MULTI-NATIONAL TEAM DYNAMICS Westerners are reluctant to work on the field with Koreans or other Asians. The relationship is difficult to develop and maintain. Yet for 10 years I have been advocating the partnership of Western and Eastern missionaries. I am available to provide orientation, counseling, consultation to multi-cultural teams, either stateside or on the field. I have relationships with administrators of 50 South Korean mission agencies from my years as Mobilization and Training Team Leader, working to increase the numbers of missionaries in the 10/40 Window.

At the turn of the Millenium approximately 12,000 South Korean missionaries served the Third World either alongside or in perceived competition with Western missionaries. Koreans are bearing fruit throughout the Muslim and Communist world, where Westerners often are not welcome. Multi-cultural teams are quickly increasing, especially in the 10/40 Window. At a Front Range Caregivers Forum, a mission executive observed "Multi-cultural, multi-national teams are imploding." This is because the Eastern mindset cannot understand the Western mindset and vice versa.

Tom speaks Korean and Russian, having spent 10 years mobilizing, training, and supervising Korean missionaries serving in the Muslim and Communist world. In Central Asia's largest city, an equal number of Western and South Korean missionaries in a five year span produced vastly different results. While Westerners started 2 churches, Koreans started 80. Of course, more Koreans were deported than Westerners, but they accomplished so much more. On more than one occasion upon seeing a Westerner, a Korean would shout in public, "Missionary, hello! I also am a missionary." For fear of having their cover blown, Westerners avoided being seen with Koreans. Western co-workers were paranoid about their contact with Koreans. I supervised a team of 8 Korean couples and developed the curriculum for an unregistered Korean seminary, so Western workers would not socialize with me (missionaries were illegal).
Yet Koreans (and other Asians) are able to work in restricted-access populations where Westerners cannot work openly. The only known Indian pastor targeting Muslims, had a reputation for disliking Americans. As the Strategy Coordinator mobilizing South Koreans, he invited me to bring in several short-term teams to work in a Muslim slum. The Muslims thought the Koreans were from Northeast India, until they spoke. The response was so favorable, they received an open invitation to work with him.

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