The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
Author: Dr. Kelly and Dr. Michele O’Donnell
Date: 15.10.2010
Category: Resource Mobilization, Unreached People Groups, Science and Bioethics
The providence of God has led us all into a new world of opportunity, danger, and duty. World Missionary Conference, Edinburgh, 1910
Your thoughts please--What are some of the ways that the international field of member care is part of Lausanne 3? Have a look at the brief materials below and leave a comment. Thanks!
Member care is the Biblical practice--and discipline--of supporting the diversity of workers and senders in the global mission community. Currently there are an estimated 400,000 mission workers and nearly 12 million national workers (January 2010 International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Johnson et al). These figures of course do not include the millions of Christ-followers who live internationally as "tentmakers" or who relocate intentionally or unintentionally for economic, political, educational or human rights-related reasons.
Member care is a handmaiden to the mission task. It is a core part of mission strategy and includes a broad spectrum of services/resources such as cross-cultural training, coaching, health screening, team building, crisis care, marriage enrichment, consultation about member care programs and children’s issues, pastoral support, and debriefing.
Member care’s practical and at times prophetic voice rallies us all towards lovingly and skillfully caring for those who like Paul, earnestly seek to serve Christ, often in places and ways where He has not been named before. Member care has been a recognized, international, and interdisciplinary field for over 20 years. It’s emphasis on sacrificial lifestyles and supportive resources provide a Biblical and balanced approach to see our mission goals realized in this beautiful yet troubled world.
Wondering: And so we are wondering...how the international field of member care is present at Lausanne 3. We have not seen anything yet on the web site or topics. Yet we imagine that member care-related areas are being implicitly discussed in many different ways and we certainly hope that member care is also being explicitly discussed in many different ways.
Wondering: And we are also wondering...who the member care leaders are at Lausanne 3. We certainly wish we could be there to connect and contribute with the wonderful folks at this historic event.
So where is member care exactly in Lausanne III? We sincerely hope that it is there both implicitly and explicitly.
Here is something to encourage us all: We are doing an historical overview of Member Care during the last 40 years. A great many folks have laboured to see it become a key part of world mission. Read about it at this site, and enjoy the music/video links too: CORE Member Care: Reflections and Resources for Good Practice wwww.COREmembercare.blogspot.com
The video below reminds us of how member care has traveled far and wide to help encourage/sustain many Christian workers. Onward together as we go into our world of "opportunity, duty, and danger." International Member Care--A Dancing Analogy to Support Christian Workers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
Keywords: member care, attrition, missionary care, resiliency, human resource development, corruption, stress, counseling, pastoral care, staff support, encourgement, crisis care, integrity, organizational development, leadership, unreached people groups
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France
Quoted from Doug Lucas, Brigada, 25 October 2010
Latest on Member Care: Call it "Member Health" --
I got the opportunity at Lausanne III to participate in a Dialogue Session on Member Care, led by Philip C of Rami & Associates. We dialogued about Interserve... http://www.interserve.org They specialize in caring for MKs and TCKs. Link Care http://www.linkcare.org and Lausanne’s own Member Care and Counsel as Mission ... http://www.careandcounselasmission.org
This Care and Counsel as Mission group, chaired by Bradford S., is relatively new. They articulated a 3 Circle Paradigm of Care and Counsel, consisting of care...
*** In support of missionaries (Member Care)
*** In support of the global church (Christian Counseling)
*** In support of the world (Care & Counsel as Mission).
Hadn’t thought about it before, actually, that Business as Missions (BAM) workers from all countries -- even from traditional missionary-receiving countries -- need member care as well. What’s more, many of these lands have previously had few, if any, Member Care Specialists.
Brent L, of The Global Member Care Network, suggested that perhaps we ought to call it Member *Health* Network -- in an effort to widen the group of resource people that can or would be involved. http://www.globalmembercare.com
Their tag line is "Connecting and Developing Member Care Worldwide" and they maintain a great network/index of workers there whereby you can find helpers in various regions. It might be the most complete, up-to-date list of member care providers throughout the whole world. They defined Member Care as the ongoing preparation, equipping, and empowering of missionaries for effective and sustainable life, ministry and work. So they address all aspects of well-being of missionaries and their dependents. It includes spiritual, emotional, relational, physical, and economic matters. Learn more at their website.
To comment or inquire about this item, browse to...http://www.brigada.org/2010/10/24_5633
For a free subscription to Brigada’s weekly missions publication, visit Brigada on the web at www.brigada.org
26.10.2010
France
Here are three historical entries related to member care, from the recent entry at: www.COREmemercare.blogspot.com How can these three perspectives/accounts inform the current practice of member care?
1992: Ruth Tucker and Leslie Andrews, Historical Notes on Missionary Care, Missionary Care: Counting the Cost for World Evangelization (pp. 24-36)
Mission societies held high the ideal of sacrifice. Strong faith in God, it was reasoned, was the prescription for a healthy mind and spirit…self-reliance was the mark of a missionary—tempered only by dependence on God through prayer. (p. 24)
1991: James Beck,Missions and Mental Health: A Lesson from History, Paper presented at the 12th Annual Mental Health and Missions Conference; expanded in the author’s book: Dorothy Carey: The Tragic and Untold Story of Mrs.William Carey, 1992; published also in the Journal of Psychology and Theology volume 21, pages 9-17, 1993)
The life of Dorothy Placket Carey comes to us through the pages of history as a sad chapter in the chronicles of modern missions. Her sacrifice of sanity, however, could lose all potential value to us if we fail to see her story as more than just a tragic biography. Her story is also very true, painfully true. In her train have come many others who have suffered from the ravages of mental illness while serving in the modern missionary movement. We have an obligation to learn from lives such as Dorothy Carey’s and thereby to reap some of the benefits that can emerge from the costly sacrifice that she made. She would not wish us to merely pity her. Perhaps she would want instead that we benefit from the example of her life so as to help others. (p. 1)
1990: Jo Anne Dennett, Personal Growth and Encouragement for Every Missionary
Those [previous four] years had been difficult, and devastating to my self-esteem and confidence. I had been the lone doctor, responsible for building and operating a mission hospital. It was in an isolated desert area…[The people there] grudgingly condescended to accept our Western medical care, but were very hostile toward the gospel, and youths often stoned our ambulance. The two nurses and I were constantly referred t o as “prostitutes” because we were unmarried, and all Christians were contemptuously called “deceivers.” Being continually denigrated is demoralizing even though we were not expecting anyone to throw bouquets…Memories of the first-term clamoured through my mind—trials in the medical work, personal failures, conflicts with others. At the mission headquarters, I looked forward to sharing my inner turmoil with someone who could understand and help. Sadly, during the first few days of tending to office matters, no one expressed any real concern about how I had coped on the field. The attitude seemed to be, and still prevails, that if you survived you must be alright. My inner conflicts f=remained unresolved throughout that furlough. This incident was not the only time in my thirteen years of service that I was in great need of personal encouragement and counseling. (p. 8).
21.10.2010
France
Stephanas: A New Testament Example of Frontier Member Care
20.10.2010
France
One of the most helpful articles related to Biblical foundations for member care and for member care advocacy is:
Stepahas: A New Testament Example of Frontier Member Care.
Check it out, free online via the link at the Member Caravan web site:
http://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/ijfm-1995-mc-issue-
Here also is the link to the special issue on member care in which the article first appeared, in the International Journal of Frontier Missions (1995). Great and highly relevant articles!
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxtZW1iZXJjYXJhdmFufGd4Ojc2NzFlNDY5ZjhlMTBiOWI&pli=1
19.10.2010
France
@ EgoPatricius:
Stephanas :-)
19.10.2010
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