Perspective: (n) a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view. Perspective is vital during transition.
Through the years I have studied, researched, and shared many times on the subject of burnout. In this training, I want to use my story and present some ideas about the subject with emphasis on helping us as the Member Care team to help prevent it occurring in our missionaries.
And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22 We all get fired up about the “new wine”, but how many times have we stopped to think of what a “new wineskin” actually means and how do we attain it?
Often in life, we find ourselves in unexpected situations for which we feel vastly unprepared. I found myself in such a crisis at the end of 2017 while living in Honduras with my family. As missionaries, we were accustomed to change and hard situations, but when we discovered that my husband was in complete renal failure and needed immediate dialysis in the US, our lives changed, along with our perspective of trials.
“No matter where I go I’m always missing someone! How can I trust God when all He does is take people I care about away?” An honest question from a hurting individual that has had to say “good-bye” more times than she could recall. When there has been a loss, there needs to be a time of grieving.
Why is understanding grief so important? It is important because grief is something that every missionary kid (MK) will encounter as they move and transition between their worlds.
As missionaries we are subject to burnout physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually when we don’t take time to rest. We will never be able to enter into natural rest until we first learn to enter into spiritual rest.
A pastor of ours once said, “Until the pain of staying the same outweighs the pain of change, we will stay the same.” This saying applies very well to making effective, sustainable life changes to prevent, overcome and manage stress!
“North American culture tells us our value is in what we own or accomplish; and our worth is reflected by our position or salary. Family and friends may not consider ministry a real job because it lacks these traditional markers. But Scripture teaches our value comes from God and His love for us.” I believe Steve Shadrach, in The God Ask, writes this passage because he has lived it. At a recent, Support Raising Solutions Leadership Conference, Steve shared that how we do ministry, how we do support raising, and how we do life boils down to our “identity in Christ” and I, for one, can attest to this very thing.
Jesse Eggman writes: Many of us have a hard time recognizing our own true “Self” as a result of living in foreign lands and the nature of our work. Although everyone has an absolute, God-given identity, most live with a faulty, incomplete concept of it. Not long ago, I realized I didn’t really know who I was. Not fully. Sure, I knew what scriptures said about me, but I felt God assuring me that I did not deeply know and understand who I was as at my core.
Craig Kuehn writes about the life-giving power of affirmation and encourages leaders to empower those they lead by speaking into their destiny. "Every man, woman and child need RAILS to run on. We all need Recognition, Acceptance, Identity, Love and Security. Those rails can keep us on track. HOW WE GET those rails makes all the difference."
Excellent and practical ways to help you and your family, especially children, transition successfully from your current situation to a new location/field of service in order to THRIVE where God is calling you. Learn what it means to build a R.A.F.T., and put into practice sound advice from experts!
Hannah Kentch shares very candidly about God challenging her in the area of true trust while on a short term mission. Is your trust in the Lord without borders? What if you are single? Are you trusting Him without borders in regards to a potential future mate?
Let’s be honest, marriage can be tough at times and so can the mission field. So, marriage on the field can be even more difficult. Over the past number of years, Rodney and I have seen that for some it means giving up the mission field, or for others it means living on the field simply as ministry partners. By ministry partners we mean that for the sake of the ministry they stay together, but do not have a fulfilling marriage relationship. We don’t believe God ever intended for either of those situations. In this article, we want to talk about some ways to fortify your marriage.
On June 6, 2017, I proclaimed the Lord’s goals for Go To Nations, to be completed by the year 2030, in the presence of nearly 200 missionaries gathered to receive our marching orders as “THE FINISHERS”. Our next set of goals are:
Missionary children play a vital role on the mission field. God has a plan and purpose for each of them. There are lost and hopeless people in the nations in which missionary kids (MKs) serve who are waiting to experience the love of God through them.
God instructed Joshua to gather twelve memorial stones from the middle of the Jordan. Why were the stones so vital and what does that have to do with GTN?
Stones of Remembrance from 2016 in the Thailand apprenticeship lead by Natalie Mattes. Read about the beautiful way God has worked in each life!
Stones of Remembrance from the Asian region in 2016. Read testimonies of God's great faithfulness!
Stones of Remembrance from GloDev in 2016. Read the incredible testimony of God's faithfulness and miraculous provision!