The late 1990s and early 2000s were exciting times to be part of the new Global Ministries Leadership Team. I consider myself blessed to have been in the right place at the right time. My ministry career with the C&MA began in 1983 when I was hired to provide administrative support to Arnold Cook, the newly appointed vice president for Personnel and Missions. By the early 1990s, I was serving as director of Missionary Services.
Others have written in detail about the circumstances surrounding the launch of Global Ministries (GM) and the challenges of stepping into responsibilities previously overseen by the Division of Overseas Ministries in the United States. In 2000, as part of forming the new GM leadership team, I was given the opportunity to design a member care plan, and I was appointed as the first director of Member Care in 2001.
At that time, very few missions had a member care department, so it was an exciting time to network with others and dream about what this could look like for the Global Ministries Leadership Team. There were a number of factors that helped to shape member care for GM:
- A new and rapidly growing interest in member care. In 1980, there was an informal meeting of mental health professionals who gathered in Angola, Indiana, to discuss ways to come alongside international workers (IWs) and provide care and support. This gathering grew to become the Mental Health and Missions Conference (MH&M), which continues to meet annually. These member care pioneers “created a vision, a rationale and a vocabulary for missionary care, convening church and mission leaders with mental health professionals…The movement rapidly embraced wholistic care, extending into pastoral, medical, relational, life stage, and systems issues.”1 My yearly attendance at MH&M, beginning in 1994, certainly fueled my desire to improve the level of care provided to our Canadian workers and helped me to identify people, networks, and resources that could help toward that end.
- Dr. Joan Carter, professor of counselling at Canadian Theological Seminary, had a keen interest in missions and a deep love for Alliance personnel working in overseas ministries. During numerous trips to Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe she provided individual counselling and group workshops on topics such as interpersonal relationships, stress management, and self-care. She also did research on the unique stressors faced by IWs and provided input to GM leaders on ways to better support our workers. Her research contributed valuable data and observations for the larger mission community. Joan became not only a dear friend to me but also a highly valued mentor in my own development as a member care provider.
- International Health Management (IHM). Our partnership with IHM was and continues to be a critical part of GM’s member care plan. In the mid-1980s, Dr. Ken Gamble began providing medical reports and clearance for all GM candidates and IWs. One of the things I most valued about Dr. Gamble is that he did not use the screening process to eliminate personnel from serving, but rather to determine the ideal context where individuals could thrive in the overseas setting. In 2001, GM began using the services of the new clinical psychologist at IHM, Dr. Duncan Westwood, to provide screening for candidates as well as debriefings for IWs and counselling as needed. Together, Dr. Gamble, Dr. Westwood, and the team at IHM continue to provide invaluable advice and support to the GM team. The first official Global Ministries member care plan was developed in 2001 and was heavily informed by the writings of Kelly O’Donnell2:
- Master Care – We recognize that God is at work in the life of each member, using the cross-cultural journey to refine and shape them to the image of Christ. Their renewing and intimate relationship with God, and their identity as the beloved child of God, are central to the health and well-being of each person. The primary and most powerful source of care is God Himself.
- Self Care – We believe it is the responsibility of each member to wisely provide for their own well-being and that of their family. Given the challenges of cross-cultural living, each member is encouraged to explore and embrace a biblical theology of risk, suffering, and forgiveness.
- Mutual Care – We are compelled to support, encourage, correct, and be accountable to one another, as modeled and commanded by Christ. This includes both fellow IWs and nationals and should encompass the “one another” verses of Scripture.
- Sender Care – We believe that the sending mission and sending church(es) must partner to provide ongoing care and support for the workers and their families throughout the mission life cycle (i.e. recruitment through to retirement).
- Specialist Care – We recognize the importance of specialists (i.e. medical, psychological, financial, crisis response, Third Culture Kid [TCK] education, pastoral care, etc.) to supplement the level of care provided by GM.
Over time, we were able to develop a flow of care for all stages of international service. This included:
- Recruitment and Screening
- Appointment and Pre-Departure Orientation
- Arrival on Field/Language Study/First Year
- Ministry/Field Life
- Home Assignment
- Stage of Life Transitions (e.g. TCKs graduation, preparing for retirement, etc.)
As others have written elsewhere in this book, Global Ministries was intentional in focusing on least-reached people groups. The nature of this kind of ministry often means investing years in learning the culture and language with very little tangible fruit, which can become discouraging (especially when filling in those dreaded year-end reports!). GM leadership wanted to balance two important goals—church planting and healthy workers.
In our desire to “elevate” the nurturing of the IW’s relationship with God, we introduced a concept that we called the Wellness Plan in 2008 using a template based on The Greatest Commandment:
“…’Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
The Wellness Plan provides a format for goal-setting in the areas of heart, soul, mind, strength, and relationships. Every international worker with Global Ministries is required to complete their personal Wellness Plan at least once a year and to share it with at least one other person for accountability.
Doing member care well is a critical component in fulfilling the Great Commission. We share Christ not only with our words, but also by how well we model loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength, and others as ourselves.
This is an excerpt from the book, On Mission Volume 4. Download your free copy today.
- Dodds, L. (n.d.). Missionary Member Care Movement. Retrieved from https://www.thearda.com/ timeline/movements/movement_25.asp
- O’Donnell, K. (2002). Doing Member Care Well: Perspectives and Practices From Around the World. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library.