Category: Lifelong Learning Page 1 of 12
Many missionaries today live with a quiet tension. On the one hand, they are deeply committed to relationships—within teams, churches, and communities across cultures. On the other hand, they often experience relational fatigue, misunderstanding, and isolation, even while surrounded by people. Conversations that once felt natural can become complicated by language barriers, cultural differences, and ministry pressure.
Heather Holleman’s book The Six Conversations: Pathways to Connecting in an Age of Isolation and Incivility speaks powerfully into this reality. Rather than offering communication techniques or formulas, Holleman calls for a revival of loving conversations—conversations shaped by posture, not performance; by presence, not persuasion.
For those serving cross‑culturally, this message is especially timely. Missionary life places extraordinary relational demands on people, and the quality of our conversations often determines the health of our teams, partnerships, and witness.
Understanding the Author’s Perspective
Heather Holleman is an associate teaching professor of advanced writing at… Read the whole post
Missio Nexus gathers mission leaders across North America. In September, they hosted a session on training for missionary retention. This topic matters because it touches the core of what sustains us in long-term cross-cultural work. Moreover, the discussion challenged me to think deeply about how we prepare and support workers for the long haul.
Three Predictors of Long-Term Sustainability
During the session, facilitator Elliot Stephens shared research that highlights three key predictors of sustainability for cross-cultural workers. First, spiritual vitality. Second, relational maturity. Third, ministry effectiveness.
1. Spiritual Vitality
This area involves dependence on God, love for Scripture and prayer, healthy humility, a deep grasp of grace, and a theology of suffering.
2. Relational Maturity
It includes genuine love in close friendships and marriages, healthy teams with redemptive conflict resolution, and the ability to form local friendships and feel at home in host communities.
3. Ministry Effectiveness
This area focuses… Read the whole post
Like many of you, I read a lot of books each year. Last year, I finished 63 and I should be pretty close to that number by the end of 2023. But reading a lot of books is not the same as being “well-read”. According to Collins Dictionary, “a well-read person has read a lot of books and has learned a lot from them.” How much have I learned – and how much of the learning can I recall?
I frequently find myself trying to recall a book I have read on the topic we are currently discussing. Maybe someone is asking me for a book I would recommend. Or I am trying to find additional information about a topic that I am teaching. Or maybe I am just trying to support a position that I am arguing for, and I remember an idea from a book that I read… Read the whole post
A legitimate question
When I first began leading our Member Orientation Program more than 10 years ago, I seldom, if ever, had to defend its legitimacy. All new missionaries assumed that they would need to go through the pre-field training program before leaving for their place of assignment. In fact, one of our greatest struggles was to convince new missionaries and their coaches that they should wait to enroll in Member Orientation until they had raised more of their support. The primary question was “When?”. When do I get to go to MOP? As we began conducting the training in the Philippines as well as in Michigan, a secondary question then became “Where?”. Where will I complete this training?
But in more recent years, the questions have been different. Now we are dealing with the question of “Why?”. Why do I need to go through this particular pre-field training program? It is a legitimate question.
A desire for customization
On the one hand, it reflects a desire for greater flexibility and customization of the pre-field training process. We live in a world where we can customize our sandwich and coffee. Amazon allows us to choose not only the type but the color of our earbuds. People naturally resist the assumption that one size fits all. Why do I need to travel to Michigan (or the Philippines) when my church or another organization I know also offers training for missionaries? Do I need to go through the entire pre-field training program? Could you allow me to choose the modules I think are most important for me. Maybe I don’t even need to go through a pre-field training program. Maybe I could just learn what I need to know along the way, from other missionaries, and online through Google searches.
A desire to avoid duplication
On the other hand, the “Why?” question reflects the desire to avoid duplication of previous training. Some of our new missionaries have earned academic degrees or at least credits in missiological studies. Others have had extensive experience in various types of short-term or long-term cross-cultural ministry. Those who are coming to our mission organization from one of our partner mission agencies have often gone through a significant period of training with the partner mission prior to joining SEND. Why do these people still need additional training from SEND?
Photo by Parabol | The Agile Meeting Toolbox on Unsplash
We all want to see progress in our work. As disciples of Jesus, we long to see people’s lives change as they encounter Christ and his Word. We want to see churches planted, and then see those churches grow in size and in their impact on their community. But maybe we should be looking first of all for progress within ourselves.
I have been a cross-cultural worker for more than 35 years. I believe that I have changed and grown in those three and a half decades. But do others see it as well? A few years ago a colleague told me that I led differently than I had in the past. I believe he said I had become a gentler leader. That was very encouraging for I realized that he had observed progress in me in areas that I really wanted to grow. It was also a reminder that I had not always been the type of leader that I wanted to be. Yes, growth was visible – but growth had also been necessary!
Paul’s charge to Timothy
In Paul’s first letter to his younger protégé, Timothy, he challenges him in a somewhat startling way:
15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.1 Timothy 4:15–16 – NIV (2011)
Paul wants Timothy to show progress in certain “matters”. What are these matters that Paul is referring to? The context makes it clear that Paul is talking about Timothy’s own ministry within the church. “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you” (1 Tim 4:13-14). When Paul is talking about progress, he is not primarily referring to growth within the church, i.e. number of people saved, baptized or attending services. No, he is talking about growth in Timothy himself. “Your progress” is second person singular. The progress Paul desires is progress in the way that Timothy practices his ministry.