The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Missiology Page 14 of 15

Stressed from Core to Cosmos: Article Review

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On April 10, 2015

In New Missionaries

“Ministry is a hazardous occupation! To be in ministry is a ‘high calling’ and a grave responsibility–and therein lie much of the stress and struggle which makes it so hazardous. Anyone who chooses a role in ministry across cultures compounds the hazards almost geometrically.”

So begins an article by Lawrence and Lois Dodds entitled “Stressed from Core to Cosmos: Issues and Needs Arising from Cross-Cultural Ministry.” The Dodds were cross-cultural missionaries for many years before founding Heartstream Resources to provide care for people in cross-cultural ministry. This article addresses the familiar topic of struggles that missionaries face. The strength of the article is that it also provides suggestions for dealing successfully with those struggles.

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The Value of Coaching

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On March 30, 2015

In New Missionaries, Coaching

Training in coaching – by coaching others

In our mission organization, we provide a coach for all of our new missionaries at the mid-point of their first term.   This coach meets with the new missionary for a total of 6 times over a 3-month period to help them walk through the process of doing a self-assessment of their spiritual, physical, emotional and relational health.  This 3-month coaching period is called MOP-up (Member Orientation Program under pressure).   SEND’s pre-field training is called MOP or Member Orientation Program, and MOP-up is a follow-up event a few years later.  The whole program seeks to 1) reinforce the pre-field learning, 2) identify what has been learned experientially since arriving on the field, and 3) plan future learning goals for the rest of the first term.  You can read more about this training for first-term missionaries at this link.

At the end of the MOP-up experience, we ask the coachees to give us an evaluation of the experience.  Thus far with almost 30 responses tabulated, 64% have indicated that the coaching was very valuable and that they definitely want to be coached in the future.    This greatly encourages me, for one of my hopes was that in exposing first-term missionaries to coaching, they would see its value throughout their missionary career.

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Three Missionary Church Planters

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On September 11, 2013

In Church Planting, Missionary Roles

This blog post is contributed by Ted Szymczak.  Ted is a SEND missionary who has served in Poland for several terms, and now champions training for church planters within SEND.

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What role should expatriate missionaries play in the process of planting churches among the unreached? Recently I took part in training which opened up a whole new vista in my personal view of this critical issue. Having served in three church plants in the USA and three others in Poland, I thought I knew a fair amount about church planting. But as is often the case, I had more to learn.

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Missionary Roles in Church Planting

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On July 10, 2013

In Church Planting, Missionary Roles, Training

Last week, I attended Multiplying Churches Globally, a training workshop for church planters hosted by EQUIP, the training arm of ReachGlobal. SEND missionaries have participated in and helped to lead some of the sessions over the past few years, and we encourage all church planters to attend the training during their first home service.

One of our workshop facilitators was a church planter with Reach Global in Quebec. I was intrigued by his presentation on missionary roles in church multiplication, and particularly by his description of himself as a “botherer”, someone who disturbs the status quo by asking good questions and prompting lively discussions among local church leaders. The church planter was kind enough to send me this article to use on this blog. I have reduced the length somewhat, but you can read the original article on our wiki.

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Critical Issues for the Cross-Cultural Church Planter

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On August 30, 2012

In Book Reviews, Covenant Community, Evangelism, Church Planting, Islam

This summer I read The Messenger, The Message and the Community: Three Critical Issues for the Cross-cultural Church Planter by Roland Muller.  It was a read that was long overdue.  You see, the author is a friend of mine, and I have followed his ministry closely for about 25 years. About 14 years ago, as the first edition of some parts of this book was being written, Roland Muller asked me to read it and give some feedback.  To my regret, and with some degree of embarrassment now, I admit that I did not finish reading the manuscript, although I did give some thoughts on the part of the book that I did read.   As a result, the author used some of my graduate study research to support one of his arguments and somewhat undeservedly, included my name in the acknowledgments.

About seven years later, Roland combined three books he had written into this current book.   The three sections of The Messenger, the Message and the Community are taken from these three prior works: Tools for Muslim Evangelism (published in 2000), Honor and Shame, Unlocking the Door (2000) and Creating Christian Community (2005).   A couple of years ago, Roland Muller published a second edition, seeking to broaden the audience to include those who do not serve primarily among Muslim peoples.

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