July 26, 2026

The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Tag: perseverance

Breakthroughs Among the Unreached: Waiting on the Master of Breakthroughs
Church Planting, Hardship, Resilience

Breakthroughs Among the Unreached: Waiting on the Master of Breakthroughs

The Long Road to Breakthrough If you’ve served among unreached people groups for any length of time, you know the ache of waiting. You know the weight of sowing seeds year after year, often with little visible fruit. You know the tension between hope and disappointment, between faith and frustration. Furthermore, you know what it is to pray for a breakthrough—a moment when the gospel finally takes root and begins to spread, when a church is born, when the kingdom of God becomes visible in a new place. But how long does it take for a breakthrough to come? And what do we do in the waiting? Most importantly, who is the true author of every breakthrough? This post is for those of you who are laboring in hard soil, tempted to lose heart, and wondering if your efforts will ever bear fruit. What have we learned about breakthroughs? And… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther9 mins read
Showing progress
Photo by Parabol | The Agile Meeting Toolbox on Unsplash
Lifelong Learning, Training, Coaching, Learning Attitude

Showing progress

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… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Does the spread of the gospel require a time of peace?
Resilience, Hardship, Gospel

Does the spread of the gospel require a time of peace?

Many of our readers know that my wife and I were missionaries based in Ukraine until shortly before the war broke out in that country. In another post, I have written about how I realized that we were in fact refugees. Since then, I have been praying daily for the war to end and for the restoration of peace in this country. Although a few expatriate missionaries remain in the country, most like us, have returned to their home countries or relocated to another country, often to work with Ukrainian refugees. We think it would be better for the work of missions if the country was free from the suffering, destruction and loss of life that war brings. If the war would only end, we could once more focus on the work of the kingdom. Before the war, my mission organization focused on equipping and sending Ukrainians out as cross-cultural… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther1 min read
The inspiration for resilience
Photo by Thanti Nguyen on Unsplash
Hardship, Christ, Resilience

The inspiration for resilience

This entry is part 3 of 7 in the series Missionary resilience This year, as I have thought about planning my growth and development, I have decided that I want to read more biographies. In his great book, Resilient Life, Gordon MacDonald says “deliberating exposing oneself to people who are better and smarter” than we are is part of the process of disciplining our minds and learning resilience. Definitely, we can find amazing and inspiring examples of perseverance and resilience in biographies such as Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and The Imam’s Daughter by Hannah Shah. But the greatest example of perseverance and resilience is found in the Gospels. If we are looking for heroes to emulate in the character quality of resilience, we start with Jesus. Inspiring them to persevere In a previous post, I talked about the discouragement and fatigue of the recipients of the letter to the Hebrews.… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
Resilience: the need
Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash
Stress Management, Resilience, Cross-Cultural Living, Hardship

Resilience: the need

This entry is part 1 of 7 in the series Missionary resilience Resilience is a critical topic How do Christian global workers become resilient? This is the question that Geoff Whiteman posed to over 1000 missionaries.1 See ResilientGlobalWorker.org for information about this survey. It is a question that concerns anyone involved with member care for global workers. To illustrate, the title of Laura Mae Gardner’s highly-recommended book on member care is “Healthy, Resilient, & Effective in Cross-Cultural Ministry.” From the title itself, one can see the central and crucial role of resilience in productive mission workers. Kelly O’Donnell, CEO of Member Care Associates also highlights the importance of resilience in his book on global member care. Member care, I have learned over and over again, is not about creating a comfortable lifestyle. Nor is it about trusting people instead of trusting God. Rather, it is about further developing the resiliency… Read the whole post
Ken Guenther2 mins read
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