to the churches that sent us

Wholeness. No this is not a blog about the delicate nature of missionaries, nor their lack of durability. And never would I ever suggest that missionaries are special or unusual, anyone who has ever heard me preach knows that for certain. The challenge of maintaining wholeness is precisely in the nature of missionary work - that we are the most ordinary of ordinary people working in pressure cookers that are far beyond the realm of ordinary.

It is this exact tension that creates the difficulty of maintaining wholeness. And one of the primary ways family, ministry, bodies, souls and minds get out of kilter in missionaries is spiritual warfare. Our brothers and sisters in North America are slow to recognize this battle, but we missionaries ourselves are resistant to assign appropriate measure to the spiritual forces pulsing around us and the resulting firestorm buffeting our lives. No task reigns higher on Satan's to-do list than to distract, disable and disarm the spiritual arms and legs of Jehovah God. And while I cannot speak for you, I can certainly testify for myself that little else distracts, disables and disarms me as when my body, soul, mind and family is out of kilter.

Gary Corwin suggests that 20-50% (precise figures are difficult to get) of missionaries do not even return for their second term. He lists three elements as the primary culprits: overwork, undersupport and prolonged exposure to the pressure of living and working cross-culturally. These are the issues that erode wholeness in a missionary.

There are clearly a number of ways that maintaining wholeness can be address. Missionaries themselves must take a more active role and start living with sane schedules. As Bob Biehl states, "Busyness is a result of scheduling and scheduling is your responsibility." This sounds almost too pat even to my own ears, but urgency of the tasks has too long impacted the longevity of the worker bees.

And of course the Mission itself bears some responsibility in providing margin, assistance and pastoral help. After 12 years with International Ministries, I find that the Mission is as challenged to address this process of maintaining wholeness as the missionaries themselves. And why would they be any different? The vast majority of them are former missionaries too. Unfortunately we often are forced to do "caring interventions" late in the process, rather than taking the initiative and doing something preventative upfront.

I think the the third essential element in maintaining wholeness is related to the churches that sent us here in the first place. I was commenting to our Field Director two nights ago while watching the World Cup final match, that Brenda and I are reaching the "mid-term-forgotten-stage" meaning that we are half way through our third term and as generally happens, most of the churches that were strongly behind us early in the term because we had recently been in their churches, are fading fast. This is very understandable and happens each term Few people can retain a sense of connectedness and intimacy with someone they have not seen for going on three years. Alot of life happens in three years. The most terrible result of this, is the ripping tearing sense of being disconnected that this leaves in the missionary. The feeling of being alone can be overpowering . . . and it generally grows as the term progresses because of this mid-term-forgotten-stage process.

I do not think most missionaries can maintain wholeness without some input and effort from all three responsible parties. Wholeness is not just another goal, it is the primary tool for survival. According to William Taylor 5% of the missionary force leaves the Field permanently every year, and 71% of the time, for preventable reasons! I can say honestly that I have have my own struggles in this area and I often feel powerless to address these feelings. But I am working at gaining and maintaining wholeness.