DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH

PROJECT

Families in Cross-Cultural Ministry – a comprehensive guide and manual

for families, administrators and supporters.

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A project submitted to the Australian College of Theology in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the

award of Doctor of Ministry.

ByJohn Stanley Barclay

Bible College of VictoriaA.C.T. number: 5988

Melbourne, Victoria 2010

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I certify that the substance of this project of approximately 70,200 words (including footnotes and excursuses but excluding the Bibliography and Appendices) has not previously been submitted for any degree and is not currently being submitted for any other degree.

I also certify that any assistance received in conducting the research embodied in the thesis or project, and all quotations and the sources of significant ideas and paraphrases, have been acknowledged in the text or notes.

John Stanley Barclay Date: 28th June 2010

I certify that this project is in a form suitable for examination and conforms to the regulations of the Australian College of Theology for the degree of Doctor of Ministry.

The thesis shows evidence of original research and the exercise of independent critical analysis.The candidate has been trained in the techniques relevant to the field of research, and is capable, without supervision, of applying these techniques to other research projects.

The thesis has not been submitted to another University or College of Theology.

David Price, B. Comm., B.D., Th. M, D. Miss, Dip. R.E. Date: 28th June 2010

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AbstractFamilies have been an integral part of the modern missionary movement since 1793 when

William Carey left for India with his family. Cross-cultural ministry presents significant

challenges to the family at every stage from recruitment to retirement. Many of the pressures

inherent in living in another culture (transitions, language and culture learning, and various

issues that arise during the life-cycle of families prior to their eventual re-entry) are unique

compared with their peers who remain ‘at home’. In recent decades greater attention has been

paid to the impact of cross-cultural living on families. The development and provision of

‘member care’ has emerged from the study and analysis of cross-cultural ministry. The

increasing awareness of what missionary families face, identifying causes of attrition, adopting

measures for retention, and developing models of ‘best practice’ have resulted in better care of

families serving cross-culturally - by families themselves, as well as their mission

administrators, sending churches and supporters.

This Project traces the development and impact of member care for cross-cultural Christian

workers against the backdrop of global missiological change. Pollock’s ‘Flow of Care’ model

provides a basic sequential framework for the various stages in the cycle of cross cultural

ministry, from recruitment to re-entry/retirement. At each stage there is a complex range of

issues that calls for responses by the key players – the families (with particular reference to

Third Culture Kids), their sending church/es, the mission agencies, and the communities in

which they serve. These issues are explored and analysed on the basis of personal experience,

reference to relevant literature, and theological reflection. In addition, responses from

interviews with fourteen couples with at least ten years of cross-cultural ministry experience

provide substance and contemporary life illustration to this work.

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In the light of the growing numbers of families from the ‘New Sending Countries’ who are

serving cross-culturally, one section examines specific issues that emerge from the differing

cultural backgrounds, missiological context, and socio-economic circumstances of cross-

cultural workers from Korea and India.

Since this Project is intended to be a guide/manual, a supplementary feature is the PowerPoint

presentations and other resources in the Appendices.

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Acknowledgements

My sincere appreciation and gratitude to:

Betty and Howard – unsung exemplars of cross-cultural ministry, who launched me on this journey, together with my sisters – Ruth, Heather, and Margie;

Janine, Kathryn, Nicholas and Aidan who have journeyed with me so willingly and lovingly;

All our fellow pilgrims, numerous colleagues and friends from every corner of the globe

whohave shared their lives so generously and enriched my life each day;

Those who shared their stories so freely in order to inform and strengthen this work.It has been and is a fascinating journey.

I am so grateful to many who have helped in significant and practical ways and who are an indispensable part of this work: David, Isabel, Jeff and Susan who patiently guided and

encouraged me to persevere – it has taken a long time!

The team of transcribers, who did what I could not have done, and Willi, Lois, Marg and Janine whose proof reading was invaluable – may your rewards in Heaven be great.

Stephen, Nicholas and Ruth, who provided design and technical support beyond the call of duty – many thanks.

Colleagues and friends from South Korea and India cast a critical eye over my writing about their countries’ exemplary lead in 21st century missions – dhanyabad!

Sincere thanks to Interserve Australia for their generous provision of study leave, and the gentle insistence to persevere and finish.

Thanks be to God, the creator of diversity and the Father of us all.

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Table of contents

Abstract ..................................................................................................................4Acknowledgements ................................................................................................6Table of contents ....................................................................................................7List of Tables .........................................................................................................9List of Figures ........................................................................................................9Glossary of terms and abbreviations ....................................................................10Introduction ..........................................................................................................12Chapter 1 Historical background and literature review .......................................15

Literature review ....................................................................................................................21

Chapter 2 Methodology .......................................................................................29Chapter 3 The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry ...........................42

In Focus 1 – Ministry and missionary ...................................................................................42In Focus 2 – Culture ...............................................................................................................46

The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry ............................................50Pre-field ................................................................................................................50

Calling and recruiting ............................................................................................................50Screening ...............................................................................................................................60Preparation, training and pre-departure orientation ...............................................................68Departure and transition – home to field ...............................................................................77In Focus 3 – Cross-cultural transitions ..................................................................................84

The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry ............................................90On-Field ...............................................................................................................90

Arrival, language and orientation – adjusting and settling in ................................................90Field Life and Ministry – the tapestry of productive service: Part 1 ...................................101In Focus 4 – Third Culture Kids ..........................................................................................115Field Life and Ministry – the tapestry of productive service: Part 2 ...................................138In Focus 5 – Education ........................................................................................................149Home Assignments ..............................................................................................................166

The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry ..........................................175Post field ............................................................................................................175

Preparation for returning home - deciding to leave .............................................................175In Focus 6 – TCK Re-entry ................................................................................................190Retire? Resettle? Return? .....................................................................................................200

Chapter 4 South Korean and Indian mission movements and implications for families ...............................................................................................................205Chapter 5 Considerations and recommendations for the future ........................233

Current challenges ...............................................................................................................233Member care models and resources .....................................................................................241

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Personal reflections and recommendations ..........................................................................247

Conclusion .........................................................................................................254Appendix 1 - Ministry and Missionary ..............................................................256Appendix 2 – Understanding Culture ................................................................257Appendix 3 – Transition ....................................................................................259Appendix 4 – Wholistic Ministry ......................................................................261

Wholistic ministry - an exploration .....................................................................................262

Appendix 5 – TCKs: an introduction .................................................................265Appendix 6 – MK Education .............................................................................267Appendix 7 – TCK Re-entry ..............................................................................268

C’s re-entry story .................................................................................................................270

Appendix 8 – Korean and Indian Culture, Missions & MKs ............................271Korea’s unique history and culture – an introduction .........................................................271India’s amazing diversity .....................................................................................................273Korean MK issues and challenges .......................................................................................274Korean and Indian MK issues and challenges .....................................................................275

Appendix 9 – ATCK Letter to Mission Administrators ....................................278Appendix 10 - The Family in Mission ...............................................................279Appendix 11 – Educational planning .................................................................280Appendix 12 – Home Schooling programmes ...................................................282Appendix 13 - Boarding Schools: trends, issues and .........................................285implications… ....................................................................................................285Appendix 14 - Re-entry Checklist for high school leavers ................................288Appendix 15 - Models of member care & other resources ................................292Appendix 16 - Heads Up 4 Kids/Teens .............................................................302Appendix 17 - Interview documents ..................................................................308Bibliography ......................................................................................................313

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List of TablesPage

Table 2.1 Participants’ Profiles. 38Table 3.1 Cameron’s MK Ecology table. 125Table 3.2(a) John’s boyhood cycles of mobility. 132Table 3.2(b) Aidan’s boyhood cycles of mobility. 133Table 3.3 PolVan model of TCK stages. 202Table 4.1 The growth in number of Korean missionaries. 207Table 4.2 The growth in number of Korean mission agencies. 207Table 4.3 The growth in number of countries in which Korean missionaries serve. 208Table 4.4 Comparison of features of the Indian & Korean missions movements. 230Table 5.1 A generational perspective on mission issues. 235Table 5.2(a) A flow of care model for families, administrators & supporting churches. 244Table 5.2(b) A flow of care model for families, administrators & supporting churches. 245

List of FiguresPage

Figure 2.1 Interplay between three sources of data. 40Figure 2.2 Life Cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry. 41Figure 3.1 The iceberg model of culture. 49Figure 3.2 Donovan’s model of culture stress. 88Figure 3.3 Pollock’s transition related stress graph. 91Figure 3.4 Fisher’s model of transition. 98Figure 3.5 Van Reken’s model of Cross Culture Kids. 117Figure 3.6 Cameron’s MK child development ecology. 127Figure 3.7 Poem by Alex Graham James. 137Figure 3.8 You know you’re an MK when… 137Figure 3.9 TCKs reflect on leaving their homes – disenfranchised grief. 196

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Glossary of terms and abbreviationsAERC Asian Educational Resource ConsortiumAMK Adult Missionary KidAMKS Adult Missionary Kid StudyATCK Adult Third Culture KidBAM Business As MissionBC Bible CollegeBoomers the generation born between 1946 and 1964Boosters the generation born between 1927 and 1945Busters the generation born between 1965 and 1983 (also known as GenX) BS Boarding SchoolCCK Cross Cultural KidsCLT Country Leadership Team (sometimes known as field leadership team) CMS Church Missionary SocietyDPs Dorm ParentsEFI Evangelical Fellowship of IndiaEFICOR Evangelical Fellowship of India Committee on Relief EHA Emmanuel Hospitals AssociationEMFI Evangelical Medical Fellowship of IndiaEMQ Evangelical Missions Quarterly magazineETFI Evangelical Teachers’ Fellowship of IndiaESL/TEFOL English as a Second Language/Teaching English as a Foreign Language GenX the generation born between 1965 and 1983GenY the generation born between 1984 and 2002GFC Global Financial Crisis (2008)Griha Shiksha Indian Christian Home Schooling for Indian missionary children HA Home Assignment (furlough)iCHED International Children’s Education – an arm of SIL International ICMK International Conference on Missionary KidsIMA India Missions AssociationIMK Indian Missionary KidKMK Korean Missionary KidKRIM Korean Research Institute for MissionLOP/LOT Language Orientation Program/Language Orientation Training MBTI Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorMCK/AMCK Mono Culture Kid/Adult Mono Culture Kid MCK/AMCK Mono Culture Kid/Adult Mono Culture Kid MFPS Missionary FamilyMK Missionary KidM’n MissionMember care the pastoral care of cross-cultural missionariesMK-CART/CORE MK- Consultation and Research Team/Committee on Research

and EndowmentMMM Mobile Mission MaintenanceMMCT Mobile Member Care TeamMMPI/MMPI 2 Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MUT Missionaries’ Upholders TrustPACE Professional Association of Cross-cultural Consultants in Education POMs Parents of Missionaries

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PAR/UAR Preventable Attrition Rate/ Unavoidable Attrition Rate PFO/PDO Pre Field Orientation/ Pre Departure OrientationRAFT Pollock’s tool for enabling healthy transitions (an acronym) ReMAP I Reducing Missionary Attrition ProjectReMAP II Retaining Missionaries: Agency PracticesSecond innings when missionaries return to the field, after a break, for a second term/s SEN Special Educational NeedsSHARE SHARE educational resources. TCK/ATCK Third Culture Kid/Adult Third Culture Kid UESI Union of Evangelical Students of IndiaUMN United Mission to NepalWEC WEC International (World Evangelisation for Christ International) WEA/WEF World Evangelical Alliance/World Evangelical Fellowship WBT/SIL Wycliffe Bible Translators/Summer Institute of Linguistics

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Introduction

My journey towards this project has been life-long. I was born on the border of India and

Nepal to Australian missionary parents, on the 26th January 1954 – by a remarkable

coincidence India’s Republic Day and Australia Day. I grew up in a Christian family

serving cross- culturally;1 home for my first six years was a remote border town in northern

India, and for the next 10 years home was in an even more remote village in the hills of

western Nepal – four days walk from Kathmandu. From the age of six a boarding school (BS)

in south India became a second home for me.

At the age of fifteen and a half, a few weeks before Armstrong stepped onto the moon, my

family returned to Melbourne, Australia, for a furlough. I remained there to complete the last

two years of high school when the rest of the family returned to Nepal a year later. Australia

was as foreign to me as the lunar landscape was to Armstrong and Aldrin; the difference was

that I had come to stay!

Nearly twenty years later I left Melbourne with my wife, daughter and son (aged six and four)

to serve in cross-cultural Christian mission. Providentially we found ourselves in Nepal where

we served for eight years in the shadow of the Annapurna range of the Himalaya working at

Nepal’s premier co-educational boarding school. The first four years we lived outside the

school in a Nepali village and the next four years we were part of the large school community.

Our children were immersed in both village and school communities. They attended a small

local mission primary school with children from many countries, until, at the age of ten, they

headed south to the same boarding school in south India I had attended.

1 For the purposes of this paper the term cross-cultural Christian ministry/service is used interchangeably with the more traditional terms ‘missionary service’, or ‘overseas Christian work’. These terms are more fully explored and defined below – see In Focus 1.

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A few years later, our assignment in Nepal concluded and we followed our children to Hebron

School in south India. This transition coincided with the birth of our second son, our ‘transition

baby’. I served there for six years, firstly as Vice Principal and then Principal; a more diverse

and cosmopolitan community would be hard to find than this residential school for Missionary

Kids (MKs) and other Third Culture Kids (TCKs). 2 During this time I encountered large

numbers of families from diverse nationalities and backgrounds serving with a wide range of

organisations in countries stretching from Japan to Nigeria. In 2000 our daughter completed

her schooling and returned to Australia to commence university studies, and two years later

when our eldest son graduated we returned to Melbourne as a family – for a period of Home

Assignment (HA) and study leave.

From 2004 my wife and I, and our youngest son, have been based in India serving our mission

agency as ‘Family and TCK resource persons’ – an advisory/pastoral care role in which we

have visited and met hundreds of families from many nationalities, with various mission

agencies and corporate families, living and working cross-culturally in a dozen countries

across the Asian region.3 It is from this accumulated personal experience that my

knowledge and understanding of families serving cross-culturally has emerged and developed.

During the past three decades there has been a new interest in the welfare of missionary

families under the term ‘member care’ resulting in conferences, research and writing, exploring

many aspects of Christian families serving in cross-cultural ministry. As a result the general

level of awareness and understanding of the diverse and complex range of issues and how they

2 A TCK is a person who has spent a significant part of his/her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. (Pollock 1999:19) An MK is usually a TCK, but not all TCKs are MKs. This will be explored in greater detail below - see In Focus 4 - TCKs.3 Based in Pune, India since 2004 I have visited expatriate families (and schools for their children) living in Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Korea, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Egypt and Germany. In India I have worked with both expatriate families and indigenous Indian missionary families working cross- culturally.

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impact on these families has increased substantially and much progress has been made. Yet

there is still room for improvement amongst families, mission administrators and supporting

churches to improve the way things are done at both individual and systemic levels. It is my

desire that this project will provide a comprehensive, practical resource that will assist

individuals, families, mission administrators and supporting churches to be better informed and

equipped as they engage in cross-cultural ministry. I wish that such a manual had been

available when I arrived in Nepal with my family in 1988 to embark on our journey of cross-

cultural ministry.

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Chapter 1 Historical background and literature review4

Acts 13 records the departure of Barnabas and Paul on the first missionary journey, thereby

becoming the prototype for cross-cultural ministry: they were chosen by the Holy Spirit to be

set apart and commissioned and sent off by the church at Antioch and the Holy Spirit (Acts

13:1-4). This became the pattern for Paul’s ministry – his credentials as the Apostle called to

preach Christ to the Gentiles defined and directed his life (Acts 15:9; 22:2; 26:17-18; Galatians

1:15-17; 2:7-9); the adventures of his missionary journeys are recorded by Luke in Acts and in

the letters to the churches he established and nurtured.

Others followed Paul’s example5, but William Carey’s departure for India in June 1793, often

regarded as the beginning of the modern missionary movement, is taken as the launching point

for this study. Whilst both the Apostle Paul and William Carey shared a calling to cross-

cultural ministry, there was one fundamental difference: Paul, as far as we know, was single;

Carey had a family. And although Carey’s wife accompanied him reluctantly, with conditions,

the fact remains that many of those who followed the example of Carey, to this day, have done

so with their wives and children. Christian missionary families have been living in cultures and

nations other than their own (i.e. cross-culturally), in fulfilling their God-given calling to share

their faith, their lives and their professional skills, in the service of God and the people amongst

whom they lived.

4 Parts of this section are derived from my reflective essay (Barclay 2003).5 It is not within the scope of this work to trace the historical growth of the missionary movement; acknowledgment is given to the significance of Catholic missionary orders, and especially to Zinzendorf and the Moravian missionaries who preceded Carey by 60 years and whose work in the Virgin Islands, Greenland, West Indies, Asia, Africa and North America laid the foundation for Carey and the modern missionary

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movement.

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Although many facets of this movement have been critically examined, the impact of this

cross-cultural ministry on families has received little attention until the last few decades.

Carey’s family was expected to follow his calling, although from the outset this was a major

area of tension between Carey and his wife Dorothy. Carey served in India for forty years

without ever returning to England and he is remembered for his remarkable achievements in

many fields, but the story of his family life, though well documented, is less well known. An

earlier biographer put it this way: ‘A greater difficulty arose in the reluctance of Mrs. Carey to

accompany her husband. His entreaties were of no avail. But whilst his determination never

wavered, the prospect of a possible life-long separation cost him unutterable grief’ (Myers

1887:35). Carey’s resolve and commitment are clearly seen in the letter to his father, written

January 17, 1793:

Dear and Honoured Father, The importance of spending our time for God alone is the

principal theme of the gospel… I consider myself as devoted to the service of God

alone…I am appointed to go to Bengal in the East Indies, a missionary to the

Hindoos…I have many sacrifices to make, I must part with a beloved family and a

number of most affectionate friends…But I have set my hand to the plough (Deaville

Walker 1925:112).

Edmund Carey’s response on reading this letter was, ‘Is William mad?’ - a response that many

might echo today.

Carey left Leicester for India with his eldest son, eight year old Felix, but delays in their

departure from Portsmouth, during which time Dorothy Carey gave birth to Jabez, led to Carey

writing this letter to his wife on the 6th May 1793:

If I had all the world I would freely give it all to have you and the dear children with

me; but the sense of duty is so strong as to overpower all other considerations. I could

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not turn back without guilt on my soul…Tell my dear children I love them dearly and

pray for them constantly. Be assured I love you most affectionately (Myers 1887:35).

The delay resulted in Dorothy agreeing to join Carey for the journey to India, together with her

younger sister Kitty, the two boys Felix and Peter and the infant Jabez. But the sacrifice Carey

wrote of in the letter to his father was to be tested during his years of service in India, far

beyond what Carey could have imagined at the time of writing.

Life at Mudnabatti was far from easy. The place was remote and unhealthy. One of

Carey’s sons (Peter) died (1794); the mental health of his wife declined so rapidly that for

the last twelve years of her life she was in a state of helpless insanity. With no one to care

for them the surviving sons of Carey ran wild.6 So five years were passed in remote and

obscure exile (Neill 1985:189).

The pattern established by Carey became both inspiration and model for many in the modern

missionary tradition. David Livingstone wrote, ‘Nowhere have I ever appeared as anything but

a servant of God who has simply followed the leadings of His hand…’ And when this meant

that he had to pack his wife and children off to England for their health and education, he

wrote: ‘Nothing but a strong conviction that this step will tend to the glory of Christ would

make me orphanise my children. Even now my bowels yearn for them…’ And when they

reached England he wrote to them: ‘I have separated myself from you all my dear children and

from Mamma whom I love very much, in order to please Jesus and tell sinners who have never

heard about him’ (Moorhouse 1975:122).

6 This raises the question, ‘Why was Carey not minding his sons?’ The implication that Carey’s ministry took his time and energy and that his parental responsibilities were neglected and ineffectual is confirmed in Joshua Marshman’s letter to John Sutcliffe, 5th June 1802, describing an occasion when he had to rebuke Felix Carey (Beck 1992:207-208).

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C.T. Studd, missionary statesman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries sacrificed much in

following his calling as a missionary to China, India and Africa. He said, ‘If Jesus Christ be

God and died for me, then no sacrifice I make can be too great for him.’ This commitment to

sacrificial obedience overflowed to the families of those pioneer missionaries and has

continued to be a hallmark of the modern missionary movement.7 Jim Elliot, martyred by the

Auca Indians in 1956 said, ‘He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he

cannot lose’.

The conviction that when God calls a man (and possibly his wife), the family follows –

wherever that may be and whatever the cost - has its origins in the Patriarchal narratives of

Genesis: Noah’s family shared the task of building the Ark, but they also shared in the benefits

of the covenant (Gen. 6:17-7:5). Abram obeyed God’s call to leave his home and take his wife

and Lot’s family and move to Canaan (Genesis 12, 13). Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice

Isaac has been interpreted as an example of absolute, unswerving sacrifice to be followed

today

– not literally, but in principle. Many Christians have inferred the call to sacrificial service

from the sayings of Jesus (Luke 5:11; 8:21; 18:18-30).

In recent decades there has been a new awareness of the impact of this calling to missionary

service in the lives of families and individuals that has resulted in a new and different

understanding and approach to families in cross-cultural ministry. Bowers traces this change in

the introductory chapter of Raising Resilient MKs (1998:3-11):

Although the needs of missionary children were a primary concern of their families,

there was little attention given to them on a broad scale. A century ago, lengthy family

separations were accepted as part of the price of fulfilling the Great Commission…

7 As recently as 1957 the CIM/ OMF Manual said, ‘One danger to be avoided is that of missionaries becoming so absorbed in their home as to neglect an active ministry…Where there are children care should be taken that

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family claims do not monopolize the time and energies of either parent’ (Williamson 1957:67).

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During the first two-thirds of the twentieth century, conditions gradually improved for

missionaries as great advances were made in financial support, communication, travel

and health care… During the 1970s issues of family dynamics became a new focus in

Christian circles. It became acceptable for people to speak about their emotional needs

and to seek healing. Roles of Christian fathers and mothers, family relationships and the

influences of an increasingly complex and secular society were all of concern to

Christians. It naturally followed that new questions were asked about missionary

families and the tensions between family and work that had always been a part of that

life. In particular, boarding schools, accepted as God’s provision for generations of

missionaries, came under criticism.8

The most important outcome of this new awareness was the series of international conferences

focusing on these issues. The inaugural International Conference on Missionary Kids (ICMK)

at Faith Academy, Manila, November 1984, with its theme of ‘New Directions in Missions:

Implications for MKs’, was followed by ICMK Quito, January 1987, and ICMK Nairobi,

November 1989. These have stimulated great interest and long-overdue attention to a host of

issues relating to families serving in cross-cultural mission. The profusion of papers, books,

magazines, seminars, and further conferences have radically transformed the attitudes and

approach to ‘member care’ of missionaries and their families.

Central to this new focus is the term ‘Third Culture Kid’, coined by Drs John and Ruth Hill

Useem who studied American families living and working in India in a variety of professions

in the 1950s. They identified these families as coming from their home culture (America),

residing in the host/second culture, and developing a blended, ‘interstitial culture’ – a culture

between cultures, which they called the third culture; children growing up in this third culture

8 See Priest (2003:189-190) for comments about the impact of boarding on Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs).

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environment were referred to as ‘third culture kids’ (Pollock & Van Reken, 1999:20). The

Pollock Van Reken definition (see In Focus 4) has become widely accepted as the standard

(see also Kidd & Lankenau 2003; Nadeau 2003). This new interest in the well-being of

missionary children emerges from a new awareness of the need for better care and support of

the cross-cultural missionary, single, married couple and family.

The world of the 21st century is very different from the days of Barnabas and Paul, the days of

Carey and the days of the 20th century colonial era of missions, but there is much to be gained

from reflecting on the principles and practices of the past in order to develop better practice

now. When my parents first arrived in newly independent India, half-way through the

twentieth century, the pendulum of history was swinging dramatically from a

predominantly colonial world to the era of sweeping nationalism and independence, and the

tensions of the cold war. By the time I returned with my own family thirty-five years later the

colonial order had passed and new changes driven by the vehicles of modernity (technology,

communication and global migration) were afoot – it was a changed and changing context.

Twenty years on there are more significant changes that are impacting on cross-cultural

mission in a largely post-modern world. These changes are not the primary focus of this

work, but they cannot be ignored and must be understood as the backdrop to this study –

for the context has always played a significant role in the way families have engaged in

cross-cultural ministry.

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Literature review

This review could be arranged topically or chronologically. Since the structure of the paper is

essentially topical, I have chosen to approach the literature review chronologically, in order to

demonstrate the change in focus and emphasis over the course of the past century. Clearly this

is a representative, not exhaustive review.

Although many biographical books were written about the lives and adventures of the pioneer

missionaries during the 19th century as the missions movement grew, there are few books from

that era that focus on the broad sweep of the missionary’s life and work, and fewer that dwell

on the experience of the missionary family. Arthur J. Brown’s classic The Foreign Missionary

(1907) was perhaps the first book to look comprehensively at missionary life, covering such

topics as the missionary motive, qualifications, language learning, work, support and various

aspects of life concluding with the missionary’s reward. Interestingly, he devotes a chapter to

‘the real strain of missionary life’ in which he outlines the perils, strains and stressors in the life

of a foreign missionary, including issues facing the family. Apart from Brown’s book, revised

in 1932 and 1950, most of the writing about missionaries was biographical - for example

Deauville Walker’s William Carey - Missionary Pioneer and Statesman (1926), and Grubb’s

C.T. Studd - Cricketer and Pioneer (1935). Missiological literature also began to proliferate in

the works of Warren, Neill, Niles, Kane, Pickett and McGavran (to name a few), but the focus

of this project lies in the non-biographical, non-missiological writings, those that focus on the

nature of the life and work of missionaries. For the sake of comparison these can be grouped

within three time frames.

Pre-1980

There is a notable lack of literature about missionary families prior to the 1950s. One of the

earliest works was a ‘handbook’ written for Church Missionary Society (CMS) ‘candidates in

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waiting’, by Gollock in 1892 (revised in 1907 – the year that Brown published his book).

Mildred Cable and Francesca French wrote Ambassadors for Christ (1935), based on their

years of pioneer work in the Gobi desert, with the expressed intention of giving frank and

honest responses to questions from would-be missionaries (‘ambassadors of Christ’) about ‘the

missionary calling, its demands and its problems, and also regarding the attitude of organized

societies toward the missionary applicant’ (Cable and French, 1935:7). Houghton’s In

Training: A Guide to the Preparation of the Missionary (1946), Amy Carmichael’s God’s

Missionary (1957), Webster’s What is a Missionary? (1955) and Houghton’s Preparing to be a

Missionary (1956) tackle the issues relating to training for missionary service, but these

authors understandably display a new concern for the changing global context in which

mission takes place – the world was changing dramatically: as Neill puts it, ‘the Second World

War finished off what the First had already accomplished…Christendom was exposed as a

myth: it was no longer possible to speak of the Christian West’ (Neill 1979:452). And

another writer claimed that ‘colonialism, the most powerful force in the nineteenth

century, has given way to

nationalism, by far the greatest force in the twentieth century’ (Kane 1973:13).9

The need for better health care of missionaries was addressed by Adolph (1954). Williamson

(1957) Have We No Rights? and Sargent (1960) The Making of a Missionary, stress the

importance of missionaries needing to be composed of the right stuff – spiritually, morally,

emotionally and physically. Harold Cook’s Missionary Life and Work (1959) bears a

remarkable resemblance to Brown’s classic, and most of these books have much in common in

terms of structure, style, tone and content (Collins 1972). Common themes are expressed in

such words as ‘calling’, ‘sacrificial service’, ‘life-long fulltime ministry’, ‘evangelism and

church planting’… and vague undertones of paternalism and receding colonialism. The fact is

9 In 1945 99% of the non-western world was under Western colonial domination; by 1979 this figure was

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reversed, 99% of colonised countries had gained independence (Warren 1965; Pierce Beaver 1968; Winter 1970; Kane 1973; Verkuyl 1978; Neill 1979).

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that missionary activity was still the domain of the west and the stirring sentiments of

nationalism were just beginning to be voiced in the slogan of ‘missionary go home!’10 Kane’s

The Making of a Missionary (1975) grapples with these new themes and developments in

mission and takes an apologetic stance, arguing for the ongoing role of the missionary in a

changing world.

There is a discernible shift away from the above in Beck (1968), Cannon (1969) and Taylor

(1978). Beck explores the issues arising from the boarding school experience (at that time

virtually the only option for educating missionary kids) – looking at the impact on parents and

children and how best to prepare both parties. Cannon’s book (1969) emerges from his years of

experience – he paints numerous cameos of missionary life that are honest and challenging,

questioning the long-held and often cherished views that missionaries are somewhat more

spiritual than other Christians. The title of Taylor’s book, Rough Edges (1978) is indicative of

the shift of emphasis, for this is a collection of fictitious short stories, based on nearly three

decades of missionary life, which explore the harsh realities of cross-cultural life and work in a

variety of settings. These are stories that show missionaries with clay feet who struggle with

the daily tensions of clash of cultures, sexual temptation, family strife and separation, and

barren ministry. These books are the precursors to the groundswell of writing that emerges

from the beginning of the 1980s as attention turns to the challenges and struggles inherent in

missionary work – and authors begin to explore the causes and effects of these, especially on

families engaged in cross-cultural ministry.

Finally, special reference must be made to Dain (1959) whose short treatise Missionary

Candidates – thoughts on their selection and qualifications, first presented as a lecture in

10 The call for a moratorium on (western) missions was expressed as early as 1964 by Bishop Pagura (Moreau 2000:659) and echoed by E.P. Nacpil of the Philippines who suggested in 1971 that ‘the most missionary service a missionary can do today is to go home.’

24

October 1956, was ground-breaking in that he explored the factors causing ‘wastage’ of

mission personnel (what is currently referred to as attrition) – the causes and effects of both

‘unavoidable and avoidable wastage’, and suggested remedial action that could be done by

mission agencies to prevent wastage. It was to be more than two decades before other writers

and agencies took up this challenge and it continues to be a major area of consideration for

research and remedial action still (Taylor 1997; Hay et al. 2007; and Deane 2008).

1980-1999

The dearth of literature pre-1980 was replaced by a steady increase from 1980 onwards.

Kane’s Life and Work on the Mission Field (1980) creates a watershed in the writing in this

field. It built on Brown’s classic, last revised thirty years before and is comprehensive in

its scope. Collins (1986) also produced a comprehensive overview of the missionary

experience – ‘from recruitment to retirement’, but the nature of these writings was still

primarily descriptive reflection and instruction on how to go about the practicalities of

missionary life.

A major turning point was the impetus gained from the International MK conferences in

Manila 1984, Quito 1987 and Nairobi 1989, resulting in compendia publishing the papers

presented (Tetzel and Mortenson 1986; Echerd and Arathoon 1989; Bowers 1998). For the first

time the voices of MKs began to be heard (Danielson, 1984; Buffam 1985; Seaman 1997; Dyer

and Dyer 1989, 1991, 1994). In 1986 a consortium of eight mission agencies and six research

scholars established Missionary Kids- Consultation and Research Team/Committee on

Research and Endowment (MKCART/CORE) to commence research into adult MKs,

missionary families and the qualities and attributes deemed desirable for MK boarding school

personnel; some results of this research were published in journals in the mid-1990s (Andrews

1995; Powell 1999), but were finally compiled and edited by Andrews (2004). Hoskin’s (1988)

research of American and Australian MKs and the moving and insightful reflection by Van

25

Reken (1988) highlighted the need for further study into the implications of cross-cultural life

on MKs.

Further impetus was given by research into the TCK phenomenon, begun by Useem and

Useem in their study of USA families in India during the 1950s, but research papers published

in the early 1990s (Useem and Cottrell 1993; 1994; 1996) were extensively applied to the

missionary family context by Pollock and Van Reken (1999) and Bowers (1998). Mission

agencies also began to focus on their own MKs’ situation and needs (Chan 1997).

Concurrently there emerged a new interest in the welfare and well-being of missionaries –

single, married, and with families. The correlation between emotional, spiritual and physical

health and longevity and productivity of missionaries on ‘the field’ became an area of interest

that began to inform and affect mission agencies’ policies and procedures with regard to

recruitment, training and orientation – both pre-field and on-field. Personal growth and the

need for guidance, mentoring and counselling (O’Donnell 1988; Dennett 1990; O’Donnell

1992) led to ever closer and more detailed analyses of the missionary’s cross-cultural

experience, such as the return from field to home country commonly referred to as ‘re-entry’

(Jordan 1992), the stresses and pressures inherent in cross-cultural life and ministry (Ward

1984; Foyle 198711; Beck 1992; Donovan 1992; Kingsolver 1998). Hale (1995) takes another

broader look at ‘being a missionary’ along the lines of Collins (1986), Kane (1980) and Brown

(1907), but his approach is less descriptive and prescriptive and more reflective, anecdotal and

analytical – exploring and grappling with the issues, challenges, struggles and rewards: ‘it is a

book about being a missionary – what it’s like, what the problems are, the challenges, the

heartaches, the joys’ (Hale 1995:2). During this period there was an increasing

acknowledgement of the reality of casualties of missionary service and the previously

11 Foyle’s Honourably Wounded (1987) was published in the USA with the title Overcoming Missionary Stress.

26

unspoken (except by Dain) topic of attrition now came into sharp focus (Deane 1994; Taylor

1997).12

The last two decades of the 20th century re-directed attention away from a descriptive,

prescriptive and somewhat rosy and at times spiritualised approach to missionary service to, a

more analytical and questioning approach. Now that some of the concerns had been voiced and

heard and the issues and challenges were coming to light, there was recognition of the need to

address these by implementing measures designed to prevent and minimize problems – before,

during and at the end of the missionary career. In short, there was recognition of the need for

preventive member care.

2000 to the present

The newly discovered insights into the importance of member care have resulted in much

research and numerous publications that address the rapidly changing context of the new

millennium. A thorough revision of Foyle’s book (2001) was indicative of the new pre-

occupation with the importance of supporting the cross-cultural worker and his/her family.

Pirolo (2000) and Macnaughtan (2004) stress the role and responsibilities of the sending

church. Blomberg and Brooks (2001) compiled Fitted Pieces (in CD format) with a large

number of resources related to MKs/TCKs and their educational and other needs. Angus

(2001) provides helpful practical advice to families preparing for the boarding school

experience. Mission agencies created new departments to produce materials and information

for families (Chan 2000; Barnicoat 2002; Barclay 2002). Andrews (2004) compiled the results

of research begun in the 1980s into three crucial areas: Adult MKs; the well-being of mission

families; and desirable qualities and attributes needed in MK boarding school personnel.

Knell’s two books

12 The World Evangelical Alliance research project, ‘Reducing Missionary Attrition Project’ (ReMAP I) is the subject of Too Valuable to Lose, (Taylor 2007). This was followed by further research: ‘Retaining

27

Missionaries: Agency Practices’ (ReMAP II), the subject of Worth Keeping, (Hay et al. 2007).

28

provide practical advice to families moving and living cross-culturally (2001) and on the

specific challenges involved in returning to the parents’ home country – re-entry (2007).

O’Donnell (2002) brings together in one volume a vast array of articles related to the whole

gamut of member care issues. Similarly Prins and Willemse (2002) and the February 2003

edition of Connections features member care articles. Hay et al (2007) and Deane (2008) take a

fresh look at the other side of attrition – the retention of missionaries. Both are based on

extensive research that explores the key factors in keeping missionaries on the field and

increasing longevity and productivity.13

David Pollock, in his many writings and in his tireless travels as the global guru and advocate

for TCKs (until his death in 2004) raised awareness of the TCK experience amongst TCKs,

parents, international and MK schools, and mission agencies, as well as in military, diplomatic

and corporate circles. There has also been fresh research into the MK experience resulting in

new perspectives (Olney 2002; Priest 2003; Barclay, J.S. 2003; Cameron 2003; 2006) and

providing new insights into the world of TCKs. Several journals devoted entire issues to MKs

and their families: October 2001 edition of Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ); Mission

Frontiers Sept 2002; and Indian Missions (IMA) January 2005.

Two new features emerged in recent years: first, addressing safety and security issues for

cross-cultural workers, such as Too High A Price, United Nations High Commissioner for

Refugees, (volume 4, Number 121, 2000); Operational Security Manual in Violent

Environments (Van Brabant 2000); Where There Is No Psychiatrist: A Mental Health Care

Manual (Patel 2003); Stress/Trauma Handbook: Strategies for Flourishing in Demanding

13 Connections, June 2004, was devoted to the research findings of ReMAP II, as a precursor to Worth Keeping(Hay et al. 2007).

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Environments (Fawcett 2003). People in Aid (w w w .p e opl e in a id cited 20/4/2009) offers advice

on trauma care and critical incident debriefing for staff, accident prevention and health care

and human resource management and materials from Mobile Member Care Team’s web site on

crisis/debriefing (w ww . mm c t.o r g cited 20/4/2009).

The second new feature deals with managing interpersonal conflict, especially in multi-cultural

teams. This new dimension to cross-cultural mission has been extensively researched since

1975 by Roembke, resulting in her book Building Credible Multicultural Teams (2000) which

was the first substantial contribution to this increasingly important issue. Roembke grappled

with the biblical/theological/anthropological foundations and then provided useful practical

guidelines for those serving in multicultural teams. Other significant contributions include The

Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (Lencioni, 2002); Sharpening Your

Interpersonal Skills, with material developed from Williams (www . I T P ar tn er s.o r g cited

20/4/2009) - all reflecting the changing context of cross-cultural ministry in the 21st century.

Steffen and McKinney Douglas (2008) provide a comprehensive overview of ‘intercultural

ministry’ set in the context of the 21st century. This book is a 21st century sequel to Brown,

Kane, Hale – and others who have over the years documented the range of experiences of the

cross-cultural missionary. Given the rapid rate of change in the world today this book will not

have the same lifespan as Brown’s book – a fact the authors are quick to acknowledge: ‘How

then, could we write a book that would not be obsolete before it got into print? How could we

be certain that we were aware of newer issues arising…?’ But they answer their own concerns:

‘it is encouraging to remind ourselves …that there are still constants… However much the

world is changing it still needs Jesus Christ. We are his messengers to the world. Regardless of

how disorienting changing contexts may be, these eternal truths are still our compass’

(2008:xi).

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Chapter 2 Methodology

The dramatic upheaval in international politics since the end of World War II and the

continuing changes caused by the forces of technology, modernity, globalisation and

internationalisation have radically altered both the principles and practices whereby families

engage in cross-cultural Christian ministry. There has been a significant paradigm shift - the

majority of cross-cultural missionaries are no longer from the ‘West’ - traditionally regarded as

the ‘sending nations’ and referred to as ‘Old Sending Countries’ (OSC), but from countries in

Asia, Africa and Latin America - the ‘receiving nations’, but now referred to as the ‘New

Sending Countries’ (NSC).14 According to Walls (2008:18), ‘At the beginning of this century

some 83% of those who professed the Christian faith lived in Europe or North America. Now,

some 60% (probably) live in Africa, Asia, Latin America, or the Pacific islands, and that

proportion is rising every year. The centre of gravity of the Christian church has moved sharply

southwards. The representative Christianity of the 21st century seems set to be that of Africa,

Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific region. These areas are destined to be the launch pad for

the mission of the church in the 21st century.’ The full impact of this is yet to be realised, but is

a unique aspect of this work, particularly in Chapter 4 where the focus is on the missions

movements in South Korea and India representing other NSCs. I am unaware of any other

writing that compares these and examines the implications for missionary families from these

countries.

14 The ReMAP I research (Taylor 1997: xvii) uses the terminology Old Sending Countries (OSC) referring to the traditional ‘sending countries’ (Western), and New Sending Countries (NSC) referring to the traditional ‘receiving countries’ that have now emerged as a force in sending Christian workers to serve cross-culturally – India and Korea lead the way, see Chapter 4. Operation World 2001 CD ROM f il e :/// E : / a pp e n d i x / w o r l d . h t m ; Linton 2005;2; IBMR vol. 31/1:31.

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Since the first International Conference on Missionary Kids (ICMK), held in Manila in

November 1984, there has been a dramatic increase in material relating to ‘member care’ of

cross-cultural workers, especially in relation to families and their children, but over the years

there has been little material that is comprehensive, systematic and analytical (Brown 1907;

Cable and French 1935; Cook 1959; Kane 1980; Collins 1986; Hale 1995). This project takes a

comprehensive approach to families engaged in cross-cultural ministry by examining the

whole cross-cultural journey - from start to finish, from ‘call’ to ‘return/re-entry/retirement’. It

explores the common experiences, joys and challenges to discover what can be learnt from the

collective experience and wisdom of those who have gone before so that others who follow,

the newcomer, or those currently on that journey, can benefit, despite the rapidly changing

context of world mission.

Aim

The purpose of this project is to provide a practical resource designed to comprehensively

guide families as they engage in cross-cultural Christian ministry, and to guide mission

administrators, sending churches, and others who share in this task. This will necessarily

involve a review of the major events, episodes, principles, practices and related issues involved

in the life cycle of families serving cross-culturally in Christian ministry during the evolution

of the modern missionary movement, beginning with William Carey’s departure for India in

1793. An important feature is the topical ‘In Focus’ sections interspersed throughout this work,

and the corresponding PowerPoint presentations in the Appendices.

When I commenced this project I was not planning to use any research – I intended to rely

primarily on the abundant range of literature currently available, but having written a lengthy

reflective essay as an entry requirement for this course, which was essentially auto-

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ethnographic,15 I considered that this approach would enhance this work. In that exercise I was

struck by the significant changes that have occurred in the past half century (my life time) in

the field of cross-cultural missionary service in terms of principles and practice – new insights

have resulted in greater awareness and the implementation of new policies and procedures.

Further, I realised that insights from others who have been on similar journeys could be

obtained through semi-structured interviews and this would serve to reinforce and illustrate the

work, alongside the literature. During the interview process it became clear that this was not

just a source of illustration, it was a vital ingredient in the interplay of experiences and

reflections between the interview participants, myself as the researcher, and the literature. This

constituted the three structural components from which this work would take shape. As I

reflected on my life-experiences and listened to the stories told by the participants and read the

literature I found that there were significant areas of correlation and consistency, as well as

new ideas and possibilities, out of which the substance of this work emerges.

Holt describes auto-ethnography as ‘highly personalized accounts where authors draw on their

own experiences to extend understanding of a particular discipline or culture… using their own

experiences in a culture reflexively to look more deeply at self-other interactions’ (2003:2). In

this project auto-ethnography is used alongside narratives from participants and relevant

literature to create a ‘writing story’ (Holt 2003:4). This endeavours to provide a wholistic

account of families involved in cross-cultural ministry. A broad framework is used to form the

structure around which the story is told, but the story is told by the participants and me, using

the literature as a reference point along the way. Although there are so many authors reflecting

on a diverse range of experiences in many different contexts it is the similarity of experiences

in which the common culture is found. This writing story is like looking into a kaleidoscope –

multiple colours and shapes constantly changing, but the viewing instrument provides the light

15 Barclay (2003).

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and focus to be able to see the picture. More than that, unlike the kaleidoscope there is a

confluence in the multiple stories that enables the researcher and reader to understand,

appreciate and learn from the shared story as it emerges.16

As a basic framework for this project I am using a modified form of the following structure

taken from David Pollock’s ‘Developing a Flow of Care and Caregivers’ – a key contribution

to Doing Member Care Well, (O’Donnell 2002:23-32).17

i) Recruitment.

ii) Screening.

iii) Preparation and pre-departure orientation.

iv) Departure.

v) Arrival.

vi) Field life.

vii) Preparation for returning home.

viii) Re-entry.

I have adapted these and arranged this work into three broad areas based on Pollock’s stages as

follows:

i) Pre-field Calling:

• Recruitment and screening.

• Preparation and pre-departure orientation.

• Departure and transition from home to field.

ii) On-field:

• Arrival, adjustment, and on field orientation and language.

16 Holt refers to Richardson’s (2000) five criteria to assess personal narrative papers - these are: i) substantive contribution to our understanding of social life; ii) aesthetic merit; iii) reflexivity; iv) emotional and/or intellectual impact; v) expresses a reality – rings true in terms of ‘lived experience’ (Holt 2003:12).17 O’Donnell has sanctioned the use of this framework in email correspondence, 20/12/2004.

33

• Field ministry – work and home.

• Home assignments.

iii) Post-field:

• Preparing for returning ‘home’.

• Re-entry to the passport country.

• Re-settle? Retire? Return?

This forms a logical and chronological structure that still fits the majority of cross-cultural

families’ pattern of service.18 Implicit in this framework is the assumption that most families

are recruited by an agency, are sent by and from a church, serve for a period of years and return

at some point to their original culture and community. Whilst this pattern of service still

applies, it is increasingly evident that there are increasing numbers of individuals and groups

who do not fit this traditional pattern.

Research tools

Three main sources of data inform this work. The first two draw on reflection (my personal

experiences and the stories of the fourteen couples who were interviewed), and the third is the

relevant literature. Semi-structured interviews with a sample of 28 participants comprised of 14

couples were used to gather data. 19 Narrative analysis provides the researcher with a rich

description of complex personal journeys where shared experiences and insights emerge and

converge (Marshall and Rossman 1999:5,8). Because of the strong similarities between the

participants and my own experiences the roles of the researched and the researcher are closely

entwined and often overlap – at times each informing the other, so that the researcher becomes

18 Other writers use similar schema when describing the life cycle of missionary service: Kane (1980) lists 3 stages: Preparation; Life; Work. Pirolo (1991:16-27) depicts a cross-cultural worker’s life time-line in graph form and elaborates on these. O’Donnell (2002) simplifies the stages to four: Pre-field; Field; Furlough and Re-entry; Post-field.19 Semi-structured interviews provide participants with an outline of interview questions prior to the interview so that preparation can be given beforehand. They also allow for flexibility in the interview so that other questions can be pursued during the course of the interview. See Appendix 17 for the interview letters and guidelines.

34

subjectively involved in the learning and discovery process – ‘the distinctions between

researcher and participants blur, creating a democratic enquiry process’ (Marshall and Rossman

1999:6). This corresponds to the ‘transactional’ level of hermeneutic interpretation (Crotty

1998:109) – new insights emerge as a result of our shared interactions, and this being so, the

importance of trust and integrity between the various players in the process is vital.

Ethics approval was gained from the Australian College of Theology Human Research Ethics

Committee (21/12/2006). All participants gave permission for transcribing to be done by third

parties and have been provided with the transcription of the interview; most have requested

copies of this project on completion. Participants were de-identified by the use of pseudonyms

and the deletion of place names. Interview transcripts were analysed by listening to the

interviews and reading the transcripts. This enabled me to immerse myself in the data and the

transcripts were manually analysed by constructing charts and tables from which themes

emerged and these were then coded in eight columns, following Pollock’s ‘flow of care’ stages,

with an extra column for generic themes that extend across other columns (such as children’s

education, lifestyle and medical issues), for referencing and ease of access. These themes and

codes were independently reviewed and affirmed by a research colleague who was not involved

in the interview process, and written feedback discussed.

The reporting of the results is embodied in the main corpus of this project. The participants’

reflections and narratives are used extensively to express the reality of the experiences of

families engaged in cross-cultural ministry and life. These reflections generally display a high

degree of correlation/continuity with each other, with my own experience, and with the

literature, although wherever there are areas of discontinuity these are acknowledged and

discussed. It is my deliberate intention to allow the participants’ narratives and accounts to

bring life and feeling to the broad canvas of this work, with minimal interruption or

35

commentary. My role as researcher, compiler and interpreter is to arrange the elements in such

a way that the themes and issues find their place in and around the chosen framework

(Pollock’s ‘flow of care’) to create a meaningful picture. When appropriate and relevant my

own reflections are introduced and interspersed alongside the participants’ stories and

experiences, together with references to the relevant literature.

Sample

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 14 missionary couples from

several nationalities, selected using purposive sampling (Patton 1990; Bowling 2002:238).

There were three inclusion criteria for participants: they had completed at least three terms of

cross-cultural service (including two furloughs/ home assignments during a period of eight or

more years); they had children; and they had returned to settle in their home countries.

Data gathering

Invitation letters/emails20 were sent to 24 prospective couples – 17 of whom were known to me

personally. I received 22 replies indicating an interest in being interviewed, however some

interviews did not occur due to practical complications with the arrangements. Two couples

chose the option not to be interviewed but to write their stories and send them to me (I have not

made use of this data). Eventually 14 interviews took place – five were face to face interviews,

the remaining nine were done by internet teleconference using Skype; all were recorded and

transcribed. The duration of the interviews ranged from 90 to 185 minutes. The participant

couples were from six different nationalities (nine Australian couples, and one each from

Finland, Switzerland, India, Korea, and USA), and between them had worked in seven different

countries spread across Africa, Asia and South East Asia. Mission agencies represented were

four denominational missions and six interdenominational and international missions. For

purposes of comparison it would have been useful to interview couples not linked with a

20 See Appendix 17.

36

mission agency, i.e. independent or sent out by a church rather than a mission agency. This was

not possible, but would be a useful area for future research.

Prior to each interview copies of the invitation were sent by email, together with an explanation

of the purpose and scope of the interview, including Pollock’s eight points, and a permission

form to be signed and returned. In most cases email and/or Skype conversations took place

before the actual interview to ensure the interviewees were clear and comfortable about the

arranged time, purpose and content of the interview. At the outset of each interview I explained

to the interview participants that this was to be a semi-structured interview loosely based

around the Pollock framework and questions they had already received. Participants were

encouraged to tell their stories using Pollock’s eight stages as a guide to facilitate their

reflections on the various stages of their missionary journey. In the interviews with the Indian

and Korean couples, the eldest child (adult) of each family was present co-incidentally and

contributed to parts of the interview – their comments were also recorded and transcribed. It

would have been valuable to have had other adult children participating but this proved to be

practically difficult, but would also be useful for future research.

Personal experience of the researcher

As indicated above, I come to this project with a life-time of being immersed in the world of

cross-cultural ministry. I was born into and raised in a missionary family – I am an MK and a

TCK. I have spent more than twenty years of my working life, and raised my own family,

cross-culturally – my wife and I have created three TCKs. During the past fourteen years my

professional work, and indeed my life, has involved me in the lives of hundreds of families of

many different nationalities serving in numerous countries and contexts. Serving in one of the

oldest and largest MK boarding schools in the world for six years and then having an itinerant

role with my mission agency for the past four years, has given me the rare privilege of

37

journeying with and learning from numerous TCKs and their families, representing many

nationalities and working in many countries - about whom and for whom this study is written.

My own background and experiences are a vital and invaluable resource for this work.

Table of participant profiles:

Table 2.1 Participant profiles.

38

39

Notes:i) Column 3 - where two sets of dates are given this indicates a return to service –

‘second innings’21, or a significant change of location and role. In the cases of Brian

and Margaret, Rory and Val, and Mike and Silvia, the first set of dates indicates a

period of time in the UK for English language development.

ii) Column 4 - Mission agency: D = denominational mission; ID = inter-denominational

mission; Independent = tentmaker not affiliated to a mission agency. Where two

mission agency designations are given this indicates a change or a secondment from

one to the other.

iii) Column 4 - ‘Years of preparation’ is the period of time the couple perceives they were

actively preparing for cross-cultural ministry; in some cases this was pre-marriage.

The preparation may have included professional training and/or experience and/or

mission specific training, full time or part time. For three couples it includes the time

of English language improvement in the UK. The longest period of preparation was

10 years and the average is 4.5 years.

iv) Column 6 - All couples had between two and four children; the total number of

children is 41. The age at which the eldest child returned to the passport country is

given in brackets.

v) Column 7 - Profession/area of work: the husband was the primary worker/ visa holder

although in most cases the wife had official roles other than wife/ homemaker – at

times these were full-time and other times part-time roles. Hayley was the ‘visa

holder’/ primary employed during the second period of service.

21 A ‘second innings’ is a cricketing term used to describe some one returning to something for a second time. In the case of missionaries it is increasingly common for people to serve for a number of years, return to the home/ passport country, and after some time (often after retirement) return to cross-cultural service.

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Literature

The literature review above examines both the historical trends and the scope of writing and

research (at least in recent years) in this field. This project draws heavily on this resource as I

examine each of the areas. The literature is used both to inform and to evaluate both the

interview data and my personal experience, and these in turn will be used to inform and

evaluate the literature. The interplay between the three sources is illustrated in Figure 2.1.

Literature

Personal experience

Interview data= participants’ experiences

Figure 2.1 Interplay between sources of data.

Charting the way ahead:

Figure 2.2 The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry – a map for the remainder of this project.

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Chapter 3 The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry

In Focus 1 – Ministry and missionary

This work is a study of ‘families in cross-cultural ministry’. The term cross-cultural ministry is

here used interchangeably with the word ‘missionary’, a word that is variously understood and

used. Indira Gandhi, when she was Prime Minister of India, used the term several times in

speeches exhorting her fellow politicians to exhibit more ‘missionary spirit’ – by which she

meant less self-aggrandizement and more selfless, unstinting service for the people regardless

of colour, caste, creed or status. William Carey and other missionaries who followed had made

their mark in that great country. First, the word missionary must be clearly defined and

understood for the purposes of this study. Dr. A.T. Pierson said that ‘the word apostle is

missionary spelt Greek-wise, and missionary is apostle spelt Latin-wise’ (Houghton 1946:7).

There are numerous attempts to define missionary, but the starting point must always arise

from the concept of God’s mission – the missio dei, to redeem a lost and fallen world. God is a

God who calls people into relationship with himself and sends them into the world as his co-

workers, partners and ambassadors.

The pre-eminent missionary is Jesus, the Son of God, (Kane 1975:13) sent into the world to

save those lost in sin (Matthew 1:21; Luke 19: 10), by serving and giving his life as a ransom

for many (Mark 10:45). It was this Jesus who commissioned his disciples to continue his

redeeming work as witnesses in the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28; Luke 24 and Acts 1;

Mark 16; John 20:21). The early Christians understood the universal scope of this task (after

the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15) and assumed this responsibility – none more so than Paul – the

Apostle to the Gentiles, the first Christian cross-cultural missionary. Paul described himself as

a servant of Jesus Christ, as the least of the Apostles, and as an ambassador (the concept

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highlighted by Cable and French) and co-worker/partner with God (1Cor. 3:9; 2 Cor. 6:1) in

44

the task of reconciliation. If Paul is seen as the prototype of the Christian missionary then the

following features of Paul’s life and work are significant:

i) He was called by God as an apostle to the Gentiles, i.e. cross-cultural (Acts 9; 26:15-

18).

ii) He was set apart by the Holy Spirit and commissioned and sent out by the church at

Antioch (Acts 13) – the geographic scope of his ministry was extensive.

iii) He was accountable to the sending church (Acts 14:27).

iv) He acknowledged the wider context of the church and accepted the authority of the

church leaders in Jerusalem (Acts 15).

v) He recognized the multiplicity of roles and functions under the headship of Christ (1

Cor. 12), at the same time denouncing human status or hierarchy in the divine mission

(1 Cor. 3: 5-9).

vi) He stressed the centrality of the Cross and the Resurrection, along with the teaching

and example of Jesus in terms of attitude and character (Philippians 2).

vii) He was dependent but not reliant on the generosity and support of fellow Christians

(Philippians 4:10-19; Acts 18: 1-4).

viii) He suffered hardship, deprivation and persecution in the course of his ministry (2 Cor.

11: 21- 30).

In William Carey, and in many others who followed the Pauline missionary tradition, we see

many of these features.

Kane defines the traditional understanding as: ‘the term missionary has been reserved for those

who have been called by God to a full-time ministry of the Word and prayer (Acts 6:4) and

who have crossed geographic and/ or cultural boundaries (Acts 13; 22:21) to preach the gospel

where Jesus Christ is largely, if not entirely, unknown (Rom. 15:20)’ (Kane 1975:14). Whilst

this may well have described Carey and the other pioneer missionaries of the 19th century, and

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may have been accepted as a working definition up until the mid-20th century, there has been

much debate about this in recent decades. Three primary objections are: first, that the

designation of ‘full-time’ begs the question, ‘Is it theologically correct for any Christian to be

“part-time”, regardless of vocation or location?’ Second, ministry of the Word and prayer is

too narrow and restrictive for today’s missionary for whom the range of activities, of

necessity or by choice, is vast and diverse. Ward describes the changing and diversified

nature of missionary service in the first decade of the 21st century and concludes with a

warning: ‘Making comparisons and passing judgment about what sort of work really serves

the missionary cause more effectively is a growing temptation. God uses all sorts of people to

do all sorts of work; (we must) avoid playing the game “Who’s the real missionary?”’

(Andrews 2004: xii). Third, the world has become so fragmented and multi-cultural that

crossing cultural boundaries can be done by simply crossing the street. Newbigin speaks of the

‘faith - unbelief differentium’, meaning that any interaction with unbelievers is essentially

cross-cultural.

Out of these objections has emerged the popular view that ‘every Christian is a missionary’.

However, there is a danger here that is more than just semantic. As Neill warns, ‘If everyone is

a missionary then no-one is a missionary!’ (quoted in Kane 1975:15). Kane’s discussion of the

definition of a missionary is instructive. He lists five specific roles of the missionary: an

ambassador for Christ; a herald of truth; an apostle of God’s love; an envoy of peace; and a

bearer of culture (1975:13-24). Hiebert defines a missionary as, ‘anyone who communicates

the gospel in a cross-cultural setting, whether he or she is an African serving in India or a Latin

American in Spain… we can no longer equate missionaries with westerners’ (1985:28).

All Christians are called to be followers (disciples) of Jesus Christ and as such they are

commissioned to be witnesses to the truth of Jesus and his Gospel, i.e. all Christians are

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witnesses. But Paul’s analogy of the Body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12 indicates that there are

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diverse parts and functions in the body/church and this is underlined in the concluding verses

and the rhetorical questions that assume a negative response: ‘Are all apostles? Are all

prophets? Are all teachers?’ (v.29) - no, not all are apostles, therefore not all are missionaries.22

Although there will be discussion at various points in this project around the contemporary

understanding and usage of the term missionary, I propose, for the purposes of this study, the

following definition:

A Christian missionary is one who has received a call from God and is commissioned

and sent by the local church to serve across geographic and/or cultural barriers to

witness, by word and deed, to the love of God expressed in the person and redeeming

work of Jesus Christ.

22 Kane uses the analogy of the total mobilisation of the USA during World War 2 – every part of society and every citizen is engaged, though in diverse roles and functions, to support the war effort. Only the soldiers went overseas to the frontline – that was their function. Not all were called soldiers, only those whose role and function earned them that designation, but those who remained behind to support were just as vital to the outcome (1975:15-16).

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In Focus 2 – Culture

This work is about families in ‘cross-cultural ministry’ and this leads into the world of

intercultural studies and theories of culture. Amongst the many studies and theories of culture,

the following contributions are enlightening and relevant for this study. Gannon (2004) begins

with a basic definition of culture as ‘common values’ (xvi); in his introductory chapter he

reviews several approaches to understanding and defining culture, in particular by exploring

dimensions or points of comparison between cultures.

Kluckholn and Strodtbeck (1961) identified six dimensions of culture:

i) What members of a society assume about the nature of people.

ii) How the members of society relate to their natural surroundings.

iii) How the members relate to others in the society.

iv) Individualism/groupism/collectivism.

v) What is the primary mode of activity in the society – being or doing?

vi) What is the conception of space – private or public?

vii) What is the dominant temporal orientation – past, present or future?

Hall (1990) developed the concept of High Context and Low Context societies, based on

patterns of communication along the dimensions of time (monochromic or polychromic) and

space (personal distance between people when communicating). Lanier (2000) has developed

this into classifications of cultures as Hot Climate and Cold Climate cultures, where Hot

Climate tend to be High Context and Cold Climate tend to be Low Context cultures. Hofstede

(2001) researched a large number of professionals from an international company working in

53 countries, focusing on five dimensions of basic cultural values:

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i) power distance – the degree to which members of a society accept hierarchy and

power;

ii) uncertainty avoidance – the degree to which uncertainty and risk are managed in the

society;

iii) individualism – the degree to which individuals perceive their individuality or having

to conform to the group;

iv) masculinity – the degree to which society views aggressive and materialistic

behaviour;

v) time horizon – the degree to which members of a society focus on short term or long

term goals.

Gannon uses these dimensional approaches to culture but adds more than 20 other facets of

culture (such as religion, greetings, communication – oral, written and non-verbal, politics,

sport, food and eating habits) in order to develop a four-stage model of cross-cultural

understanding (2004:13). From this he develops cultural metaphors (as opposed to stereotypes)

to describe and understand different cultures and countries which are grouped broadly into

categories such as authority ranking cultures (Thailand, India, Saudi Arabia and Korea);

equality matching cultures (Germany, Sweden, Canada and France); marked pricing cultures

(America and Britain); cultures with the same metaphor but different meaning (the bullfight in

Spain and Portugal); base cultures (Chinese and Indian that has become diffused as a result of

large diasporas), etc.

This is very helpful in gaining a clearer understanding of diverse cultures in an increasingly

globalized yet, paradoxically, fragmented world. More recently Gannon has developed the

concept of ‘paradoxical reasoning for studying and analysing culture’ using cross-cultural

paradoxes as a means to understanding globalisation (Gannon 2008:xiv; Tiplady 2003).

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The term cross-cultural signifies the crossing of cultural boundaries resulting in the interface

and interplay between cultures. Elmer (2002) explores the implications of this for Christians

living cross-culturally. He begins by putting our view of the world into perspective using the

concept of a global village with 1000 people, 38% would be Chinese or Indian, 10% would be

from north America or Europe; 33% would be Christian, 20% Muslim, 14% Hindu and 6%

Buddhist – 13% would claim to be non-religious. There is great disparity in the distribution of

resources and lifestyles in this village (2002:19-20). Entering another culture inevitably

involves encountering and making sense of differences. The challenge of living cross-

culturally lies in overcoming our natural pre-disposition to assume that we are right and

others who do things differently are wrong. The extent to which we can do this

‘determines our level of comfort, ability to function, levels of satisfaction and the degree to

which God can use you’ (2002:29).

A useful analogy for understanding culture is the iceberg (Kohls 1996; Pollock and Van Reken

1999:41). The iceberg analogy sees culture as having two levels – where superficial elements

of culture are readily seen above the surface (greetings, food and eating preferences, clothing

etc.), but ‘deep/hidden culture’, below the surface, is less obvious to the casual observer

(tourist) but more significant because it involves attitudes and values governing social structure

and relationships (marriage and family, work and leisure, faith and religion, authority etc.). The

modified Kohls/Weaver model suggests that beliefs and world view (hidden) are expressed

through the visible elements above the surface (Hiebert 1985:45-50; Pollock and Van Reken

2009:42).

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The ‘iceberg model’ of culture(adapted from Kohls, 1996 )

language dressfood housing

eating greetings

Values and attitudes to: marriage family life elderly

education, career and money… religion/s recreation

authority conflict management

Figure 3.1 The Iceberg model of culture (Kohls 1996)

The way we do things around here is the simplest, and my preferred, definition of culture. This

recognises the centrality of three essential features of culture: i) ‘we’ implies community (large

or small; loose or tightly defined); ii) ‘the way of doing things’ implies behaviour which is

strongly determined by beliefs, attitudes and values; iii) ‘around here’ implies that there are

different ways of doing things in other places, contexts and communities. It is as families live

in and are immersed in ‘deep culture’ that enculturation takes place and inter-cultural issues

such as culture shock (Gannon 2008:99,100,111; Elmer 2002:47-49) arise, and understanding

and appreciation develop.

Every culture in the world is foreign to someone. At first it’s scary, then maddening. To survive

you have to grab it, fall in love with it and make it yours. God understands. He did it too.

Joseph Kim (quoted in Knell 2007:178).

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The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry

Pre-field

Calling and recruiting

Being a missionary begins with being called. You don’t choose to be a missionary; you’re

called to be one. The only choice is whether to obey. Hale (1995:16)

The concept of God calling (and sending) people has its roots deep in the Biblical narratives of

the Old Testament. The pattern is always of God’s initiative - speaking, commanding and

calling for a response. Creation itself is called into existence through the words of God – ‘And

God said, “Let there be light…”’ (Genesis 1:3). God called to Adam as he and Eve tried to hide

their guilt and shame (Genesis 3: 9 ff.). Abram was called and sent to a land ‘that I will show

you…’ (Genesis 12:1-3), and the pattern continues with Moses (Exodus 3). Perhaps most

explicit of all the Old Testament examples is of the Lord calling Samuel three times in the

night with Samuel’s eventual response of ‘Speak Lord, your servant hears’ (1 Samuel 3) –

remembering that in the Hebrew tradition, to hear is to respond in obedience. This tradition of

being chosen (anointed) and appointed to a particular task continues on through the Old

Testament in the prophetic tradition and in the story of Esther (Esther 4:12-14), and into the

New Testament, supremely in the Messiah – the chosen one – Jesus. The divine recognition

and approval at his baptism (Matthew 3) was reflected in Jesus’ understanding of who he was

and what his task was – to serve and give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

It was Jesus who had the authority to call the twelve disciples to leave everything and follow

him to become fishers of men (Mark 1:17; 2:14; 3:13). It was these men who received the

commission from the risen Christ to continue this divine task in going to the whole world to

preach the Gospel to the whole creation in the power of the Holy Spirit (Mark 16:15; Matthew

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28:18; Luke 24:47-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8). And it was these men who understood that all

those who became followers of Jesus were called to share in the divine task to be witnesses to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some like Saul received the call dramatically and specifically (Acts

9; 13; 26:17), others like the Ethiopian official from the court of Candace, the first convert

from Africa (Acts 8), and Lydia the seller of purple cloth, the first convert in Europe (Acts 16),

heard the Gospel and joined the body of followers of ‘the Way’ as witnesses to the Gospel of

Jesus.

Throughout the centuries there have been numerous accounts of men and women, boys and

girls who describe their varied encounters with Jesus Christ as life-changing events – of being

chosen and called from darkness into light, from being nobodies to being God’s people, from

being without mercy to receiving mercy (1Peter 2: 9-10). The importance of the sense of call to

missionary service has been popularised from the time of Carey onwards when he answered

Andrew Fuller’s question asking, ‘Who would go down the gold mine in India?’ by replying, ‘I

will venture to go down but remember that you (Fuller, Sutcliff and Ryland) must hold the

ropes’ (Myers 1887:34). The importance of the call to missionary service has for centuries

been foundational, and this is evident from the literature. Carey was not the first cross-cultural

missionary, but it was Carey whose global vision and example galvanised Christendom into

action and re-vitalised the commission to ‘go into all the world’:

‘Africa is but a little way from England, Madagascar but a little farther. South America

and all the numerous and large islands in the India and China seas I hope will not be

passed over. A large field opens on every side. Oh that many labourers might be thrust

out into the vineyard of our Lord Jesus Christ and that the Gentiles might come to the

knowledge of the truth that is in Him’ (Myers 1887:40).

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The importance of the missionary call as foundational to missionary service is evident in much

of the earlier literature – many books begin with a chapter on ‘the call’ or ‘calling’. Gollock

(1892) devotes a chapter to ‘The Missionary Call’ in which she makes the distinction between

the general call to all Christians and the specific call that ‘deals mainly with the will, which is

yielded to Christ’ and that may come in a variety of ways but must be tested as to the

candidate’s suitability in terms of mental and spiritual fitness and circumstances (1892:97-

105). Cable and French (1935) describe four types of ‘postulants’ – each called in a different

manner – but the common element is ‘the constraint of Christ upon a person… the summons of

God to your spirit for a special and specific service… not perceived through the senses nor

reason nor the mind, therefore it is intangible and indefinable… but the spirit of man feels,

understands, knows and responds’. There is the general command ‘Go’ which applies to all,

but the general call is followed by individual designation: ‘Seeing that the whole world is the

field it is the more needful that each man hear the order that tells him where his own appointed

sphere of service is to be’ (1935:21-26). They also make the point that confusion results from

uncommissioned men and women who go abroad to serve: ‘they have increased the staff but

have weakened the army and we should have done better without them’ (1935:27).

Both Houghton (1946) and Sargent (1960) place a similar emphasis on ‘the call’ to missionary

service in their opening chapters. Both speak of the general call to be followers and witnesses

that applies to all Christians, but they stress the need for a specific and personal conviction as a

prerequisite for missionary service. Houghton speaks of the motivation behind the call being

the love and compassion of Christ. Griffiths’ opening chapter on ‘the call’ gives the helpful

advice that the subjective call must be objectively confirmed by Scripture and others, and that

the individual call must be corporately confirmed by the church (1970). Kane lists five

prerequisites for receiving a call as: an open mind; an attentive ear; a pure heart; busy hands

and ready feet (1980:8-10). Next there are seven stages in recognising and responding to the

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call: curiosity; interest; understanding; assurance; conviction; commitment; and finally, action

– s/he gets moving (1980:11-12). 23 Griffiths makes the useful distinction between three

different types of calling: first, the ‘general call’ that applies to all Christians to be witnesses –

‘every committed Christian, as a disciple of Jesus, is called to mission…we have all been

called to make disciples; it is a project to which the whole church is committed. Second, ‘the

role call’ which is a particular assigned task for which one or more spiritual gifts will be given

to equip a person for that role. Third, ‘the geographical call’ which may take a Christian to

another location, across geographical and cultural frontiers (Griffiths 1983:80-83).

Hale devotes a chapter to ‘the missionary call’. He too makes a distinction between the general

and specific call: ‘Our general call comes primarily from scripture; our specific call comes

from the Holy Spirit’. He argues for the necessity of a specific call as ‘a much more profound

and life-changing event than ordinary guidance is’ (1995:17). Whatever the nature or form of

the call, it must be confirmed by others in the context of accountability to the local church –

both for long term/ career and short term missionaries. The duration of the call may vary and

change – there may be another or subsequent calls to other assignments. He also warns of

several wrong motives or factors that may result in a ‘false call’ – people can respond for the

wrong reasons. He concludes the chapter with a list of possible impediments to obeying the

call

– practical life-events such as education, family concerns, safety concerns and the prospect of

‘sacrifice’. These obstacles are rooted in self: ‘The biggest hindrance to the missionary task is

self. Self that refuses to die. Self that refuses to sacrifice. Self that refuses to give. Self that

refuses to go’ (1995:29).

It appears that the earlier strong emphasis on the concept of ‘a call’ to cross-cultural ministry is

less pronounced now, both in the literature (after Hale 1995) and in common parlance (Deane

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23 See Andrews’ and Schubert’s chapter ‘The Call to Ministry’, in Andrews (2004:33-44).

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2008:44). Sills divides the traditional and historical views of the missionary call into three:

first, that there is no Biblical basis for a missionary call; second, the call is embodied in the

Great Commission and applies to all Christians; and third, that unless there is a clear call no

one should venture onto the mission field (2008:61-62). The term ‘call’ is rarely used in

everyday conversation, nor was it common in those interviewed, except in the older couples.24

Is this a generational trend? Is it simply that the usage of the term has dropped out of vogue (as

‘missionary’ seems to be doing)? Is it a reflection of GenX (and more so GenY) attitudes, such

as the reluctance to make long term commitments? And if so how will this influence and affect

patterns of cross-cultural service? Certainly there is a discernible difference with respect to

longevity and tenure on the field; whereas Carey went to India and died there forty years later,

never having returned to England, it is rare now to find ‘career missionaries’ in the sense that

they complete their service at retirement age.25 In fact ReMap II defines ‘career missionaries’

as those completing 3 years or more.26 How can we understand this? Does it mean that the

current crop of missionaries is less discerning of God’s will, or less committed or more

disobedient to the divine call? Not necessarily so, but this shift does point to broader and more

significant generational differences. At the same time it appears to be the case that NSC

missionaries who are predominantly in the Boomers and GenX age groups, describe their

calling in traditional terms and there appears to be a correlation between this and other aspects

of their missionary service – longer tenure (career means for life) and a heightened sense of

‘sacrifice’ in terms of lifestyles and the place of the family; Chapter 5 explores this further.

24 Of the 14 couples interviewed the older ‘Boosters’ (born before 1946) spoke readily of being called as missionaries. The others spoke in more general terms to describe the way in which they believed it was God’s will for them to become missionaries, but there was no doubt that they were doing what they believed God wanted them to do.25 Of the 14 couples interviewed only one retired (at retiring age) from the field, although some were/are still involved in mission organisations in the home office and others may yet return to the field at a later date.26 Hay et al. (2007:29)

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This couple also illustrates the fact that a unique feature of the missionary call is that for

couples it must be a shared call, which was clearly not the case for William and Dorothy

Carey, and this may well have contributed to the subsequent chain of events that led to

Dorothy’s unremitting dementia for 12 years until her death. Responding to God’s call to

cross-cultural ministry has such far reaching implications and ramifications for the whole

family that it needs to be a shared calling. ‘Following the call to missions is not like accepting

any other kind of job (even pastoral ministry)…Everything changes and the spouse who is not

sure of a missionary call will feel very threatened at the prospect of all these changes’ (Sills

2008:113-114).

Two more points need to be made. First, this discussion must be viewed in the broader light of

a renewed understanding of ‘vocation’ in the church. ‘Vocation’ and ‘calling’ have often been

used synonymously, although the latter is used more commonly, but not exclusively, in

religious circles. R. Paul Stevens refutes this artificial distinction: ‘The fact that many people

speak of their jobs as their ‘vocation’ while pastors and missionaries speak of being called

shows how inadequately we have grasped the universal call to every Christian’ (1997:97).

Guinness writes, ‘the terms calling and vocation should be synonymous. One word comes from

an Anglo-Saxon root and the other from a Latin root’ - he warns against those who make

‘vocation’ different from ‘calling’ (Guinness 1998:48, 49). The centuries-old dichotomy

between clergy and laity; sacred and secular; Sunday and the rest of the week; full-time and

part-time workers, has been seriously challenged, resulting in a renewed recognition that these

distinctions are invalid and unbiblical. This is impacting on the church generally and is having

a particular impact on missions with respect to Business as Mission (BAM), bi-vocational

ministry and tent-making ministry.

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Second, the MK-CART/CORE research reported in Andrews (2004) shows that 93% of

missionary parents have a strong sense that God has called them to cross-cultural service and

‘86% affirm that their vocation is sustained by a God-given call’ (2004:4). Andrews suggests

that Christian workers respond to the call either because of a sense of personal calling by God,

or because of a general sense of duty as Christians to fulfil the missionary mandate (2004:4).

The fact is that all Christians are called to witness and serve wherever they are and whatever

their occupation in life; the missionary call is no more significant or spiritual than any other.

But the missionary as with every other member of the Body of Christ, should have a clear

personal conviction that they are where God wants them doing what God wants them to be

doing: ‘Jesus bids us shine with a pure clear light… you in your small corner, and I in mine.’

Participants’ perspectives on calling27

It is expected that those who find themselves in cross-cultural ministry, at least in the

traditional sense as outlined above, have at the very least an awareness of the sense of call,

based on the pre-supposition that they have made a prior personal commitment to follow Christ.

This was a common experience for all interview participants, as was the sense of being called,

although this was explained and described differently. Several influences were mentioned

whereby a calling to missionary service was derived. First, several mentioned the place of

prayer, missionary prayer meetings, the example of missionaries and missionary biographies.

Gordon: But [sister’s] obedience in going out – I remember being on the wharf seeing her off

and I was so deeply challenged as the ship moved out. Coming to Christ I was immediately

introduced, of course, through my sister, to the world of missions, and read some very good

books - Studd and Hudson Taylor. At [BC] you would get missionary speakers and I felt called

27 Details of interview participants are given in Table 2.1. Throughout the project quotations from participants are indented and separated by name (font size 11 and bold). Conversations involving husband and wife (and sometimes the interviewer) are written in continuous text.

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in a dozen different directions…I had to come to a place and Barbara too, where we had to be

willing to go wherever God wanted us to…It was only when we came to be so perfectly willing

to go anywhere, whatever that meant, that God began to give focus.

Second, some had been for exploratory visits, medical electives or short term assignments.

Gene: Well for me it started when I was a medical student, and [Professor] talked to me about

doing my medical elective in [country]. And for me that was an eye opener, and an exciting and

a wonderful time. And when I got home I was reading the Bible, I came across the verse that

says, ‘When a rich man sees his brother’s need and doesn’t do anything about it etc.’ And so I

began to think you know, God is calling me back to [country].

Third, there were those whose home church played a big part in their call.

Robert: We did two things: one was our own praying about what God might have us do as a

couple as opposed to two individuals… And that led on to our attendance at a course run by

four missions. As a result of that we came back and continued to pray about it. Two, we

involved our church leadership…So they set up three meetings with a range of people… at the

end of the third meeting they agreed to go away and pray about it and come back with some

sort of response. So about three weeks after that they came back and said that they were

unanimous that we ought to stop work and start some theological studies.

Fourth, three participants had grown up as MKs and spoke of how that had influenced them.

Lyn: Yes, that’s the call… that was for me, when I was in my early teens. I believe that God

wanted me overseas… I grew up with missions, ‘cause Dad being involved with missions, it

was missions the whole time… I daresay that was part of it, but I still believe that there was a

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definite desire, or a call, even so, apart from that, that I realised that’s what God wanted me to

do and that’s what I was willing and happy to do. And that’s surprising given the hard

experiences I’d had as a kid…so a sense of call was from a very young age, even to the point

that after we were married I still knew that if I didn’t go, I was disobeying what I believed God

had called me to.

One couple saw their call simply as a Christian’s pragmatic response to a world in need.

Ann: Going back to that ‘sense of call’ thing, apart from the sense of justice concept, there was

also the concept of Helen Roseveare’s ‘why, what’s your reason for staying home?’

Matt: Help where the need is greatest. The sense of justice and using our resources where

necessary. If you go and help twenty guys putting up one tent or you see one guy struggling on

his own, where would you go? And as we researched more it was a sense of the old principle

that if we are rolling along then God finds it a little bit easier to steer us where we need to go.

Ann: Yes, this is what the Bible says, this is how it affects our lives, and this is what is required,

sort of thing.

Matt: Yes. As a matter of pragmatism, along with guidance and wisdom from others, as we

were sorting through which mission society, what job options, what we can do…

Gerald: That was the call - if you want to put it in that sort of language. It wasn’t sort of a

divine compulsion that suddenly hit us. It was much more a general interest in God’s work

outside our own immediate environment - and outside our own cultural context and responding

to suggestions made by others, and following the trail…

The sense of being called to missionary work/cross-cultural ministry, however this is described,

is particularly important when facing hardships and difficulties – which are unavoidable in any

form of Christian ministry, and especially cross-cultural ministry. It is this conviction of being

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in God’s will that sustains and enables the missionary in a hard place to persevere and to press

on.

Gerald: I remember other missionaries and ex-missionaries saying that you need to have that

sense of it being God’s guidance, call, whatever – because of the hard times that come along,

you need that to sustain you and although we didn’t have an overwhelming vision from heaven,

like the Damascus Road, we had something equivalent perhaps, through quite different ways.

There is no clearer example of this than the Apostle Paul: his litany of trials in 2 Corinthians

11:21-12:10 describes some of the hardships he endured, but it was the conviction of his

calling that enabled him to press on to finish the race (2 Timothy 4:6-8). As Cable and French

put it: ‘anyone who thinks, will acknowledge that there is a stamp upon those who are God

appointed, which is as real, as certain, as unmistakable as are the credentials which an

ambassador presents to justify his presence. Christ’s Ambassadors carry their insignia; there is

just something about them which shows they have had a call – that is all’ (1935:29). And more

recently Austin maintains that ‘the missionary call is the command of God and the setting apart

by the Holy Spirit of an individual Christian to serve God in a culture, a geographical location

and in a language different than the missionary’s own’ (2000:645).

‘The decision to go must be in response to the question of the individual, “Lord, what

do you want me to do?”… Each has a role in the great Commission but not all have

the same role. Some are sent to “Jerusalem” and some to a distant place. Some are

sent to their own cultures and others to different cultures. Each person needs to hear

an assignment from the Lord and obey… the fundamental call is first to be with the

Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians.1:9) and then from this place of fellowship to launch out.’

(Pollock 2002:26)

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Screening

The history of one’s behaviour, past responses and experiences tends to be the best

predictor of the future. God’s call and motivation are important, but in the ambiguity and

stress of another culture, past experience and events tend to shape how the individual will

respond. Consequently, a combination of God’s call, motivation and past experiences must

be used in selection. Gordon Britt quoted in Foyle (1987:98).

The needs ‘on the field’ are always great – ‘the fields are white and ready for harvest’ (Mt.

9:37; Jn 4:35). For those who have sensed (or heard) the call to cross-cultural ministry - what is

the next step? There are two sides to this: the ones who are called start to consider the

implications – Where? When? How? And often the additional question: ‘For how long?’ On

the other side is the agency (or church) scrutinizing the candidates’ suitability (screening) and

considering the requirements for training and preparation. All the participants joined a mission

agency, either denominational or inter-denominational, except Daniel and Belinda, who went

initially as independent ‘tent-makers’, but who later joined an inter-denominational agency.

Historically there is little indication in the case of the pioneer missionaries that ‘screening’ was

a high priority, apart from a strong sense of calling to missionary service (often to a particular

location or people). The major requirement for training and preparation, if any, was some

theological study, often at a Bible or Missionary training college.28 Until the middle of the

twentieth century screening and training was minimal, and none of those who commenced their

service prior to the 1980s was required to do more than complete one year at Bible/Missionary

training college – usually residential. Terry and Christine were the only ones who did not have

28 These became common in the early 20th century as the missionary movement gained momentum. Moody Bible Institute, All Nations Christian College, London Bible College, Prairie Bible College, Melbourne Bible Institute, etc. (Steffen & Douglas 2008:134).

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formal Bible college training – they were exempted from that requirement (in 1969) because

they passed a Bible knowledge test.

Terry: Well [Bible College (BC)] wasn’t totally a requirement. What is required is that you pass

a Bible knowledge test and that you give adequate evidence that you know the scriptures. And

they look at your individual situation… We never did go to Bible School, but the other factors

prepared us… But we still would recommend more formal Bible training for the great majority of

missionaries going out.

And from the late 1950s Janelle describes her formal interview.

Janelle: she (mission interviewer) hurried on, didn’t ask if I had any more questions, and said

‘Well, it looks like you’ll be going in October 1959.’ I was so stunned, I couldn’t say anything. I

thought, ‘is she saying that she’s accepting me?’ because it was one of the hardest missions to get

into. And then I really was going in October 1959 which was then about a year away. Before I

knew what was happening I was being accepted and being told what to do, which was a bit of a

shock.

Contrast this with the normal screening practice of mission agencies today: preliminary forms

followed by full application forms, interviews, references, comprehensive medical tests,

psychological and psychiatric assessments, and more interviews – all prior to acceptance as a

candidate. During this process further decisions and recommendations are made regarding

training, possible location/s, time frames, and financial implications etc.

Dain’s (1959) ground-breaking booklet on the selection and qualifications of missionary

candidates was based on three important lessons from his own experience of selecting and

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training British Army officers during World War II: first, selection is both positive – finding

suitable material, and negative – rejecting unsuitable material. Second, the old method of

selection by interview and report was totally inadequate and that newer and more scientific

selection techniques resulted in dramatically better results. Third, if high standards were

required then a high rate of rejection was inevitable – in fact 84% of (Army officer) candidates

recommended for training were rejected. Dain concluded that ‘at the moment many mission

boards set their standards too low’, resulting in what he referred to as ‘wastage’, and his book

then explores the fact, the results and the causes of wastage in missionary workers.

Foyle’s Honourably Wounded: Stress Among Christian Workers (1987)29 alerted the missions

community to the reality that was becoming all too evident – cross-cultural ministry was taking

an unprecedented toll on workers. The chapter ‘Selection and Missionary Stress’ (84-99) raised

awareness amongst many mission agencies of the need to adopt new and more thorough

screening procedures. Foyle’s book galvanized the evangelical missions community to a

renewed focus in writing and research, resulting in Missionary Care – Counting the Cost for

World Evangelization, edited by O’Donnell (1992), but greatly developed in the research into

missionary attrition – ReMAP I, resulting in Too Valuable to Lose (Taylor 1997), followed by

ReMAP II on the flipside of the equation – retention, resulting in Worth Keeping (Hay et al.

2007).

Dennett (1990 1998) indicates the importance now given to thorough screening of missionary

candidates. Based on research of 67 Australian missionaries from eleven organisations between

the years 1983 to 1989, Dennett developed a program of pastoral care, counselling and de-

briefing that was implemented by SIM (Australia) and has been emulated in various forms by

most similar organisations in Australia and elsewhere. The chapter heading ‘Selecting and

29 Appropriately, the Foreword was written by Bishop Jack Dain.

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preparing missionaries’ (1998:91-97) outlines the following qualifications to be considered in a

potential candidate:

i) Spiritual maturity.

ii) Good character.

iii) Suitably gifted.

iv) Proven, stable working track record.

v) Emotional and mental stability.

vi) A sense of call that is endorsed by the applicant’s Pastor/ Church/ Missions

Committee.

Application forms and processes vary from mission to mission but should be designed to

ensure that the selection panel or committee is able to make well-informed and wise decisions.

Additional training and/ or financial obligations in terms of raising support may be required

and this may extend the screening period prior to acceptance, commissioning and departure.

In recent years there has been a growing awareness of the nexus between good screening and

better retention of missionaries on the field. By the early 1990s there was recognition of

‘changes in the missionary recruitment pool’, i.e. factors in the wider society were having an

impact on the nature of candidates offering for missionary service (Deane 1994). Schubert

(1992) refers to this trend as ‘a concept that many of us understood intuitively… namely that

many missionary candidates are coming to the selection process from difficult and damaged

backgrounds.’ She addresses the growing reality of past emotional bruising among missionary

candidates caused by: child abuse or neglect; children of alcoholics; unresolved grief, anger or

fear; issues of adoption or divorce; sexual identity issues; unsatisfactory sexual behaviour and

relationships, including past abortions; and vulnerability or exposure to demonic influence

(1992:75). These factors and the increased incidence of personality disorders caused mission

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agencies to improve screening procedures. Schubert recommends the Minnesota Multiphasic

Personality Inventory (MMPI) as ‘the Gold Standard’ but acknowledges its limitations in

discerning sexual deviancy and disorders. But already there was an acknowledgement that

mission agencies needed more professional and sophisticated approaches to screening and

testing prior to acceptance as candidates.

Schubert (1999) reviews studies from 1965 onwards that explore different facets of the

screening process when selecting candidates for overseas/cross-cultural work. She proposes

(1999:89) a ‘Pre-field Flow Sheet’ that evaluates and explores potential candidates in the

following areas:

i) psychological and psychiatric assessment (using MMPI or MMPI-2);

ii) spiritual match (to the agency);

iii) reference/ recommendation letters; interviews;

iv) job and location match.

In addition Schubert proposes the candidate should complete a pro-forma ‘Life History

Questionnaire’ and a brief autobiography, and suggests ways whereby the process can be

completed in a cost-effective way without compromising professional and ethical standards.

She concludes by warning that ‘there should be no exceptions or rush-jobs for missionaries and

their families. Each adult and child 14 years or older should be tested… everyone needs to go

through the process and rush-jobs (or exemptions) are a prescription for failure’ (1999:90-95).

Failure is inevitably costly in financial and, more significantly, human terms.30 Schubert’s

30 Hale sounds a strong warning against the use of psychological testing based on non-Christian presuppositions: ‘There is no way a humanistic psychological test is going to accurately portray the psychological make-up of a Christian. The only tests a Christian mission should use are those that have been developed by Christians for Christians’ (1995:46).

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warning is echoed by several participants who spoke of potential negative outcomes of

compromising the screening process.

Participants’ perspectives on screening

The generational differences become apparent as the older participants had minimal screening

(but tended to stay on the field longer!) and those who commenced in the 1980s and after had

more rigorous screening, and could see the value of it for the team/mission.

Jeremy: …given that people do undergo really quite different, strong, stressful things when

they work cross-culturally, if a person is already sort of unstable mentally, then it would be

unreasonable subjecting them to the kind of stresses that occur when you go into a cross-

cultural situation.

Matt: we (team leaders) had to recommend that they don’t return to the field. What we didn’t

know is that during PFO (home office) had come up with some orange lights but didn’t inform

us and we felt a bit put out…if there were some concerns then these things should have been

voiced… If we had known that we could have probably avoided a lot of pain and heartache.

There was also a clear recognition of the personal benefit and value of undergoing a thorough

screening process.

Jeremy: I failed a couple of those tests. The psychologist said, ‘I think you need to do some

counselling’. So I ended up having several sessions… I think it was actually very useful for me

to have done that with mum and dad because they were very supportive of us going and prior to

that I was probably feeling I pushed them away emotionally.

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Jeremy’s wife explains that there was vicarious benefit to her parents whose attitude towards

the mission agency changed for the better.

Sandra: All of those screenings forms, the medical, the psychiatric and the psychological ones

– they were helpful for us but they were also helpful for our families. The care (mission) put

into the process … my parents didn’t understand when we first started our applications.

But through the process, they both came to very strongly support us.

There is no doubt that better practice in recruiting and screening procedures has been adopted

widely in both OSC and NSC agencies, a fact clearly substantiated by both ReMAP I and

ReMAP II. Blocher reviewed the ReMAP I findings as follows:

Careful candidate selection proved to be one of the decisive areas for reducing

missionary attrition… and areas such as health examination, calling, family status,

financial support, character references and psychological/ personality testing are critical

areas and agencies that did not check them suffered a higher attrition rate… it proves

the significance of careful candidate selection: agencies with little or careless candidate

selection suffer greatly increased preventable attrition (Hay et al. 2007:17).

And this was true for OSC and NSC agencies. ReMAP II discovered that ‘across almost all

areas of selection, new and old sending countries are now more rigorous in their screening

procedures in most agencies’ (Hay et al. 2007:69). One concern however is that psychological

assessment/ personality profiling is not universally applied in screening procedures of OSC and

much less prevalent in NSC agencies. Given the value of this tool it should be a mandatory

component of the screening process (Hay et al. 2007:81-90).

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For all the progress that has been made the fact remains that there is no infallible screening

procedure, and whilst there is broad uniformity in the areas of screening, each mission agency

has its own specific criteria and measures to ensure that candidates are suitably qualified and

equipped for cross-cultural ministry. It seems unlikely that William and Dorothy Carey would

have passed current screening procedures had they applied today – we can only speculate.

Finally, there is concern for the increasing number of independent missionaries, or those sent

directly by their church, who have limited or inadequate screening procedures – are they and

their families more vulnerable and at risk in terms of preventable attrition because of

inadequate screening?

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Preparation, training and pre-departure orientation

Everything we had done in the past (preparation and training) came in handy once we were over

there. Lois.

Today’s cross-cultural worker has the advantage of an array of training opportunities and most

agencies have rigorous requirements and standards designed to ensure that their workers are

professionally trained and properly equipped for cross-cultural ministry. But this has not

always been the case. Carey was a cobbler, a pastor and a self-taught missionary. His great

interest in the wider world motivated him to learn all he could before he left for India, but

resources were limited and no formal training was available – so Carey learnt after arrival and

on the job, The extent of his learning and expertise in linguistics, botany, and social

anthropology is legendary.

The growth of the missionary movement during the twentieth century was largely driven by

the needs - ‘the fields white and ready for harvest’, and the opportunities for service made

more available through advances in travel and communications. But by the middle of the

century concerns were already being expressed about the negative aspects of this rapid

growth - what Dain (1959) referred to as ‘wastage’. And the cure he proposed, based on his

military experience, was the need for better and more comprehensive training of missionary

candidates

– people who were experienced spiritually and professionally: ‘mere academic attainment is

insufficient. We need men and women who know God, not those who merely know about

Him’ (1959:9). He stressed the need for comprehensive training to ensure physical fitness,

emotional stability and spiritual maturity, and his assumption was that this was best

accomplished in the context of a residential Bible school: ‘it is my growing conviction that the

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only satisfactory method of selecting missionary recruits includes finally a period of at least

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three months residential contact within some community in which conditions will, at least to

some extent, correspond to those on the field’ (Dain 1959:12).

Most mission agencies today have clear standards and expectations of pre-field training, and

many long term candidates undertake several years of preparation. Giron’s comprehensive

training model sees training as a ‘lifelong process of missionary formation’ that includes

numerous strands at three different levels – ‘foundational, ecclesiastical and missionary’

(Taylor 1997:30). This encompasses most approaches and expectations mission agencies have

with regard to training for cross-cultural ministry, although specific requirements differ.

The ReMAP I research undertaken by the World Evangelical Fellowship Missions

Commission (Taylor 1997) shows the strong correlation between the preventable attrition rate

(PAR)31 and pre-field training requirements. Whilst attrition is likely to be the result of a

combination of factors, the importance of pre-field training was highlighted by the ReMAP I

research by identifying several factors that were relevant to pre-field training. Of the thirteen

reasons for attrition identified as having relevance to pre-field training, children’s adjustment,

education, health and behaviour head the list at 14.4% (Dipple 1997:218). Dipple stresses the

need for appropriate training strategies to be developed ‘that will ensure the complete family

unit is as well prepared as possible for the cross-cultural encounter… mission agencies and

training institutions need to collaborate so as to ensure that the preparation of children is

seriously addressed at some stage in the pre-field training process… if we are serious about

reducing attrition the children of candidates cannot be ignored or treated as a side issue in the

training process’ (Taylor 1997:224-225). This is especially pertinent for this work as it is my

31 PAR is defined as attrition that may have been avoided or prevented (events such as interpersonal conflict or culture shock) compared to Unpreventable Attrition Rate – UAR (events such as retirement or death). It is expressed in statistical terms as a percentage figure of the loss of missionaries from an agency in one year (Taylor 1997:xvii,105-107). For a summary of ReMAP I findings see Hay et al. (2007:18).

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observation that this area is generally overlooked and neglected. If training of the parents is

seen as vital, the same can be said for the family as a whole, at least in the area of transition

training and preparation for cross-cultural living.

In the follow-up research of ReMAP II the clear indication was that ‘pre-field training,

especially missiological training, contributes significantly to the missionaries’ ability to

persevere and ultimately thrive’ (Hay et al. 2007:105). However it appears that in OSCs

especially there is an imbalance in terms of too much Bible and theological education and

insufficient practical missiological training. Ingleby elaborates: ‘The training of missionaries

must be mission focused, cross-cultural, and practical in the sense that it involves some sort of

effective experiential learning… People who have been well prepared perform better and stay

longer on the job… We need opportunities for reflective learning, on-going training and cross-

cultural training’ (Hay et al. 2007:108-9). This was foreshadowed by Donovan and Myors ten

years earlier when they advocated the need for generationally appropriate training methods and

content: ‘For Busters more emphasis is needed on experiential learning, generic orientation and

training in teams and groups rather than formal lecturing… (whereas) it can be predicted that

competency-based training would especially meet the needs of Boomers…’ (Taylor 1997:58).

Whilst most mission agencies still have their own requirements a more recent development is

the collaborative/shared approach to pre-field training and preparation, for example the

Discovery program in New Zealand, described by Murray (Hay et. al 2007:125). Missions

Interlink in Australia now offers Transition Training and several other pre-field and post-field

training programs.32

32 h tt p :/ / ww w . m i ssi o n s i n t er l i nk . o r g .a u / n od e / 25 5 cited 14/4/2010. In the USA Missions Training International offers Pre-Field orientation courses such as SPLICE: Spiritual/ Personal/ Lifestyle/ Interpersonal/ Cultural/ Endure/ Enjoy h t t p :/ / ww w . m t i . o r g /s p li ce. h t m cited 20/4/2010; and PILAT - Program In Language Acquisition Techniques. h tt p :/ / ww w . m ti . o r g / p il a t . h t m cited 20/4/2010. Interaction International also offers pre-field training seminars such as MK Caregiver Seminar and Pre-field Educational Planning Seminar - h tt p s: // ww w . i n t erac ti o n i n tl . o r g /s e m i n ar s .a s p cited 20/4/2010.

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Participants’ perspectives on preparation and training

Despite some initial reluctance on the part of some, there was general appreciation for the

benefits of residential BC training and practical transition training courses – such as the

Wycliffe/SIL course offered in Kangaroo Ground, Melbourne.33

Sandra: BC was good preparation for us to be living in community... SIL we found very

beneficial and a really significant part of our preparation…the language and cross-cultural

aspect of it…six weeks. So that was intensive but a very significant time for us.

Robert: Well, Lois found it a bit hard living there [BC] but…

Lois: It was good preparation, if nothing else!

Robert: Good missionary training...

Lois: And living at [BC] (for three years), most of the issues that came up we realised we had met

them in class at [BC], or among the structure at [BC], or the other students…

Sharon: (Pre-field) Orientation – I found that very helpful…I think the highlight was meeting

[retired missionary] for the first time – and having someone with her expertise and experience

and her beautiful heart, it really made a big impact on my life and we were friends from then on

and she was such an encouragement to us – I can still remember the things she talked about, it

was so helpful…

Gene: yes, we also had a time at [transition training] to prepare us for language and that was

very useful because it was so practical… listening to new sounds and understanding languages,

so that was an excellent preparation.

Mike: I left my job and I studied at theological college seminary for three years in Korea. I did

theology for seven years in that time as part of my preparation to go to [country].

33 Maximum Impact Language Learning course: h tt p :/ / ww w . m ill . o r g . a u / cited 20/6/2010.

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Interviewer: That theological education did it give any cross cultural training to prepare you?

Mike: In my BTh. no, but in my M.Div., yes. Fortunately a few Korean missionaries were there

at the time you know, came back on home assignment, they visited my seminary and then

talked about missiology, shared their experiences with those students who were interested in

mission. We got a lot of good input from them…their experiences were helpful to me but I

didn’t remember from them about how to do mission on the field well.

Whilst the training and preparation was generally appreciated and valued, four participants

identified what they see retrospectively as deficiencies in their training program: education and

family, teaching on spiritual warfare, help with public speaking, and time management.

Lyn: One area where we could have done with more, is about education and family…I guess

when we came out it was still the done thing that you sent your kids to boarding school… and

the issues and things to be aware of I don’t really remember reading much about that…

Greg: It wasn’t an immediate issue, because they were too young to go to school anyway, so

we had a few years to think about it.

Janelle: we hadn’t really heard anything or learnt anything about spiritual warfare and we

really came up against that, but I didn’t have enough Bible study, I didn’t have enough theology.

I had training in practical things, how to grow a garden and make compost and keep snails

away... But nobody told us about spiritual warfare and that was something we realised that we

needed… We didn’t have anything and we really felt we hardly kept our heads above water in

the first term because we didn’t have support of fellow workers.

Sharon: I must say that the most threatening thing I found before we left was public speaking. I

don’t think we had preparation for public speaking and it was expected of us as missionaries in

training to just stand up and talk to people - need some help to do that…The other thing is we

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weren’t prepared for how tired we’d be trying to concentrate on learning a new language– it’s

extremely tiring; and I don’t think we were well prepared for how angry you would get.

Ann: One of the things I don’t think we were prepared for at all, was the lack of routine, and

having to be responsible for your own time…How am I supposed to fill it in and feel…

Matt: Gainfully employed and fruitfully productive?

The length of the training/preparation process can have significant practical implications for

the family – frequent moves for deputation and courses; irregular routines affecting

employment and church attendance and causing interruptions to children’s schooling; family

finances fluctuate – all these can be unsettling and stressful for families. It is significant that

the average duration of ‘years of preparation’ is 4.5 years.34 In my own case there was a period

of nearly 10 years between the time when I married (before which my wife had to come to

terms with the strong possibility of our being involved in cross-cultural ministry) and when we

finally left Australia with a mission organisation to serve in Nepal. In between we had four

years of theological training and four years of pastoral experience which served as good

preparation and a solid foundation for our work in the past 20 years. These were not required

by the mission agency, but retrospectively they have been of inestimable value.35 Preparation

may include professional training and/or experience and/or mission specific training, full time

or part time.

Ann: ‘Well, if you’re thinking about doing it, start the ball rolling now, don’t wait until you

think you are ready because it doesn’t happen overnight’, he (BC lecturer) told us…start the

ball rolling, start your investigations now because it is a long process. And as we found out –

several years!

34 See Participants’ Profiles Table 2.1.35 The significance of this ‘delay’ and period of training is discussed below - see In Focus 4 – TCKs.

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Interviewer: the total length of your preparation - it’s a long span of time, how do you view

that now in terms of its value for your time on the field, eventually?

Matt: I think arriving in (country) and being a bit older than some of the other missionaries

helped a bit. Being in our thirties was better for overall maturity… that time span was long but

I think it probably helped us. You have time to reflect after BC, family to arrive, a bit of

pastoral ministry experience, then the process through mission societies, which field and then a

little bit of support until you finally go. I think there was some wisdom in that and I think I

definitely needed it, even though it was a long duration. Some people literally arrived on the

field a decade earlier (younger) than us!

Jeremy sounds a warning for mission agencies to resist the temptation to short-circuit or fast-

track the process.

Jeremy: I have been a bit disappointed that [mission] has sought to streamline the application

process and make it quicker…for us it was from 1985 and we ended up in [country], half-way

through 1989, that’s a long period of time… But these days a lot of people want to get going

quicker…We strongly recommend everybody do [transition training]. We think it was fantastic

preparation.

Terry and Christine had the longest period of preparation – about ten years (sixteen from the

time of their call!), and this did not include BC, it was primarily professional training. All three

couples from non-English speaking background spent time in the UK to improve their English

before going to their countries of service and all spoke of the unexpected cross-cultural

challenges of living in the UK.

Mike: we were in the UK for about three years and God answered our prayer - our English was

improved, but to have a meaningful cross-cultural experience in UK in the end was positive but

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in the beginning very tough time - worse experience than in [country of service], just very

painful and unexpected…

Silvia: I also had a difficult time because of the lack of English and different cultures and when

we were in Korea Mike was so busy, but in Britain the whole 24 hours we were together - not

fighting, some unhappiness conversations like that also happened in UK…

Brian: Living in England for half a year was good preparation for going to [country] because

we had thought that the (cultural) difference was not really that big and so we were not really

prepared… it was easier to go [country of service] than living in England.

During the time of preparation negotiations are likely to be taking place with the mission

agency, the place of assignment and the home/sending church, and visa processes can add to

uncertainty and stress levels, especially if there are delays which can sometimes be lengthy and

may result in deployment to a different country of service, as was the case for three couples, all

of whom spoke positively of that period of delay, uncertainty and redirection:

Robert: we didn’t get our work permit to go to [country]... And instead of planting a church in

[country] we planted one in Australia! And in retrospect, once we got to the job at [different

country] that experience in church planting was very helpful… so when [first country] didn’t

work out that was a bit of a pain, and for our families they all thought, great, now you can stay

at home. But we continued to feel - and we always had right through that time - we had never

felt free from our sense of call to ministry in that part of the world. So it didn’t cause us to

worry at all really. It was just a question of, maybe not yet.

Jeremy: (Our Pastor said) ‘Well, maybe this is God saying he doesn’t want you to do mission

work’, it just didn’t feel right, that conclusion didn’t feel right…we came back to the assertion

that we think God has led us to [mission] and therefore we are prepared to go wherever he

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wants to send us… That whole time of waiting, you know, BC, and preparation and things, was

all not wasted time. We had done a lot of thinking and planning and preparation over the

previous two years for cross-cultural work, which was so helpful for us as we went into

[different country].

Sandra: [Mission personnel] all emphasized time – and that’s what all this process takes… like

a pregnancy I suppose. When you are first pregnant you are all excited and then over the period

of the pregnancy you think, ‘Oh, what’s this going to be like? and ‘Oh, we will be doing this

next year with the baby’, so then all of that time helps you in the preparation.

The preparation and training pathways vary in sequence, content and duration – noticeably

more so in recent decades. The over-riding impression is that despite the lengthy duration

(average 4.5 years) participants value their training paths and see them as being relevant and

worthwhile for their cross-cultural service. No regrets were expressed about the duration and

no one advocated reducing or shortening the process. This corresponds to the ReMAP I and

ReMAP II and other research36 which indicates the strong correlation between appropriate and

relevant pre-field training and effective cross-cultural ministry.

36 Deane (1994; 2008).

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Departure and transition – home to field

When Carey set sail for India in 1793 he was left largely to his own resources – and there were

setbacks and delays that eventually led to his wife Dorothy, her sister Kitty, and the children,

travelling with him. Until the mid-20th century travel was still by ship, air travel being too

expensive for missionaries.37

Gordon: There was no thought of flying in those days (1950s) – there weren’t the flights

available - you would have to go by ship and it was such a costly thing that you just never

thought of getting back, as you can these days.

Often travel arrangements were made by the missionary with little preparation and limited

communication, as described by Andrew and Joy.

Interviewer: So once that decision was made to go, what preparation was given by the

[mission] prior to your departure?

Andrew: …absolutely nil. In fact when we got to [country], the authorities there had not even

been informed that we were coming… they were in total disarray. You could not imagine a

more deflating experience than to have had all the euphoria of farewell…There was in the

international HQ an overseas department and they arranged the lot, even our injections and

tickets were arranged and that we could have arrived in [country] with no one knowing that we

were on the way….looking back, it was an extremely bewildering experience.

Interviewer: And what year was that?

Andrew: 1948

37 It was only in 1969, on our third furlough, that my family flew from Colombo to Australia via Singapore. We had traveled by ship on our previous two furloughs – much more fun for children and a better transition

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experience for the whole family.

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Joy: It was fortunate that when we got to the boat there was a lady there from New Zealand.

Anyway we got to know her very well and a she was with [our mission] and she was on her

way to [country].

Andrew: She had had an extended first term, all 11 years of it, and had her first three month

furlough in New Zealand. She was on her way back, and had there not been anyone there to

meet her, nobody would have met us… It was a most confusing day.

The whole process of travel is very different now – less adventurous perhaps, but there are

other elements that are more complex and challenging – obtaining visas and work permits, for

example, and three couples had delayed departures and ended up going to different countries to

work (see Table 2.1). Some of the typical elements of the departure process include: finalising

financial support arrangements; attending to a host of practical details at home – house rental,

storage of belongings, disposal of the family car, final medical checks, farewells to family and

friends and church community – often including a commissioning service, packing bags,

barrels and suitcases, arranging for unaccompanied baggage to be sent – the list seems endless.

For the first time it can be a bewildering and overwhelming experience, but even after several

departures from home to field it is usually physically and emotionally draining.

Financial and prayer support, commissioning, farewells and travel

Interviewer: What about having to raise financial support and prayer support. How did that

work in those days (early 1950s)?

Gordon: It was a Hudson Taylor approach to the situation. You talked to God and asked God

to move people but you didn’t dare talk to people. Surprising in those days, talk about finance

was anathema… So it was very much on a faith basis.

Christine: (church) accepted us on their mission budget, not 100% of course. Our pastor at that

time (1970) in our home church had been a missionary many years and so we were

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commissioned, and I still remember singing, ‘A mighty fortress is our God’, and it was a very

moving and wonderful experience.

Terry: So many people prayed for us – hundreds of people. We keep meeting people who’ve

prayed for us every day; we didn’t even know that they had. And I always feel that’s a very

good thing. Whether or not people actually send any money, it’s good to have them getting

your letters and praying for you.

Sandra: We were pretty naive and left everything to the last minute and packing up was all

rushed and we didn’t give ourselves enough time, or maybe we didn’t listen to the advice,

because we were young, but getting away was actually quite stressful because we weren’t very

well organised…

Robert: We had our commissioning service and got away our air freight and then headed off,

but we had a couple of weeks’ holiday en route. That was extremely helpful, I think, because it

really gave us a chance to let go of some of the emotions associated with leaving family and

friends and get our heads into gear ready for the next step.

Preparation of children

Much more is done to help prepare children now than was the case prior to the 1990s, and

more resources are available to assist families in the preparation for cross-cultural transitions

(see In Focus 3 - Transitions). Many mission agencies have developed their own material to

prepare families for cross-cultural living.38 Missions Training International (USA) offers the

‘CHIPs’ program – a child specific/ family friendly pre-field training (parallel to training for

parents). 39 And there are many books and internet resources designed specifically to help

children prepare for transition into cross-cultural living – their titles indicate their relevance:

38 Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) – Pwee & Ho (2003); SIL/ Wycliffe h tt p :/ / ww w . i c h e d . o r g / c m s cited 20/4/2010.39 h tt p :/ / ww w . m ti . o r g / c h i p s . h t m cited 20/4/2010.

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Sojourners – The Family on the Move (Rowen & Rowen 1990); Alexander, Who’s Not (Do

you hear me? I mean it!) Going to Move (Viorst 1995); Where In The World Are You Going?

(Blohm 1996); Harold and Stanley Say Goodbye (Dyer 1998); Off We Go (Pwee and Ho

(2003); Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere! (Bowman 2004); and Moving House (Hickey 2006).40

Knell (2001:68-77) makes excellent practical suggestions to prepare children for cross-cultural

transitions. But these resources post-date the initial departures of the participants, none of

whom mentioned specific resource material being available for their use. Instead they were left

to devise their own ways and means of preparing the children, as explained by Susan.

Susan: I guess we talked to the children - we have always been open with the kids about what

we have been doing and where we’ve been going – even though they were so tiny, so young –

we would have talked about the plans and where we were going… that would have been part of

our goodbyes, that we will be seeing (grandparents) soon, when they come to see us - so those

sorts of things for them as young children.

The optimum age for children to make the first transition is a point of debate. Some suggest

that the early primary school years are the best, and my observations and experience support

this (our own children were aged six and four when we first left Australia and moved to Nepal).

As children move beyond primary school age into their teenage years any move becomes more

complicated as issues of schooling and socialisation grow in importance (see In Focus 5 –

Education).

Margaret: Actually I’ve been thinking the time to be going as a missionary is perhaps easiest if

you’ve got perhaps one baby child and not any children that are older that you need to worry

about their adjusting to a new culture so I think for us it was the perfect time…

40 Harold and Stanley Say Goodbye 2000, bi-lingual version translated into Chinese by Wei Hu and published by OMF Hong Kong. For a list of relevant children’s resources see h tt p :/ / ww w . o s car. o r g . u k /s er v i ce / re s o u rce s / m i s s boo k s . h t m cited 20/4/2010.

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Several comments were made about the impact on the extended family, especially in terms of

parents’/grandparents’ reactions. Not surprisingly those whose parents were not Christian

found it more difficult than those who were. For some there was significant sacrifice and pain

involved, on both sides - intensified when grandchildren were involved.

Greg: I think on the whole my parents were pleased. I don’t think they wanted us to be taking

the grandchildren off for years at a time, so there was an initial apprehension perhaps. I can’t

remember that …my mother was…

Lyn : she held up a very positive attitude, but I’m told that when we drove off for the last time

she sat down in the chair and dissolved but we never saw any of that…

Interviewer: Barbara, your family was not Christian. What were their attitudes to you going?

Barbara: the last time I went (to visit) my mother was very upset that I was going off so

far and the rest of it and when I got back she wrote to me and said please don’t come again, it’s

too distressing. And that was very distressing to me… my mother died in our second year

out in [country]. Six weeks before we were married, actually… She was not a well

person and I suppose that she thought that she would never see me again, which, in fact, she

never did. Gordon: Those were the days (early 1950s) when there was no way you could

get back for your parents…no air flights - unless God made a provision… And you know,

when you think back, what it must have been for our parents. They waited for five years –

not seeing them at all in those days. No phone contact, just letters…You reflect on this

again - what it cost our parents, really.

Janelle: My father was against me going and against me being baptised at the age of 12 or

13… he was very worried about me going out as a single person to a strange land that he knew

nothing about and he spoke to me before I went out and said, ‘You know, I don’t have the

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money to bring you home if you’re not happy out there’. He was really concerned about it but

the Lord always gave me the right words to say, and the day I left he went round to visit my

aunt and they talked together. He said, ‘I don’t know about all this, going out’, and she said,

‘Oh well, some people have faith and some people don’t.’ And he said, ‘It’s not her faith, it’s

her joy. I can’t get over it, she’s so happy to be going and doing what she’s doing.’ She told me

this years later after he had died.

Long term separations inevitably involve grief and loss – and this will be explored more fully

in the discussion about TCKs below (In Focus 4) and in the next section on arrival. Departures

and farewells are characterized by a sense of grief and loss – saying good bye to loved ones is

never easy – just observe the difference in emotions displayed at the departure and arrival gates

at any international airport!

Matt: It was the culling of all our material goods and cutting our ties here. As Ann mentioned,

it was almost like preparing for death; you had to have wills in place. You had to clear out very

highly valued possessions. And even the emotion of saying goodbye to family - parents and

grandparents, and them having to say goodbye to the kids. That all came at an emotional cost

too.

Ann: I don’t think I understood the grief process of leaving your home country and how that

would feel. I can remember trying to deal with that grief process as an individual, and I don’t

think that we did well as a couple dealing with it. I think we were probably both struggling to

deal with our own grief of leaving…. I can remember it being a hard time, just for us as a

couple, but we weren’t grieving together, we were grieving individually, if that makes sense?

It is interesting that none of the participants made their initial transition with teenage children –

all their children were born on the field, or were pre-school age. In the past two decades it has

become more common for parents to move later in life which sometimes involves teenagers

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moving cross-culturally. Based on my observations of several families having done this is that

it is much more complex and difficult, and unless teenage children are generally in favour of

making the move it is likely to result in poor outcomes. When teenagers have been moved

against their will the outcomes are usually detrimental to the teenager and often impact

negatively on the whole family. This is not to say that it can’t be done, but that it is potentially

difficult and risky and must be handled with great care and wisdom.

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In Focus 3 – Cross-cultural transitions

Transition is the process of moving from one stage or phase or situation in life to another.

Transitions are an inevitable and unavoidable feature of life for families living cross-culturally.

When I grew up as an MK neither the term nor the concept were applied to the reality of what

we went through at regular intervals (home to boarding school/ changing

countries/furloughs/settling in the passport country, etc.). In recent years much has been

written about this aspect of cross-cultural life, but most of the participants in the interviews

said little was done by way of transition training prior to their initial departure from home to

field (all except one couple left for the field before 1990).

Interviewer: was anything done (in 1970s) on the process of transition?

Hayley: I don’t think so…We were ignorant… We did know about culture shock, culture shock

had been taught about…. I remember that. That’s as much transition as we were taught, culture

shock.

I believe this is no longer the case – there is much greater awareness of and preparation for

families experiencing the transitions associated with cross-cultural ministry.41

The following points are fundamental to understanding any form of transition:

i) Transition is normal – it is indeed a lifelong process.

ii) Transition is inevitable – we can’t avoid it.

iii) Everyone faces transition times – including moving house, location, country, job, life

stages, even ageing.

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41 h tt p :/ / ww w . i c h e d . o r g / c m s / s c r i p ts/ p a g e. p h p ? sit e _ i d = i c h e d & i t e m _ i d = t ra n s iti on s _ li f e _p r o ce s s cited 20/4/2010. Also, Schaetti, Families on the Move: Working Together to Meet the Challenge h tt p :/ / ww w . w o r l d w e a v e.c o m / f o t m . h t m l cited 26/3/2009.

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iv) Despite transition often being a time of chaos and confusion, the more work done in

preparation the smoother the transition can be.

Transition also evokes a range of mixed feelings:

i) Excitement and anticipation of new experiences.

ii) The chance to start again, to reinvent yourself and start anew.

iii) A time of discovery – new people, places and experiences.

iv) Grief and sadness on saying goodbye to familiar people, things and places.

v) A sense of uncertainty and apprehension – often leading to anxiety about the unknown

future.

vi) Lack of control due to unfamiliar circumstances, surroundings and ways of doing

things.

vii) Weariness – the physical symptom most often associated with transitions.

It is important to note that different members of the family will have different feelings about

transition at different times!

Pollock’s Transition Experience Model (1989, revised 2001) describes five typical stages in

the process of transition:

i) Engagement – prior to departure the state of belonging and contributing.

ii) Leaving – loosening ties, uprooting and moving to the new place or situation.

iii) Transition – the in-between stage of having left but not having really arrived.

iv) Entering – the arrival and ‘finding one’s feet’ stage – settling in.

v) Re-engagement – becoming settled and productive.

Becoming a part of the international Christian ministry community means a life of many

transitions:

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i) There is the transition from home to the new country/place of work.

ii) There will be further transitions going to and coming back from Home Assignment.

iii) There are also the transitions that will be made as others come and join and others

leave the workplace and mission community/fellowship.

iv) Children will face several school transitions, both on field and in the home country,

including the transitions between home and boarding school for some.

v) There may be changes from one field of service to another, resulting in changes of

home.

vi) Finally there is the transition from country of service to passport country (Chapter 3 -

Post-Field and In Focus 6 – TCK Re-entry).

There are practical implications and consequences for these transition experiences:

i) Some people are good at saying goodbye, others are not.

ii) Some people are able to continuously make new friends and others find it wearying.

iii) Practically, some people are good at and enjoy packing, others do not. And conversely

some are happy to unpack, others are not.

iv) Good transition involves good preparation, closure, arrival and settling.

v) Orientation is one tool that can help both before leaving and after arrival and re-entry.

RAFT is a useful transition tool made popular by Pollock & Van Reken (2009:180-193). It can

be applied to any major transition experience for an individual or for a family. RAFT is an

acronym that stands for:

Reconciliation = restoring relationships well ahead of departure.

Affirmation = expressing appreciation for those friends and peers whom you will be

leaving and whose friendship you value.

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Farewells = consciously saying goodbyes to people, places, things, pets, events – those

‘sacred things’ that hold significance in your life.

Think destination = preparing for the new place, practically - university applications/

where to live, what job to do, etc.

I have suggested a negative corollary of Pollock’s RAFT – if transition is not done well then it

is likely that the transition may cause Resentment, Anger, Fear and Trauma. Healthy

transitions will be done as a process over time, and applying the RAFT concept will facilitate

that process to ensure better outcomes.42

Healthy cross-cultural transitions do not begin with farewells at the departure gate of an airport

and end on arrival at the destination. Done well, they will include a very long time (months at

least) prior to departure of building the RAFT and will continue long after arrival in the new

place. The diagram from Donovan (Figure 3.1) illustrates the challenges of major transitions

where movement is from the familiar place of belonging, being known and contributing,

through a period of no clear place (unfamiliarity), to the unknown new place. The transition

phase of not knowing and not belonging ‘is the place of crises in significance and security…

People in these crises focus all their energy on survival…Grief over various losses, fear of the

unknown, depression, anxiety and despair threaten to submerge them permanently. They are so

worn out by the struggle that they cannot reach out to others so relationships suffer…They are

plagued by regrets and a longing to return to what was…Life has become a nightmare which

they are powerless to control’ (Donovan 1991:18).

42 For a fuller explanation of R AFT see Knell (2001:54-59) and Pollock and Van Reken (2009:180-193).

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Figure 3.2 Donovan’s transition diagram (Donovan 1991:181 – modified by me).

Having been through many transitions and observed numerous colleagues and friends of all

ages (and hundreds of students) go through transitions I believe two critical factors stand out:

time and lifelines. Good transitions are rarely done quickly, and the bank up to the new place is

usually slippery and persons going through transition tend to slip back into the turbulent waters

of ‘no clear place’. It simply takes time – months or years, before the new place gradually

becomes the familiar place. Second, understanding transition is about recognising the need for

and making use of lifelines from both banks – there are various types of lifelines:

i) Emotional – understanding our feelings, recognising that it’s normal to be on an

emotional roller-coaster. Learning to recognise how others in the family cope with

stress.

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ii) Practical support – what help is needed and who can give that help, both before

leaving and after arriving in the new place?

iii) Spiritual support – from church, mission, family and friends.

iv) Moral support – from friends, teachers, family.

v) Time to process all of these, and acceptance that others will process this differently.

vi) At times we may feel we are going under – that’s when we need these lifelines.

Gradually the lifelines from the familiar bank become less significant and eventually need to

be dropped (like the streamers from the departing ships we travelled on as kids) for transition

to become complete. The process of closure and transition will inevitably involve some

pain, grief and loss. Pain can be managed and reduced by understanding and working

through the process. The process takes time and effort – before leaving and after arriving.

Perseverance and support are essential throughout the process (family, friends, colleagues,

school, mission agency, mentors, etc.).

An analogy that illustrates the nature of the various transition models and diagrams is that of

transplanting a fruit tree: it requires careful and thorough preparation, proper transportation,

sensitive timing, and sufficient time and nurture after the event for the tree to survive, let alone

thrive and bear fruit again. It is a risky and time consuming exercise – as is any major life

transition, such as a family moving cross-culturally. The goal is for all members of the family

to eventually thrive and contribute in the new place.

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The life-cycle of families in cross-cultural ministry

On-Field

Arrival, language and orientation – adjusting and settling in

Finding one’s feet on the bank of the ’new place’ is not just a matter of arriving at the airport

of the new country, passing through immigration, collecting the baggage and catching the

first available taxi. This may be the experience of a tourist, but for families arriving with a

view to settling down in the ’new place’ there is a long, challenging and stressful process

ahead.43 This process is well illustrated by the three diagrams – Donovan (Figure 3.2),

Pollock (Figure 3.3) and Fisher (3.4) and the reflections of the participants’ experiences can be

viewed and analysed in the light of these diagrams.

Pollock’s model of transition (Figure 3.3) describes the stressors inherent in the initial entry to

another culture – there is a four-stage process of Fun > Flight > Fight > Fit. The progression

through these stages is unpredictable and different for each individual and it is rarely a smooth

curve without regressions to early stages at times – in fact it is more like a roller coaster than a

big dipper. But for successful transition to occur the ‘fit’ stage must be reached, and once again

the key factor is time – it usually takes a long time. The various feelings listed are attitudes

towards the host culture, i.e. people. I would add the attitudes of respect and appreciation after

acceptance and understanding, for without respect and appreciation it is difficult to gain respect

and acceptance from the hosts – effective cultural assimilation occurs when there is mutual

respect and appreciation, and from this point it is a small step to love and admiration. This is a

major goal of, and means to, effective cross-cultural ministry, and it is rarely achieved within

the first year.

43 Dennett (1998:26) indicates just how stressful this period can be by referring to the Holmes’ Life Change Units stress scale, where 300 points constitutes a critical level, concluding that a new missionary may accumulate 400 points in the first year on the field.

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Figure 3.3 Pollock’s transition related culture stress graph. (Pollock 2003 a).

First impressions do matter. Andrew and Joy’s first arrival by ship in 1949 was exceptionally

poor – they arrived unexpected.

Andrew: The chap responsible for providing accommodation was most put out because he had

an extra couple on his hands. It was really a remarkable mix-up and we caused consternation

from the word go.

Interviewer: How did that affect you?

Andrew: Well, we were bewildered and deflated.

Interviewer: And what did you end up doing?

Andrew: We went to our first appointment and they had no accommodation for us, they put us

up in the domestic science block of the school. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end.

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Forty years later in 1989, Rory and Val also had a difficult arrival.

Rory: You know retrospectively this seems crazy, but our expectation was that some white

person would pick us up and in fact it was an Indian colleague that was picking us up - and the

first moments seemed really weird, [nationals] only around us and we had difficulty finding

him and meeting him.

Val: Our plane was maybe ten to twelve hours late getting into [airport], and they didn’t know

where we were and we didn’t know who was picking us up…that was a bit of culture shock.

Most of the participants recounted more positive memories of their arrival and first

impressions. Greg and Lyn who had a harrowing journey spoke positively about the support on

arrival.

Greg: We had a bomb scare in [airport] before we left, so we had six hours waiting on the

tarmac, and then we’d missed all our connections coming, so it was disastrous…

Lyn: So it wasn’t a good beginning – we were out of our brains, but they were very good. The

first week lots of the missionaries had us around for a meal, helping us to adjust.

Participants’ reflections - key features of the first year

Hale writes: ‘A mission guest house produces a special kind of bonding among each new batch

of missionaries. Overall the guest house is a positive experience and for most it eases the

passage through culture shock’ (1995:81). Several participants joined a mission agency that

had a well organised residential language and orientation program (LOP) and they spoke

positively of the value of shared experiences with other newcomers in the same group.

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Sandra: We have very good memories of that (LOP) and again, there were a number of

families as well as single men and women, and we are still in close contact with a lot of those

people.

Margaret: In a way it’s quite a special time when you’re together with other people preparing

for the same kind of mission and struggling with the language; it really pulls you all close to

each other, so we had a lovely time at LOP…Well I would say that the LOP time was a soft

landing because it was not really real [country].

I have observed that new arrivals are particularly impressionable during the first months and

they take their cues, not surprisingly, from their senior colleagues. Formally assigned mentors

(sometimes called link families) can have a powerful influence on newcomers positively or

negatively, depending on where they are themselves in the transition process. With the high

rate of turnover currently, it becomes increasingly difficult to find mentors who have

completed more than one term of service and who have reached the ‘fit/contributing’ stage of

the transition process themselves. If the mentors are mature, experienced and well adjusted

they can have a very positive influence on newly arrived missionaries, and several participants

valued the early guidance by mentors/ senior colleagues.

Robert: We actually had four days living with [leaving family] in the house which we then

took over, and that was unbelievably helpful…and we managed to clear all our goods,

including a new car and get it registered and got to know the shops a bit… From my point of

view, it was extremely helpful to us and they quite enjoyed it I think…We were also able to go

along to their farewell at the College – which was then our welcome at the same time. And that

doesn’t happen very often that you have got the new people there when the old people are

going.

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Christine: So I’ve had some wonderful examples like BB and BW and others, you know, older

women, who were good examples for me of how to be a good missionary.

Gerald: I remember…being told to ‘shut up’ for the first year; and we benefited enormously

from being new arrivals on the campus with another couple who didn’t, so we compared very

favourably with them and…

Hayley: all our mistakes were overshadowed by this other couple whose mistakes were

enormous.

Culture shock

Culture shock is like a game in which you are always one point behind. The only way to win is

to join the other side Hale (1995:79).44

Culture shock results from all that is new and unfamiliar assaulting the newcomer’s senses, and

is compounded by the loss of control and the inability to communicate in a seemingly

threatening context.

Margaret: We didn’t know any [local] language so that was quite tough. So trying to explain

how we wanted [the helper] to look after [the toddler daughter] and do the laundry and stuff. I

remember one day I was a bit shocked when I saw her rinse the nappy inside the toilet bowl!

Foyle (1987), Hale (1995) and Elmer (2002) describe culture shock and between them provide

a long list of symptoms – the most common being excessive weariness, unusual levels of

anxiety, a tendency to avoidance and withdrawal, feelings of nausea/ loss of appetite,

insomnia, discouragement and (possibly) depression, a critical spirit; feelings of guilt;

pessimism; and self- pity. Several of the participants echoed these.

44 Other definitions of culture shock are found in Dennett (1998:26); Foyle (2001:77); Elmer (2002: 44).

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Jeremy: [after arrival] I had a physical sensation in the middle of my chest – sort of like I was

on edge, not exactly indigestion, but that was a very physical experience.

Brian: I remember that I got tired; I needed a lot of sleep actually.

Belinda: I didn’t have anybody to tell me, ‘What you are going through is culture shock.’ I

thought, ‘I’ve never had depression in my life. Why am I depressed?’ I never knew the word

‘culture shock’… though I was a sociology student. I was thinking, ‘Only the people are

different. No I am in a different situation. I am in an odd situation…Maybe because I have two

children, lot of work, I am like this.’ I never knew that it was because of culture shock.

Val: that first semester for me it was just survival. For me there was no honeymoon period -

that came later, I think I went straight into culture shock ….so lonely with just the two boys, no

phone. At the time we had lots of diarrhoea and vomiting and I was very worried about [infant

son], he had I think twelve times antibiotics because of the diarrhoea in the first year….so I

definitely learned to depend on God, it was the only person I had. I specially prayed for a friend

because there was only one other mother with small children who didn’t work - lived on the

other side of the campus…I remember [mission] meetings were great, I don’t remember what

we talked about but there was a sense of fellowship, not being totally alone. But because I

didn’t know anybody at school, I didn’t have a role it was a hard start…

Rory: For me the first term was certainly exhausting and no chance to do anything else but just

work at school, but at the same time I was very excited about the whole thing and I was

surprised at how much energy and enthusiasm I had for the whole thing.

This last conversation highlights two important points about transition: first, the importance of

lifelines (see above) – for Val there were three in those early days at the school – depending on

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God, finding another mother with small children like hers, and the mission meetings. Second, it

is common for the working spouse (usually the husband) to adjust more quickly because he

finds significance in professional work. Rory found life demanding and tiring, but his work

excited and enthused him. Other participants shared this view, and most non-working wives

found the arrival and transition period more focussed on their children.

Language learning

Most participants learnt the local language and had some structured language learning program

facilitated by the mission agency. Language learning was perceived to be a necessary evil –

hard work and humiliating, but ultimately rewarding in terms of its usefulness. Preferences for

different learning programs and styles were evident, as was a sense of determination and

perseverance. Despite the early struggles all of those who took part in formal language learning

became fluent and were thankful for the benefits of this.

Greg: I found language a struggle, always have…it’s all that humiliation of going back to being

a child, can’t communicate with people…you feel so vulnerable…

Jeremy: For the next year and a half we had relief time to do language lessons… real

affirmation from the management side that language learning really was an important activity

and ought to be given time… Work-wise, I felt really very limited…from a well educated

English speaker, to being quite an illiterate – like having a speech impediment. So that was

something of a difficult transition to make but it was good for character, sort of humbling.

Matt: I can remember vividly saying, ‘get your language, you have got to integrate’…I can

remember when I started understanding a few words…all of a sudden, out of the blue, you can

hear. He’s saying that word now, and all of a sudden you start picking it up. And it was good

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for me, personally, when I got to that sort of survival level of [language], and it wasn’t a

terrifying thing to go out the front door and meet with people…

Health and children

A common experience on arrival is the onslaught of poor helth often related to a new diet and

poor hygiene. This can be debilitating for the parents and children. Also the requirement for

both parents to learn language means childcare arrangements for young children or new

schools for older children – all of these can be additional stressors.

Lois: It was difficult that people wanted to touch them because they were different – their hair

was different, and [eldest daughter] went into school a couple of weeks after we got there and

that was an experience which was pretty awful for her.

Ann: For us it was pretty distressing having to dump the kids at that little [local school], in a

completely different foreign country and language, and just walking away from them and

seeing them just having to sink or swim.

Matt: One particular time we cried for [daughter] because she just stayed on the other side of

the playground away from these little [local] kids, totally alone and with no language and we

felt horrible...that was just a painful thing. We made sure that we had some quality times

with the kids walking around the town, but that was a very difficult thing – just sort of

abandoning your children.

Gerald: We were told that we had to do the language course and the only way we could both

do it was by having arrangements with the kids (being minded).

Hayley: I cringe when I think of them now, and the children got the usual diarrhoea and tummy

upsets that we were getting. I sent the two children down to [guest house hostess] one morning

because we had both been up all night fighting for the toilet and the bucket, vomiting, and

from

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the bed said to the girls, ‘Go down to Auntie D and tell her Mummy and Daddy are sick and

you need your breakfast!’

Gerald: We all survived.

Sharon: Sure enough I was pregnant and I was extremely sick from then on…for a long

time…months. But illness continued for me, and one of the hard memories from [country] was

that I was sick a lot and I don’t think we were very well prepared for that…

Gene: So that was a bit of a shock being unwell and it probably would have been a whole lot

easier transition but it also made us pray more and rely on God’s grace more and it all got

sorted out down the track…

Figure 3.4 Fisher’s model of transition:http:// www .busin e ssb a ll s . c om/ P r o ce sso fc h a n g e J F 2003.pdf cited 22/4/2009.

The following comments by Gerald and Hayley, Jeremy and Sandra summarise the various

stages of transition depicted in the three diagrams (Donovan 3.2, Pollock 3.3, and Fisher 3.4).

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Gerald: After about six weeks of teaching I came down with hepatitis. I was as weak as a

kitten…I can remember thinking ‘What on earth are we doing here?’ It was just so far from

home, and if you want to call it a questioning of God’s leading or something maybe it was that;

but there were certainly those sorts of questions…

Hayley: After a couple of months I got hepatitis as well….

Gerald: It’s later we realized that the long term commitment had its value because if it had

been a potentially short term thing we might easily have called it quits at that stage.

Jeremy: Sandra and I had ‘di-synchronous troughs’. I can’t remember which of us went into a

trough first but the other one had the trough about six months later….That was actually really

quite good, because if we had had synchronous troughs it might have been really difficult. But

for that first year or so we had that experience where you know, we would suddenly realise that

one of us was really struggling - but fortunately, the other one wasn’t.

Sandra: Everything was new and we couldn’t speak the language and Jeremy had those

questions of himself, professionally, like he felt like he could hardly function because he just

couldn’t communicate. And at one stage in that year we said to each other, ‘Why are we here?’

We actually wrote down why we were there, why we had come and what was good about it.

And we also wrote down the hard things and why we would consider leaving, made lists…this

happened over a couple of days, and at the end of that process we thought, ‘Well we are here

because we believe God called us to be here, directed us to be here, and we have gone through

all of these years to get here and that is why we are here.’ God wanted us to be there and so we

went forward from there.

The overwhelming impression from these reflections is that this period of arrival and transition

into the new culture was tough and difficult. It was a time of mixed emotions and learning

many hard lessons, of being shocked by new and different ways of doing things and struggling

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with the humiliation of communication restrictions and at times debilitating illness for both

adults and children – all symptoms described in the diagrams by Donovan, Pollock and Fisher.

The positive thing is that they all persevered, survived and subsequently thrived in their new

places. They were all eventually able to reach the stage of contributing creatively in an attitude

of acceptance, respect, and appreciation for the new place – proof that God had brought them

there for a purpose.45

45 The ReMAP II research indicates that on field orientation and language and culture learning have a significant impact on retention of missionaries, especially when language learning is beyond the first year (Hay et al. 2007: 117-130).

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Field Life and Ministry – the tapestry of productive service: Part 1.

Having survived the initial period of arrival and on-field orientation, whether a brief time or

several months, the next crucial stage is settling into the new place and getting on with life and

ministry. This is a complex task and charting it is no less complex. For those who were

cocooned (to some extent) in a residential language and orientation program there was often

another transition to the workplace involving a move to a new location, new house and for

children a new school. Sharon and Gene describe this transition.

Sharon: The transition from [capital city] to [mission hospital] was another thing, because it’s

very remote and there’s just a small team, and we had a new baby… and the honeymoon phase

was over. Now that (first) transition was hard for me but easier for Gene because he’s an

extrovert and loves going out into the bazaar, and he found it great, whereas for me I found it so

overwhelming; for a woman it’s much harder. For me the real transition happened when we got

to [mission hospital] and because it was such a small team and we got there and the team all

operated in [European language], which made it difficult for us English speakers…

Gene: They were three [nationality] there in the team, they were the biggest group in the team,

so every now and then they’d go off in [their language], so the adjustment to the team was just

as great as the adjustment to [local] society there.

Sharon: I suppose feeling very isolated and having minimal [local language] and finding

someone who could translate was very rare, so it was a sink or swim situation really. I think

that’s when I found we’d get upset about things very quickly and I was surprised about that

‘‘cause I thought I was pretty laidback and I discovered that things upset me much more

quickly than I thought they would.

Gene: [Team leader sent them off trekking for a break] so in the middle of the monsoon we

went [trekking] and slept on the floors in the tea shops and when we got back to [the hospital]

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we thought it was a palace after that! (Sharon: it was extremely good…) It was extremely good

for us to adapt to the situation and see the benefits of [the hospital].

Sharon: …it was a very significant thing for us to do and it actually felt like coming back

home and that was a really good thing.

Gene and Sharon were able to overcome the initial frustrations caused by the remoteness of

their location and the language barriers within the team. Sharon’s sense of ‘coming back home’

after their trek in the rain was the turning point, vital to their subsequent well-being and

productivity and their ability to contribute – as a couple and as a family. It also reflects well on

the team leader who had the wisdom to send them off to a difficult place rather then for a

beach holiday out of country – a balanced perspective is very important in cross-cultural

ministry.

The range of activities listed below is by no means exclusive. They are features that emerged

from the interview themes and/or from my own experience and are representative of a limitless

number of activities and situations that are commonly found in field life and ministry. They are

divided into ‘workplace’ (work or role related) and ‘domestic’ (family and home related.), but

this is for ease of organisation and presentation. The reality is that these are all interwoven into

the overall fabric of the tapestry of each family’s experience of cross-cultural ministry – it is

rightly understood as wholistic ministry.

Participants’ perspectives – workplace, team dynamics and inter-personal relations

Increasingly cross-cultural ministry is carried out in the context of ‘multi cultural teams’. All

the participants belonged to mission agencies that assigned them to projects, institutions or

organisations where accountability and support structures operated.46 In several cases they

were seconded from their own mission agency to another mission or institution or national

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46 Two couples worked in isolation from other expatriate colleagues for a period of time. The variety of occupations represented in the group is shown in Table 1 - Participants’ Profiles.

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church in the country of service. Three couples worked in very remote mission hospitals

(accessed only by walking) with small expatriate communities. Six couples worked in

residential institutions – boarding schools or theological colleges. I lived with my family in

boarding school/college campuses for 16 years, and then we made the difficult transition to

living in a city apartment for six years. The reality is that communal living is a ‘fishbowl’

experience, exacerbated in small, isolated, multi-cultural teams in remote locations (although

this has become much less common for OSC missionary families who have gravitated towards

urban centres).

Jeremy: there were disagreements and personality clashes over the time and you kind of learnt

to live with that because we found ourselves working with a group of people that we wouldn’t

necessarily have chosen to work with but we just happened to be in the one place, working with

the same mob, socialising with each other, on the same school committee together, going to

church together. You know, you had all these multi-layers and interaction with the same small

group of people…

Times of interpersonal conflict can often be lonely and demoralising, particularly if they are

prolonged.

Lyn: That was just awful, battling away…when you look back on that time it’s characterised

by that lack of encouragement all round, from anyone. Very rarely that you got a [‘Well done’]

on the back for what you were doing from your hierarchy…it was pretty miserable.

In some cases tensions result in disruption to service, and re-assignment of location or role; in

this particular case the end result was a radical change of career that Terry saw as God’s clear

direction and a new role to play in cross-cultural ministry.

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Terry: There was an interpersonal relation problem that so often happens in projects. And it

ultimately resulted in the mission wanting to transfer us to another place…And so through a

combination of these circumstances of the Lord shutting doors I switched careers altogether.

And it reminds me of a couple of truths: sometimes blessings are just waiting to come out of

periods of sorrow, uncertainty and disappointment.

There are also benefits of working in teams, large or small, and my own experience (and that

of my family) of living in close communities has been very rewarding and enriching. Living

and working in this sort of environment comes easier to some personality types than others.

Sharon and Gene speak of the value of small teams.

Sharon: The thing about a small team in a small place is you can’t hide and that’s a really good

thing. I’m thankful that I got pushed into things that I probably would have been more reluctant

to do in a big place like [capital city], so there was always plenty on and encouragement to do it.

Gene: …when there’s a small number it’s easier to get to know people in depth, and certainly

the personalities of different people…47 and so there’s potential for irritations and difficulties to

arise, but I think we overcame them and were able to work together quite well.

Mentors, leadership and teams

Research shows that a major cause of attrition is interpersonal conflict.48 A key factor in

resolving this is the role of the leader. Toxic leaders can cause or contribute to interpersonal

conflict and the casualty is usually the worker and the family; ReMAP II research shows a

strong correlation between poor leadership and attrition (Hay et al. 2007:261-272). Good

47 See Reed (2009).48 The ReMAP I research lists ‘problems with peers/ disagreement with agency/ problems with local leaders’ separately, but combined they make for significant reasons for attrition in both OSC and NSC (Taylor 1997: 91-95); Deane’s research indicates that ‘interpersonal relationships’ was ranked by mission administrators as the number one reason for attrition of NZ missionaries (2008:24-25). See Hay 2004, The Toxic Mission Organisation: Fiction or Fact, Encounters Mission E-zine, h tt p :/ / ww w .re d c li f f e. o r g / u p l o a d s/ do c u m e n t s / t o x i c _ m i ssi o n 5_02 . pd f

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cited 20/5/2010.

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leaders and mentors foster harmony, growth and productivity – all conducive to longevity on

the field.

Robert: It also gave us contact with [senior colleague]. He was at that stage, sort of a team

leader for [region]. He had worked in [country] and was an extremely good missionary. Always

very interesting to talk to and very helpful with all sorts of questions that we would ask.

The attitude of the worker also plays an important role in the resolution of inter-personal

conflict, as in this situation where Christine and Terry were asked to relocate against their will.

Recognition of and accountability to authority are important attributes.

Christine: Well, we can resign; we have objected (to being relocated) and said we don’t think

this is the right decision to go to [government hospital], but if they do not see it our way, then

our alternative is to accept their choice and submit to their leadership. And I’ve often thought of

that. A lot of people will not submit to the leadership when they don’t agree with it. But maybe

God does have a plan which he allows to come through leadership, when you would not have

chosen it.

In multi-cultural teams language and cultural differences and theological beliefs can become

major obstacles, as in Mike’s case as a Korean assigned to work in the Church in a Muslim

country.

Mike: I didn’t feel easy about working under woman leadership [field leader], because

I’m a pastor; outside I was smiling to her, but inside I was not very happy because I had

to work under woman’s leadership…And locally I was accountable to the [national]

Bishop which was new to me also as a Korean pastor from Korean imperialistic

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background which I knew later and I thought I was a leader, but all of a sudden I had to

work under him… At the end of my first term I knew that those leaders and systems

were a blessing to me and Silvia and our future ministry… highly appreciated after all.

Change of job/role/location

It appears to be the norm that missionary service throws up unexpected surprises and

challenges. Changes of role, location and responsibility are common – in fact all except two of

the interview couples had an unexpected and unsought change of role with increased

responsibilities, often for both husband and wife, often involving relocation to another country

of service.49 I went to Nepal to work as an English teacher and within 18 months I had been

appointed Principal of Nepal’s premier co-ed boarding school. Eight years later we moved

(somewhat reluctantly) to Hebron School in south India, first as Vice Principal and then as

Principal. Underlying these changes is the conviction of God’s calling and direction in our

lives (initially and continuously) which may be unclear at the time but retrospectively is

unmistakable. Robert, Matt and Ann share similar experiences.

Robert: I ended up being appointed Principal of the College eight months after we got there -

that was a bit of a joke in the sense that academically I was the least qualified of the staff and in

terms of length of service as well, obviously, but by that stage, having worked with the students

pretty heavily in the churches, I had real relationships with them and the Board decided that I

was the best of a bad bunch…

Matt: We had only been there about 18 months or so…rookies, they say that should never

happen… so [director] just called the guys together to announce that [team leader] was going to

be me…So we moved away from being foot-sloggers, language learners to then having the

49 One participant moved from a medical career to writing Bible commentaries while his wife became a university professor; six were assigned responsibilities as directors or principals of hospitals, schools or colleges; five were given administrative posts in their missions, three of them having to relocate to another country. None of these changes were envisaged in their original call to cross-cultural ministry.

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responsibility and care for the team… It was a fairly steep learning curve… even though it

wasn’t what we originally came for and when it happened you could sense a reaction from the

people back home that we weren’t really missionaries now, just doing administrative work.

Mission administrators would do well to heed Hay’s (2004:4) observation and questions:

‘Mission is full of specialists and empty of trained, skilled and experienced leaders and yet up

to 80% of people who go into mission not expecting to lead, end up in some kind of leadership

position: i) How much effort, finance etc. do we spend on leadership training? Is this

proportional to its importance or should we change it? ii) Should we actively screen for

suitability for leadership in all of our positions, given how many end up in leadership?’50

Workloads/burnout

Another common theme amongst the participants was the challenge of excessive workloads

and demanding work situations. Gordon reflects the generational differences in terms of

attitudes of and towards the leadership – in the 1950s much was expected and much was given

– without complaint.

Gordon: It was all work…the mentality of those days, rightly or wrongly, everything was

subservient to the ministry. I asked the council for study leave to go on to a third language

exam, but oh no, that was frowned upon…that was the mentality of those days, rugged at times

but they were great times.

Work was no less demanding perhaps, but by the 1980s there was greater awareness of work

overload and a preparedness to challenge the leader and to take remedial action – in Jeremy’s

case to address the problem himself.

50 Launched in June 2010, ‘Growing Leaders in Mission’ is an internet-based mentoring programme for emerging leaders: www . M i ss io n M e nt o r ing.o r g cited 26/6/2010.

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Jeremy: (as hospital director) … too busy and things happened for six months and I was

unaware of most things that happened because I just felt that I was flat out; and that led to other

members of the expatriate team finally having it out with me because they thought I was

ignoring them, not delegating things and being a bit reclusive! So that was instructive, because I

think sometimes people can get too busy to the point where it is detrimental.

In the case of Matt and Ann they became aware of work overload and so sought

external intervention and help.

Ann: After about 18 months in leadership we were fairly burnt out and stressed, and stepped

down from the leadership.

Interviewer: What were some of the factors that contributed to that do you think?

Matt: Too much to do and not feeling resourced enough to do it…

Ann: It is interesting now; they have actually split the job into three - so they have got three

people doing the job that used to be done by one… There were signs that we were particularly

burnt out and we were assessed by a clinical psychologist who said, ‘Yes you are very stressed

and burnt out’ - basically said, ‘Your options are to step down and go home or look at some

other possibilities.’ We felt that we wanted some time to get better in [country], rather than get

shipped home in the state that we were in.

Matt: So we stepped down and did a sideways shift.

A common workplace stressor is the difference in working conditions such as the local work

ethic or remoteness and lack of resources.

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Daniel: …one of the culture shocks I had was the work culture…very irresponsible, not

looking at professionalism at all, and getting them to work, especially in a hospital where you

have to have reliability and quality work going on, was one of the biggest challenges.

Gene: The isolation was a huge challenge to us ‘‘cause there were no telephones, no roads and

the planes stopped in the monsoon and three days’ walk to get to the bus and even if we could

find a bus it took us a long time to get anywhere… we really felt cut off and that was a huge

hurdle and I don’t think we ever got over it…And there were huge issues with medical

problems and feeling at the end of our tether and issues beyond our capacities and that was very

stressful. We were away when [team members’] little girl got sick and died and that was a huge

crushing blow to the confidence of the team.

Effectiveness, contribution and fulfilment51

There are always challenges, but how is effectiveness in cross-cultural ministry measured? In

the past there were expectations, either self imposed or externally imposed, of quantifiable

numerical response in terms of conversions or church growth, at times with unhealthy

consequences such as inflated reports to the field leader, home office or church that

compromised integrity. None of the participants spoke of being under such pressure, nor have I

experienced this, although when we moved from the school for Nepali children to the school

for MKs our financial base was marginally reduced when some supporters withdrew their

support because we were no longer doing ‘real missionary work’!

The range of activities, formal and informal, official and unofficial, is vast. The selection

below illustrates some of this diversity – at work and outside work, but all were understood by

the participants, and rightly so, as coming under the broad umbrella of ‘wholistic ministry’.

51 ReMAP II research shows strong correlation between perceived effectiveness in ministry and achieving goals, with retention (Hay et al. (2007:309-310, 321-322).

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Brian: (working in a country that prohibited proselytising and where conversion was illegal

and the national church very small) By your life you could live like Jesus, and then people

asked you why you had come, and that way it was quite easy because people always asked you,

‘Why are you here?’ Then in the beginning I had a Bible study group inside the school and we

met in our kitchen. I can’t remember for how long… sometimes it was hard to know how

careful you had to be, but on the whole it was ok to be normal church members and we were

helping out with Sunday School and with the youth.

Mike: My ministry was to teach and disciple the [national] Christians, so language was a key

issue so we were allowed to study [language] quite well and by the end Silvia and I had pretty

good [language] in writing, reading and speaking. From the second term I was engaged with the

teaching and discipling ministry pretty well with [national] pastors and lay leadership.

Typically it was the husband whose role earns the visa post, but this is changing now with

parents sharing home duties and assignment/s. But the common reality is that regardless of

who is the assigned ‘visa holder’, the ‘unassigned spouse’ (as one mission calls it) will

inevitably be busy with a composite role, as illustrated by Lois and Silvia.

Lois: I developed a role at the College, running this Bible study for the wives. And very soon

we started to do lots more with them, which was good, it gave me something to do too.

Robert: And you were involved with the piano teaching.

Lois: I started music lessons every Saturday morning at the College for anyone who wanted to

learn. Also the same thing happened at church... they had no-one to play the lovely Yamaha

piano in the church, or the organ, so I got a job there as well.

Silvia: I was involved in children’s ministry in our neighbourhood (Sunday School) and we had

so many guests, and so two types of ministry I had.

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It is not uncommon to question ones effectiveness and contribution, exacerbated by times of

conflict, opposition, and ill health (see section below). Hayley and Gerald returned for a

‘second innings’, but to a different country and different roles; Hayley as the visa holder,

struggled with aspects of her role.

Hayley: I had a love-hate relationship with [my work]: really enjoyed the people I worked with,

the things I did, but it was enormously stressful and I knew it was not doing me any good. It’s a

real tension with missionaries - you find that you’ve got certain sort of skills and you go into a

missionary situation and you really come up with the goods and you think, ‘I didn’t know I

could do this’ and I think God sends you through that. But then at one point also are you going

beyond your skills, you say, ‘Am I capable of doing this? Am I the right person to be doing

this?’ So that was always a tension, is God saying I’ll be able to do this through you or…be

saying actually I’m dangerous?

Whereas Gerald as the unassigned spouse was free to engage in church ministry and found fulfilment in

what he did.

Gerald: [lecturing at BC] was most challenging in the sense that it was totally [local language]

medium, you didn’t speak one word of English from the time you got into the gate until the

time you left, and that pushed me to the limit, which is good. I mean it’s one of the satisfying

things as I look back and think somehow I did operate in [local language] and produce

materials which have been published and so there’s that sense of having contributed something

to those students but also more widely through the materials that have been left behind…I felt

that I was making a contribution, and to be an encouragement to someone like [pastor] was to

me quite a precious thing to be able to do.

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Another theme that emerged was that effectiveness and productivity increased as a result of

language fluency and this is proportional to the length of time in the field. Several participants

contrasted their first term (limited productivity giving rise to feelings of inadequacy) with their

later terms (more productivity, better relationships and greater fulfilment). This is not

surprising but it also highlights the need for longevity in terms of effectiveness and cost

effectiveness: the cost of putting a family into the field is significant and the longer they serve

the better.

Lyn: We had come out thinking that we’d do tribal work, but it wasn’t ‘til after we’d finished

our exams…

Greg: it was probably two years…

Lyn: second year wasn’t such a long course. And then we all got sick that summer…Greg

wasn’t well enough to do language…

Greg: well I was struggling with it anyway, I failed my second language test, and it was

embarrassing…you didn’t do a real lot of ministry in the first term, at all; it was really just

getting your feet on the ground.

Matt: (on language) It was really good to get out and touch base with nationals. I had a number

of contacts - the postmaster, a couple of police chiefs, and the mayor’s office. We would go

pray for some of these people, and there were a few shop keepers you could begin to spar with.

That was a real blessing and joy and you sort of felt like you actually had a chance when you

could actually communicate… And if you had a spiritual discussion, that was really satisfying.

Jeremy: our first term would be one where we would do the learning. I didn’t really have high

expectations of what I might be able to contribute in it. So I think that is probably how I look at

our first term. The last term was a great term. I was Hospital Director; we did get some nice

feedback from some people… ‘You have got a really nice feeling in the team here.’ And that

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was affirming feedback. We probably felt more at home in [country] in that third term than I

had in previous terms and we forged closer friendships with some [local people], in particular.

So I am grateful for the third term because it certainly wasn’t in our original plan.

Although not mentioned by any of the participants, it is my experience that reviews and

appraisals have become more rigorous and effective in many mission agencies. In the past two

decades I have seen a change in our own organisation from rather low-key reviews being done

once per term (usually as part of the HA routine) to very specific and comprehensive annual

appraisals done alongside annual ministry goals. These may still not accurately measure

effectiveness, but they do recognise the need for accountability and effectiveness.

Success and effectiveness in Christian ministry, regardless of the context, may be assessed in

human terms but ultimately what is achieved is evaluated in Kingdom terms and the nature of

our service and the effectiveness of our witness are measured on the scales of obedience and

faithfulness and affirmed in the words ‘well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:21).

Identification and integration

Allied to effectiveness, productivity and fulfilment is the degree to which families in cross-

cultural ministry are able to identify and integrate in the community they serve – the sense of

belonging. Again, time is an obvious factor but equally important is an attitude of humility and

appreciation for community – it is impossible to develop a sense of belonging without a

concomitant sense of appreciation for the people and place where you are serving.

Greg: (third term)…was a good time in [new town]; it was the first time we were probably

more fully integrated with the [local] church. In [previous town] we went to church but we

weren’t involved with the people there, we just met the people on Sundays. But [new town]

was

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good, the pastor was very supportive, a very godly man and he understood, he’d been overseas

himself and he understood where we were coming from, he was much more appreciative.

Hayley: We loved living at [local community], that was really nice

Gerald: Well, that was one aspect of it but it was just the fact that we were in the local

community compared to a Christian ghetto… we really enjoyed being there.

Hayley: They looked after us a lot…

Gerald: …the whole local scene of what was going on, you felt that you were a part of it…

Hayley: The culture around us and all that was going on around was really interesting.

Gerald: And the local Church as well, we were just part of that and we sat on the floor for six

months without being spoken to more or less and we knew that we were being observed and

tested and were we going to interfere and tell them what to say?

Silvia: Living in [country] was so happy and I enjoyed fellowship with the [nationals] was

wonderful, yes I had a good time, they are good people - so kind to us.

A useful indicator of integration and belonging is ‘reverse culture shock’ and homesickness for

the field country – both for adults and their kids – when on HA, and several participants (and

their children) experienced this longing to ‘get back home’.

Rory: It was very clear [passport country] wasn’t home any more, we didn’t have a home and

we were ready to go back.

Hayley: I always suffered reverse culture shock… I knew it and could identify it. Added to the

fact that on deputation people didn’t understand how homesick for [country of service] I would

be because, ‘Aren’t you so lucky to be out of such a terrible place?’ And the kids hated that too

you know - it was their country these Australians were critical of!

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In Focus 4 – Third Culture Kids

TCKs don’t choose to become TCKs – we (parents) create them. (JB)

In some ways, TCKs are the first generation of globalized people, both the products

and the producers of globalization. Fletcher (2001)

I grew up knowing I was a missionary kid – an MK. Now I use the term Third Culture Kid

(TCK) to describe myself, or more accurately – Adult TCK (ATCK).52 I have three ATCK

siblings and three TCK children (two of whom are now ATCKs) and have lived and worked

with hundreds of TCKs over many years. One thing I have learnt is that many TCKs don’t like

being studied and they don’t like being labelled – my daughter is one of those. But the fact is

that in today’s world the TCK phenomenon has become too significant to ignore – it is a by-

product of globalisation, of the shrinking global village, of massive global migration and inter-

cultural blending, and it has become the focus of growing study and interest. From rather

obscure beginnings in the research of Dr. Ruth Hill Useem studying expatriate families in India

in the 1950s TCKs have become the subject of numerous books and websites.53 It is not my

intention to attempt to elaborate on this, but to summarise and reflect on the TCK concept

popularised by Pollock and Van Reken, and then to refer to a less well known Australasian

model proposed by Cameron (2003; 2006). I conclude by reflecting on my own experiences

and personal insights.

52 MKs are a subset of TCKs, and TCKs are a subset of Cross Cultural Kids, see Figure 3.4.53 Dr. Ruth Hill Useem first defined TCKs as: ‘Children who accompany their parents into another culture [usually for a parent’s career choice]’, quoted by Van Reken & Bethel h tt p :/ / ww w . cr o ss c u l t u ra l k i d . o rg cited 26/3/2009; h tt p :/ / w w w . t c k w o r l d .c o m / u s e e m cited 26/4/2010.

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At the first ICMK in Manila, November 1984, the term TCK was rarely used,54 and the same

was true in ICMK Quito, January 1987, and even in Nairobi November 1989, (although two of

the conference resolutions referred to MKs/TCKs). These conferences were about MKs. But

within ten years, when Bowers compiled and edited Raising Resilient MKs (1998), despite the

title, there was a shift towards defining and using the more comprehensive term TCK, of which

the MK is a subset. Pollock’s ‘Being a Third-Culture Kid: A TCK Profile’ (Bowers 1998:45-

54) marks a watershed in the wider awareness and usage of this term. Pollock & Van Reken’s

The Third Culture Experience – Growing Up Among Worlds (1999, revised 2009) remains the

definitive textbook on TCKs.

TCKs are a rapidly growing people group in today’s world. Each year, more families

are raising their children outside of their passport culture, and the impact of these

experiences lasts a lifetime. Although TCKs don’t vote in any country’s election as

children, they are people of worldwide impact. Although their passport says they

belong to one country, they are the global citizens of the twenty-first century whose

background enables them to understand and build bridges between cultures

(http:// www .int erac tionintl.o r g /hom e . a sp cited 20/4/2010).

The Van Reken and Bethel diagram (Figure 3.4) indicates that MKs are a subset of TCKs, and

TCKs are a subset of Cross Cultural Kids (CCKs), which includes several other sub-groups.55

Pollock and Van Reken (2009:31-36) describe the changing CCK and TCK scenario in detail.

54 Even Pollock’s paper ‘The Re-entry Task’ uses the term TCK just once - without explanation (Tetzel & Mortenson 1986:395-407).55 Email received from Ruth Van Reken 28/4/2010.

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Figure 3.5 Van Reken and Bethel’s Cross-Cultural Kid diagram, h tt p : / / www .cr o s scu l t u r a l k i d. o rg cited 26/3/2009.

For the purpose of this project I am focusing on the TCK, beginning with the Pollock and Van

Reken definition:

The TCK is a person who has spent a significant part of his/her developmental years

outside the parents’ culture. The TCK builds relationships to all the cultures, while not

having full ownership in any. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into

the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar

background (1999:19).56

The two overarching realities inherent in the TCK experience that are common to all TCKs

are:

i) High mobility resulting from the parents’ movements away from their own culture/s

and the consequent ongoing travel inherent in the parents’ lifestyle.

ii) Immersion in a cross-cultural context, i.e. growing up in a different culture from that

of the parents.

56 This discussion is derived from Pollock (1989, 2001, revised 2009);Van Reken & Bethel, ‘Third Culture Kids: prototypes for understanding other cross-cultural kids’, h tt p :/ / ww w .cr o ss c u lt u ra l k i d . o rg cited 26/3/2009; and personal email correspondence with Ruth Van Reken during May 2010.

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There are several consequent experiences that result from this mobile, cross-cultural lifestyle

which may not apply to all, and/ or they will apply in varying degrees, depending on the

circumstances:

i) Distinct differences from other children in the host culture – these may be linguistic,

ethnic, and inevitably cultural.

ii) An advantageous lifestyle (or at least perceived to be, compared to children in the host

culture).

iii) Belonging to a system or organisation such as a mission, the military or diplomatic

corps or a multinational company.

iv) Expected repatriation to the parents’ culture/ country at some point, usually not later

than for entry to tertiary education.

As a result of these influences there are several common characteristics in TCKs – not

necessarily found in all TCKs, there will be varying degrees of significance depending on the

age and duration of being in the host culture, and the degree of immersion in the host culture,

and of course the individual personality and how each TCK processes the diverse cultural

influences in his/her life. Pollock and Van Reken discuss these characteristics in terms of their

potential benefits and their potential challenges. The TCK is typically:

i) Highly mobile, sometimes described as a ‘global nomad’57: this is a given and a major

factor in the rapid increase in the number of TCKs globally. Associated with this is the

propensity for the TCK to have experienced many transitions and the inevitable

farewells – to friends, loved ones, places, pets, sacred objects, etc.

ii) Unresolved grief and loss: frequent farewells are an inevitable consequence of high

mobility, and these are often sad and painful events. It is not surprising that there is a

57 This term was coined by Norma McCaig in the mid-1980s, but Iyer (2000) has popularised the concept in his book The Global Soul: Jet lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home.

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disproportionate level of unresolved grief that accumulates in the life of a typical TCK.

There are also those who have been seriously ‘bruised’ (Wickstrom 1989) by their

childhood experiences of multiple separations from parents at an early age, or who

were abused emotionally, physically or spiritually.58

iii) Bi/multi lingual – speaks more than one language, often fluently: many TCKs will

learn the local/host culture language(s), although there is a noticeable change in this

characteristic as more TCKs tend to live in urban centres, attend international schools

and move predominantly in the expatriate sub-culture – thus limiting the extent to

which they engage with and are influenced by the host culture, especially in terms of

learning the local language.59

iv) Aware of and sensitive to different cultures: children are as adept at picking up

cultural cues and clues as they are at learning new languages – it happens

subconsciously. They do not have the pre-determined cultural grid that adults bring to

a new culture that can make them resistant or critical – TCKs accept things simply

because ‘that’s the way we do things around here’ – no questions asked.60

v) Flexible and adaptable: TCKs adjust well to changing and unpredictable surroundings.

Their global mobility makes them used to variety and change and they accrue a wide

58 Van Reken’s book Letters Never Sent (1988) drew much attention to the issue of unresolved grief in MKs. Wickstrom’s address at IMCK in Manila, 1989 and published in Bowers (1998:164-176) lists several sources of bruising and their effects on MKs. Also see Ward (1989); Van Reken (1995); Priest (2003); Cameron (2003:364); Pollock and Van Reken (2009: 73-84; 159-165).59 My own children demonstrate this change: the older two were born in Australia but grew up in a village situation in Nepal from1988-1996 and learnt Nepali from their village friends. My youngest was born in India in 1996 and grew up in an English speaking environment, first in a BS and when he was 7 years old we moved to a large Indian city. His friends spoke different Indian languages so their common language was English, so he never became fluent in an Indian language, but he can and does speak English with a perfect Indian accent when talkingwith his friends!60 A striking example of this was when we had a family holiday at a tourist beach in India after 12 months in Nepal. My wife and I walked along the beach holding hands and our 7-year old daughter objected because she thought public displays of affection were culturally inappropriate. Although we had never said this to her – she had just picked this up from living in a conservative village in Nepal.

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range of practical life skills at an early age that Mono Cultural Kids (MCKs) could

hardly imagine.61

vi) Able to relate quickly and easily to other TCKs: this mysterious ‘sense of belonging…

to others of a similar background’ is well described by Pollock and Van Reken (2009:

23-26) and I have experienced it and seen it in several TCK camps – there is an instant

rapport amongst total strangers, who quickly discover that they are not strangers for

they share similar stories and experiences that enable them to relate to each other. This

is not surprising, there is a similar but more superficial rapport between tourists in a

foreign country who meet compatriots and enjoy a heightened sense of patriotism and

camaraderie. This is much more real and significant for TCKs when they meet.

vii) A ‘global citizen’ with a broad world view: as long ago as 1987 Ward foresaw that the

MK (a subset of TCK) would be the ‘prototype of the twenty-first century Christian’,

given that the MK has an enhanced awareness of differing societal values, is more

likely to be a ‘learning sojourner’ who views culture from a different perspective, and

is a ‘world Christian’ (1998: 61-69). In an increasingly complex and globalised world

TCKs are excellent people to address the world’s need for better understanding and

harmony between cultures, nations and religions. They know that the differences that

divide people are far less important than the things that unite us and bring us together.

TCKs know the reality of friendship that creates porous boundaries and transcends the

differences that divide and separate.62

61 At the age of five my younger son was able to climb onto an elephant lying down in a river in the Indian jungle and scrub its side and back. At nine he took his first unaccompanied inter-continental flight. He has traveled on Indian trains since before he was born, and at thirteen he flew a micro-light ‘plane in the Himalayas and trekked to the Annapurna Base Camp at an altitude of 4000metres.

62 ‘TCKs perform a mediating role between cultures. TCK writers play the role of cultural mediator, while other TCKs move to the centre of the worlds of global business and politics’, Delin, quoted by Fletcher in ‘Defining Third Culture Kids’, h t t p :/ / ww w . u r b a n m i n ist r y . o r g / w i k i/ d ef i n i ng - t h i r d - c u l t u re- k i d s cited 26/4/2010. Van Reken has written about President Obama as a TCK and the fact that many of his closest aides are also TCKs, h tt p :/ / ww w . t h e d a i l y b ea st .c o m / b l o g s - a n d - st o r i e s/ 2008 - 11 - 26 / ob a m a s - t h i r d - c u l t u r e - t e a m / p / cited 26/3/2009.

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viii) Rootlessness/restlessness: ‘Where am I from? Where do I belong?’ Some TCKs are

frequently on the move and so don’t put down roots; some react by putting roots down

deep and not moving.

We learned early that ‘home’ was an ambiguous concept, and wherever we lived, some

essential part of our lives was always somewhere else... Seaman (1997:6)

This last characteristic is particularly significant, not so much during the years of becoming a

TCK, but as the TCK returns to the passport/or parents’ culture and moves into early adulthood.

As Missionary Kids we grew up straddled between worlds, not fully reconciled to one

or the other. Only much later would we become aware of the chasm our circumstances

had created for us. Seaman (1997: 6)

Finding one’s place and developing a sense of belonging and identity become a critical quest

for the ATCK. The litmus test for a TCK is to ask the question, ‘Where are you from?’ and

then watch the response and wait for the answer. Typically the ATCK struggles to answer this

question readily and easily, for the simple reason that, unlike the MCK who doesn’t need to

think twice to answer the same question (whether it be town/city or country, the answer is

usually straightforward), the TCK cannot truthfully answer the question with one word. For the

ATCK needs to answer the question with a story, something like: ‘my parents are (nationality),

I was born in (country/place), I grew up in (country/place), went to school in (country/place)

and now I am in (wherever!)’. The story becomes more complex if the TCK is from a multi-

cultural marriage and the family has lived in several different countries/cultures. So when

asked this question the TCK is forced to quickly assess the questioner and the context, and

decide which answer to give – the short-cut answer (nationality as per passport) or the life

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story

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(brief or long version); many ATCKs have carefully considered and well-rehearsed replies they

can call on according to the context.63

Hoskin (1988) studied American and Australian TCKs whose parents worked with the same

mission agency, to find out how typical they were of the general understanding of TCKs, and

to compare their re-entry experiences and their relative sense of psychological well-being (their

self-concept, self-esteem and emotional functioning). His conclusions reveal that:

i) Both sample groups do conform to the general picture of TCKs.

ii) There are not significant differences between American and Australian TCKs.

iii) Re-entry of TCKs to their passport country can be enhanced by better preparation and

assistance from parents, mission and home church, as well as senior TCKs.

iv) There is a need for a more ‘international’ curriculum in schools catering for TCKs.

More recently Cameron (2003) conducted the first significant research of Australasian MKs in

which she compared the outcomes of the North American TCK profile with the Australasian

TCK profile, and developed a model of human development that describes the TCK experience.

She identified several common learned/acquired behaviours that arise from the developmental

ecology of TCKs - some of which have been mentioned above (such as high mobility and loss

and grief), but she describes other features differently:

i) A high degree of status (real or perceived) as a result of being a foreigner in a

different culture (what Pollock and Van Reken describe as ‘privileged lifestyle’,

2009:18).

63 Schaetti describes herself as a ‘second- generation, dual- national global nomad with a strong European influence’ - Phoenix Rising: A Question of Cultural Identity, h tt p :/ / ww w . w o r l d w e a v e.c o m / B Si d e n ti t y . h t m l cited 26/3/2009.

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ii) Childhood care and nurture given by other carers than the parents (by house-

help/maids or at boarding school).

iii) Belonging to a community of employees of the same organization or company (what

Pollock and Van Reken called ‘system identity’, 2009:18).

iv) Belonging to the expatriate community that provides a social and educational context.

v) Exposure to and sometimes immersion in different cultures.

vi) The expectation of eventual repatriation to the passport country, usually for better or

further education (what Pollock and Van Reken describe as ‘expected repatriation’,

2009:17).

Cameron explains the significance of the TCK’s development in a cross-cultural context

and how this differs from adults living cross-culturally:

Rather than an intersection of two cultures this third culture can be viewed as the

learned behaviour and ideas that emerge in relation to the patterns of international life

experienced in the developmental ecology of the TCK. Whereas adults have an identity

grounded in the passport culture, children are still in the process of developing their

identity. For the child there is no fully developed identity to intersect with the host

culture. Both the host and passport culture offer significant input into the child’s

ecology but their development is influenced to a greater degree by the patterns of the

international life. For the child the third culture is a separate and very fluid culture, not

an intersecting between two cultures (Cameron 2003:25, 26).

Cameron builds on three developmental theories (2003:122-135) to formulate a new model of

MK (TCK) developmental ecology in which the MK’s development is influenced by four

‘defining elements’: i) identity; ii) relationships; iii) mobility; and iv) spirituality. (See Table

3.1)

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Each of these has potentially positive and/or challenging outcomes for the Adult MK - and

these are explored in the book Missionary Kids (MKs) – Who they are; Why they are who they

are; What now? (Cameron 2006). The book is in three parts: the first defines the MK; the

second explains why they are who they are in terms of the developmental ecology of the MK;

and the third explores the implications for adult MKs and how to respond/intervene

appropriately.

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