Member Care

GO InterNational

Missionaries often face situations in which bribes seem to be expected, and they are confused about to do and may feel guilty whether they pay or not. This book contains eight chapters written by Ron as well as ten appendices by other people. The book will not tell you what to do in every situation, but in the book you will find much useful information as well as help you know what questions to ask to help you reach a decision.

Great Commission Consulting

Advance Training and support for international workers and the organisations that send them: The Christian missionary movement’s final push is to reach the unengaged people groups living in hostile and inhospitable places. For International workers serving in these places, however, the stress they face is beyond imagining. This stress becomes a tool the enemy uses to ruthlessly attack them in their weakest places. Most missionaries to hazardous places succumb to this stress in less than two years and return to their home countries feeling like personal and spiritual failures.

Member Caravan

There are 25 chapters in Missionary Care: Counting the Cost for World Evangelization (1992), organized into five sections: MC Overview, Counseling/Clinical Care, Team Development, Mission Agencies, and Future Directions.

Member Caravan

Readings in Mental Health and Missions

GO InterNational

The first part of the book is about the author’s journey into missionary member care.  It also contains many examples of what he has done in member care as well as tips about what to do and what to avoid. The second part of the book is the story of his websites and how they developed.

GO InterNational

This is a new e-book giving an overview of member care for those interested in providing it or in receiving it. Written in a question/answer format, this book is useful for missionaries wondering about doing member care or in using it. Though it is written for missionaries, it is also appropriate for use in an introductory university course in member care because it contains hundreds of links to primary sources of information. Each chapter begins with a “short and simple” answer to the question asked in the chapter title so that readers can quickly decide if they want to know more about the issue.

GO InterNational

Ron taught psychology in Christian colleges for 35 years. In this book he places psychology in a Christian perspective and considers practical implications for Christian missionaries. The table of contents includes chapters on most of the topics found in introductory psychology text but implications are drawn for those working cross-culturally.

New Hope International Ministries

Many of the “What Missionaries Ought to Know” and “Stewardship of Self” series are available in a collection as an e-book containing 74 chapters. This is a great way to have the entire series on your computer to refer to as you have the need and opportunity.

Centre for Clinical Interventions

Muscle relaxation can be particularly helpful in cases where anxiety is especially associated to muscle tension. This information sheet will guide you through a common form of relaxation designed to reduce muscle tension.

Missionary Care

Brochures in this series contain self-help information for missionaries. Ideally one ought to consult a medical professional before making any lifestyle change to ensure that the change will not be detrimental to existing conditions or treatments. However, some Christian workers have limited access to mental health professionals.

These brochures are all titled “Stewardship of Self for Christian Workers ___________,” and each one emphasizes practical things missionaries may do for specific problems in the absence of professional hel

Mobile Member Care Team: Steps Toward Healing

Barnabas International

Numerous resources collated by Barnabus International to help you deal with conflict and resolution.

Mobile Member Care Team

There are some things we can all do to increase our tolerance for stress, and our ability to turn the stress into growth opportunities.

Sent Well

Here are some thoughts on how to go about exploring whether someone is a good spiritual director for you:

Global Trellis

Helping you handle the pain while maintaining hope and healing.

Member Caravan

This is a set of nine tools to help member care workers who provide services in the mission/aid sector. Feel free to adjust the tools for your own use, referencing the original source.

Barnabas International

Numerous resources collated by Barnabus International covering many aspects of member care.

Oscar

This section provides missionary care resources, including Membercare Services, Pastoral Courses and events, Advice, Counselling, Church Links, and articles on topics like Sabbath, Resilience, Stress Management, and Cross-Cultural Transition.

Mobile Member Care Team

Ways to Address the Emotional and Spiritual Impact of the Crisis Response.

Global Trellis

Article for missionaries dealing with postpartum depression.

PETRA

Navigate through Core Resources pages which encompass a range of topics related to integrity, accountability, and confronting corruption, including insights on principles for fighting corruption, organizational integrity and responsibility, posts covering various issues and cases of fraud and corruption, as well as updates, reflections, and lessons on staying morally engaged, all aimed at fostering a community that encourages health and ethical conduct in the international Christian community and beyond.

Global Trellis

Because Jesus said that he will give you rest.

Mobile Member Care Team

Self-awareness is an important aspect of preventing long-term impact of secondary traumatic stress. Peer responders are encouraged to ask themselves the following questions as way of determining personal health. The answers to these questions can help the peer responder to identify areas that may need strengthening and to further develop a self-care strategy.

Mobile Member Care Team

From pre-debriefing to followup: What it takes to conduct a Crisis Debriefing.

Sent Well

This article explains how immediate supervisors can play a key role.

CrossCultural Workers

These articles are all titled “Stewardship of Self for Cross-Cultural Workers: ___________,” and each one emphasizes practical things these workers may do for specific problems in the absence of professional help.

Global Trellis

For the stress you and those you serve experience.

Global Trellis

This is a resource to assist you in working with others.

NHS Scotland

A guide to talking, listening and reducing stigma surrounding suicide.

Sent Well

Missionary well-being is often framed in terms of external stresses from cross-cultural living or in terms on internal psychological needs. Yet, there is a strong body of evidence within both psychology and management literature pointing to the role of the organisations themselves in contributing to the well-being of their employees.

Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership

Christian leaders face stress and burnout in their professions.1 Taking a sabbatical is one way leaders can protect their personal growth to develop in their leadership, but as a recently emerging phenomenon, there is little understanding of the process, its dynamics, or categories.

Global Trellis

Helping you let things die so that new can be born.

Global Trellis

For the trauma you and those you serve experience, articles and workshops covering various aspects of trauma, healing, communication, and care.

Barnabas International

Member Care resources to help aid in the area of trauma.

See Beyond

Explore articles covering a variety of topics aimed at personal growth and development, including strategies for effective communication and consensus-building, tips for restful vacations, insights into grief and emotional well-being, techniques to rewrite negative thought patterns, methods for making meetings more productive and enjoyable, as well as resources for cross-cultural challenges and identity crises, all designed to assist individuals, couples, teams, leaders, and third culture kids on their journeys towards greater understanding and well-being.

Missionary Care

Brochures in this series contain general information about various topics related to mental health and missionary care. These brochures are all titled, “What Missionaries Ought to Know about ______,” and each one contains information on topics ranging from adolescence to guilt to trauma.

Spiritual, Emotional and Physical Health

This article suggests that missionaries should focus on their spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being to be effective in their work. It encourages practices like contemplative spirituality, emotional health, and physical fitness to equip missionaries for their lifelong service.

Barnabas International

Various resources to help enhance your ministry as a team.

Beck

This depression inventory can be self-scored. The scoring scale is at the end of the questionnaire.

International Training Partners

These questions may give you an idea to what degree you are experiencing burnout. The term “work” includes full-time ministry.

Mobile Member Care Team

A crisis can be a dangerous opportunity… a turning point at which things will either get better or get worse. The more we understand the situations which cause crisis and what to do and not do in a crisis, the more we’ll be able to bring help to those who are in our care.

Mobile Member Care Team

Rate your frequency of feeling stressed by each of these aspects of cross-cultural life using a scale of 1-5. A higher number indicates that you are feeling very stressed in this part of your life. A lower number indicates that this is not an area of stress for you right now or you have found ways of coping that are decreasing your feelings of stress.

Talent Trust

Online fitness, heath and nutrition coaching, as a free service to missionaries. They would love to help you meet your health and fitness goals as you serve the Lord on the field.

Missionary Care

The following organizations offer missionaries retreats at no charge. These are times of spiritual refreshment rather than just vacation times, but missionaries basically chose their own activities with the approval of the organization.

Barnabas International

Various Resources to assist missionaries with member care.

Barnabas International

Various Resources to assist missionaries with member care.

Mobile Member Care Team

A crisis can be a dangerous opportunity… a turning point at which things will either get better or get worse. The more we understand the situations which cause crisis, and what to do and not do in a crisis, the more we’ll be able to bring help to those who are in our care.

Barnabas International

Numerous resources to help third culture kids as adults.

Mobile Member Care Team

Presentation and resources for finding rest, gratitude, and thriving, including Scriptures and insights for reflection.

Mobile Member Care Team

Stress – the body’s response to any demand, burden, or pressure – is a fact of life for cross-cultural workers. Resilience, however, is not guaranteed. These resources will help you understand stress, develop stress-hardiness, and foster resilience in yourself and others.

Church Resource Ministry

This comprehensive suicide assessment protocol for adults includes steps to evaluate factors such as precipitating events, plans, ideation frequency and intensity, outcomes sought, hopelessness, available supports, others’ reactions, past attempts, family history, and expression of thoughts, along with warning signs and risk indicators, aiming to provide a holistic understanding of the individual’s mental state and risk factors.

Member Caravan

This section includes examples of materials related to preparation and involvement in member care/humanitarian work.

One Another

This simple, self-scoring assessment can help Christian workers identify areas of vulnerability that can threaten their long-term effective ministry. It can be used regularly by individuals, teams, and entire organizations to monitor their ongoing level of health or risk.

Truity

This DISC assessment will help you discover your personality at work. Discover the four DISC personality types and improve communication, productivity, and conflict management in the workplace. Take the DISC test yourself, or use it with your team.

Member Care Media

The website offers valuable resources on a wide range of health, mental health, and personal growth topics, covering everything from stress and disease prevention to crisis management and family support, with contributions from expert programs and members.