Why it is important for overseas Missionaries to go home.

(Adapted from an article by Hans Walter-Ritter of OMF International - Home Assignments: Aren’t they just a ‘waste’ of valuable ministry time?)

Often when preparing for ministry overseas we may balk at the idea of spending an entire year back in our sending countries after 4 years on the field.

Some concerns or questions which may come to mind are:

“I’m meant to be serving on the field, not wasting my time back home where I’m not really needed”.

“How can I leave my valuable ministry and relationships on the field behind for a whole year? Who will replace me?”

“Can’t I just have a short HA of a few months to quickly report back, then get back to the field where the real work is?”

Actually, Home Assignment is ministry!

What is Home Assignment actually for?

Some of the main reasons that overseas Christian workers should take time at home are:

• Reporting to churches concerning the ministry/work
• Participation in the mobilization work of the OMF Homeside
• Rest and renewal
• Reunion with family, friends, and supporting churches
• Re-equipping for a more effective ministry

Why is Home Assignment important?

· Our mission agency, OMF International works on a sending model (Acts 13:1-3). Churches send us to Asia, and OMF facilitates the sending. We still remain members of our sending churches

· Being sent also means we need to report back and to reunite with our supporting churches (Acts 14:26-28). As we ask the sending churches to do their part, we need to be aware that we need to meet our obligations toward them as well.

· The experiences that the LORD allows us to have overseas are also meant to build up the body of Christ at home (Eph 4:11-13). We are a part of the sending church and therefore have a spiritual obligation towards them.

The gifts given to us by the Spirit to work cross culturally are actually not given to us personally but to the church. They are given 'for the common good" of the church (1. Cor 12:7ff). We are therefore not only to be served by our churches, but also to serve them.

We are part of God's church. We not only serve the church on the field, but work towards the preparation and purification of the bride of Jesus worldwide. This also implies our involvement in our home churches. We cannot leave our sending churches behind.

What are some of the possible implications of not having a good Home Assignment?

· Personal relationships become impersonal over the years if they are not refreshed by a face to face meeting. There are things that we just cannot communicate via prayer letters nor via personal e-mails. Missionaries slowly lose their home base: fewer people know them on a personal basis.

· Children and missionaries lose their home identity . The churches become alien to and vice versa. Prayer and other support very often fall away gradually as a result.

· Retirement becomes a feared phase of life, as there is no connection to the home.

· Mobilization loses its passion as it is left to the home side, therefore only very general information is communicated and the first hand touch of missionaries is missing. OMF slowly loses its position as "the experts concerning Asia". Without the field expertise the image of an organisation working on the cutting edge in ministry is weakened.

· The home churches are impoverished, as they are not receiving what the full involvement of the missionaries could give them.

· Recruitment of new team members is lacking, meaning that often there are more shortages on the fields as a result of people not utilizing their HA to challenge others to become involved in practical ways by going.

The Stress of Working in a CAN

CAN = Creative Access Nation      CAM= Creative Access Ministry

The Last few weeks I spent 10 days travelling around a CAN in East Asia. It was a great time of seeing first-hand what our workers there are doing and how they are going about their work. There were some things that really made an impression on me and raised the respect that I have for these workers enormously.

Our ministry in Thailand had three main areas of stress that we had to deal with day-to-day. One was language and culture, which was foreign to anything that we had grown up with. Even after 14 years of working there and being fluent in the new language we would still feel the strain of operating in a culture that would still feel "foreign" to us. Even though we might understand the culture, and a different way of doing things, there would still be things that we would find uncomfortable or alien to us.

 The second area of stress was the ministry aspect as we worked together with people in a team. Often there would be intense times of stress as we dealt with issues such as team conflict, immorality and supporting people in crisis. These things seemed to occur much more frequently in a situation where the church is young and immature than in our home country.

The third main area of stress came about from bringing up a family in a foreign country. Bringin up a family is stressful under any circumstances, but even more so when the family is isolated from the extended family and familiar supports.

As we travelled around East Asia and met with people, it became apparent to me that the Christian workers that we came into contact with have another 2 areas of stress piled on top of all the other ones that I have already mentioned. One is that in order to work in a CAN it is necessary to have a visa, and for many this requires them to open and run a business. Not just any old business but a real business that makes real money satisfies the government that you are legitimately bringing a financial benefit to the country. If this business is going to bring a profit it requires a substantial investment of time and effort, which can sometimes distract the worker from their reason for working there and being a testimony to Jesus.

On top of all that are the security concerns that all our workers have to put up with. Most of the ones that we visited work with ethnic minority groups in areas that are monitored strictly by the government. As a result their movements and communication are watched very closely. If they break the guidelines that the government issues then they will be asked to leave the country. This means that our people have to be very careful about their movements and what they say to their supporters and friends.

The result of my trip was that I have an increased sense of respect for our workers in Creative Access Ministries, and a better understanding of the pressures that they deal with. Please pray for our workers that you know in Creative Asscess ministries that our Father will sustain and strengthen them to be testimonies to Jesus.

Click Here for Photos From the Trip