Care to Witness for Jesus?

Member care is very important in mission because is an example to others of how we serve one another as we declare the love of Jesus to the people of East Asia.

Our Homeside Ministry Teams (HMT) play a very important role in member care that we provide. They are a team of people chosen by the Cross-cultural worker to provide pastoral care and support. Many of the HMT members come from the cross-cultural worker's sending churches, and play a vital role in ensuring their emotional health and well-being.

We have dedicated one of our staff especially to the role of equipping and encouraging the Homeside Ministry Teams of our 130 or so cross-cultural workers. When we served in Thailand we did not have a HMT for the first 10 years, but it would have been wonderful to have had one to see us through the most difficult first few years of initial adjustment. We have certainly appreciated having a HMT for personal support and encouragement during times of stress and transition in leadership.

Adjusting to a new culture and language is really difficult. This year some of our new workers have been going through some tough times making new friends and learning to fit into their new context. This process is normal. What has changed in recent years is the close communication that is possible as our new cross-cultural workers go through their day-to-day adjustment to a new culture.

These days the sending churches are much more aware of what is going on in the life of the workers they support by interacting with them through Facebook, Skype, HMTs and phone calls. This has the benefit of a greater awareness of the pain of cross-cultural adjustment.

As a home side office, we now deal with more queries and assure the sending church that this pain is normal and that there are also good structures in place on the field to help new workers through the early difficult years of adjustment. While we would like to avoid the pain altogether, it is not always possible. We are so thankful that we have a structure in place for our cross cultural workers to receive the encouragement and support that they need.

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.