Sender Care: Who Cares?

It was March 27, 2013. Our good friends, John and Rhonda were on their 30th anniversary “bucket list” Caribbean cruise with another couple, Ron and Hope, also from Ohio. While playing on Nassau beach, facing away from the ocean, John was suddenly struck from behind. A large rolling wave snapped back his neck, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down, face down in the water. In seconds, he realized he was in trouble, but helpless. Unless someone noticed, unless someone cared, he would drown in moments.

Missionary Care ArchivesMarti Van RoyApril 6, 2021care, missionary work, sending church, supporting churchComment

Self Care: Finding the Means for Ministry Endurance

I received the emergency phone call well after the sun had gone down. As a missionary in northern Thailand, I had already worked hard that day and felt quite tired. It was one of our new Christian sisters who cried out in a panicked voice, “My brother is possessed by demons who are telling him to kill himself! Please help us, we don’t know what to do!”

Missionary Care ArchivesGuest UserMarch 10, 2021care, missionary work, self-care, burn out, team burnout, self burnout, endurance, worshipComment

Mutual Care

The feeling in the room was electric. After months of separation by lockdown, we were finally in the room together. Sure, we’d seen each other regularly on Zoom calls and the like, but to be together physically is something completely different. The joy we felt in the presence of each other went beyond words shared. The Apostle Paul must have known this feeling.

Be Still and Know...

I remember the day well. We were into our second year as missionaries in Mexico City. I remember the emotions I felt looking down off of a balcony and seeing my car parked on the busy city street. I had just received news that the paperwork for the car I bought upon arriving in the city was not completed accurately. The former owner still had keys to the car and the right to take the car back.

Running Through Walls: Resiliency in the Spiritual Life

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If ever there were a year when we timed things right by planning to address resilience, it’s 2020! This year has demanded more resilience out of humankind than most, and the strain is showing up in a variety of ways, particularly among cross-cultural workers. If you’re feeling the long-term strain of 2020, please know this – you should be! You are experiencing a normal response to an abnormal year.

Resiliency and Self-Care

More often than not, ‘missions’ makes no sense. We arrive on our designated field, full of ideas and visions, ready to serve and care for a particular city or village or community. But then we are rendered temporarily useless by waves of culture shock.

Can I Get That with Grits?

What is the single most important factor in determining the effectiveness of a missionary? Is it love for God? Love for lost people? Evangelistic gifting? Prayer life? Cultural adaptability? Linguistic aptitude? Humility? Ability to discern the move of the Spirit?

Gone But Not Forgotten – Blessing Your Missionary from Home

There are those who answer the call of God by opening their hands - and hearts - and letting go. They let go so the eternal treasures of Good News can be carried to far flung places in the mouths and lives of their own children and grandchildren. Their kids paid attention in Sunday School or during that mission report, and the Father started tugging at their heart, calling them to “go into all the world.” Wouldn’t you know, they took it personally!

Caring for the Family...From the Mission Field

On a rainy day in August 1994, my wife and I landed at a small airport in Chiang Mai, Thailand and began what was to become 25 years of missionary service. As we came to love the Thai people, it soon became abundantly clear that we had found our calling.

Self Care: What I Know Now That I Wish I Knew Then

When my husband, our three children, and I went to work with a young church plant in Amsterdam, there were no mission training programs among churches of Christ. We learned how to do missions the hard way: trial and error. In the words of a fellow missionary at the time, successful new churches were planted in spite of the missionaries and not because of them!

Missionary Care ArchivesMarti Van RoyJuly 15, 2020covid-19, coronavirus, missionaries, messengerComment

A "Do-Over"

What advice would I have for my younger self working cross-culturally, you ask? Good question! After 16 years in disciple-making in Belgium, 20 years in church ministry, and the last seven years with MRN in Missionary Care, I have accumulated some learning that would have been useful to know "back then." Here are some of my thoughts:

Missionary Care ArchivesMarti Van RoyJune 16, 2020covid-19, coronavirus, missionaries, messengerComment

Cross-Cultural Stress and COVID-19

Have you either said or heard things like this lately?

Why am I so tired tonight? It’s only 8:30, and I haven’t done anything today!!
Why does my neck hurt so much?
Why are you so grouchy so fast these days?

Missionary Care ArchivesMarti Van RoyMay 5, 2020covid-19, coronavirus, missionaries, messengerComment

Sheltering in Place...Again?

As shelter-in-place orders were being handed down and we were all beginning to set up working-from-home office spaces, one of our old teammates from our time in Burkina Faso texted with

You know, missionary experience makes this shelter in place deal a lot easier, don’t you think?

Missionary Care ArchivesMarti Van RoyApril 7, 2020covid-19, coronavirus, missionaries, messengerComment

MRN COVID-19 Response

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Praying for Missionaries

People don’t do what they ought to do. They do what they are prepared to do. They do what they remember to do and feel capable of doing. This explains why there isn’t more prayer for missionaries in most churches.

Missionary Care ArchivesGuest UserMarch 3, 2020The Messenger Comment

Extreme Prayer

I could hear my village neighbor wailing—I just didn’t know why. My wife and I had just started our missionary career in West Africa, moving into a dusty tin-roofed shack that could have doubled as a solar oven. Someone explained to us in French that our neighbor's son was dying. When we saw the child, he was lying on the beaten earth floor of a grass-roofed hut, his breathing labored, pupils fixed and dilated. Despair crept into us as we realized he might not live long. I remember standing over him discussing with the local pastor in hushed tones what medical procedure might save the boy.

Missionary Care ArchivesGuest UserFebruary 4, 2020The MessengerComment

Why Does Prayer Matter?

Friend, I am resolved this year to pray for the God of the Mission to send forth workers and to bless the work of their hands.

Why?

Well, because prayer matters.

Missionary Care ArchivesGuest UserJanuary 8, 2020The Messenger, ArchivesComment

Help us DOUBLE the Impact

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Surviving the Holidays

In American culture, the end of the calendar year is often referred to as “the holiday season.” It's not as if we don’t have holidays at other times of the year, but during the last months, two of the most celebrated holidays—Thanksgiving and Christmas—appear on our calendars. In some ways, these two holidays run together, as if Thanksgiving is the gateway to Christmas. The period of time between the two tends to be a frenzy of activity.

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Living in Community

Last month we kicked off our Soul Care Practices on the importance of rest. If you missed it, you can check it out here. This month, we've asked Andy Johnson, our new Missionary Care Director to talk about why we need others to walk alongside us in this crazy journey called life.

MC Archives 2Guest UserNovember 5, 2019The Messenger, ArchivesComment