Transitions are tough.
Post-transition can be even tougher.
Whether you’re returning home temporarily or permanently, equipping yourself for the process will make a such a difference, and prepare you for whatever is next.
Re-entry
Whether returning home temporarily or permanently, you need to be prepared for a season of transition – and all the challenges that brings!
Debrief
We strongly recommend a debrief, even informally, as a way of processing your time spent in another cultures.
New Season
A Sender’s Role
Any fieldworker needs a great team of friends, family and colleagues supporting them. You have a huge part to play in ensuring their success. Check out what you can do to ensure your fieldworkers thrive!
- Please don’t view the missionary’s return as an event, but rather as a process that may be difficult for them.
- Reverse culture shock (or ‘re-entry stress’) can be as difficult, or even harder, for returnees to navigate than the original culture was! Often that is because it is unexpected.
- Be prepared to love and welcome the returnee home, even if they appear ‘difficult’ as they struggle with this phase.
- An ‘end-of-term’ debrief may have been given by their agency while still on the field, but a ‘returning home debrief’, around 6 weeks after the return may also be a welcome addition.
- This could be an informal, open-ended question, ‘interview’ style to allow the returning field worker to process their thoughts and feelings.
- A debrief can be useful, even for a temporary trip home to address issues that may be under the surface.
- Returning field workers will have experienced and learnt a vast amount, more than can be summarised in a mid-service update interview or a polite question over coffee after a service!
- A perceived lack of interest in this may lead to feelings of disappointment or offence for the returning field worker.
- Consider how you can communicate that their story and experiences matter, and how you can allow them to share them in an unpressured environment. Ensure the worker’s PACTeam is on hand to spend time with and support them.
- This may feel like a repeat of the pre-field sending out, but making the effort to mark the occasion and commission a returning fieldworker will ensure they feel supported.
- Be sure to surround them with prayer and encouragement.
- Commit to keeping engaged with them and track how they are doing over the early weeks especially. Make sure their PACTeam does not disband too soon – not until they are fully settled back and re-integrated in the community.
- A new season of belonging and of continuing service is what we should hope for when a mission partner returns home for good.
- Support them practically as they settle back in.
- Consider how you can involve this returning field worker in the church’s life – they have a wealth of experience and wisdom they can contribute!
Get Equipped
Here are some useful materials for whichever stage you are in
Growing in Cultural Intelligence
Know Thyself
This course explores the concept of understanding ourselves within the context of our own cultures. Before delving into how we…
The Antioch Factor
Ross Paterson presents a stark choice that no Christian or church can avoid making – whether we become a Jerusalem…
Cross-cultural marriage
Developing Leadership for Cross-Cultural Ministry
Mission thrives on cultivating leaders who embody the life and character of Jesus, the most effective figure in history who…
Calling – Who? What? Why?
In the church, there exists a widespread misconception that only “exceptional Christians” receive a “proper” calling from God. The truth,…
The Antioch Factor
Thriving Across Borders
This course covers the major transitions that someone will make when crossing cultures. We delve into the typical transition points…
Radical Prayer with Katie Chen
Scroll down for podcast options! < After being baptised at only 5 years old, Katie felt a clear calling…
The 4 Questions
Transcript (Summarized) The 4 Questions English Today, I am going to share from John’s Gospel chapters 5 to 7, and…
Ignorance is NOT Bliss
We had a fantastic launch event! We are so excited for this next season of FieldPartner, to see more people…
Equipping the Church for Explosive Growth!
We are excited to share that FieldPartner co-founder Ross Paterson was recently interviewed on the hit podcast ‘Inspired… with Simon Guillebaud’. Ross…
Don’t forget your fieldworker with Bev Gigney
Bev Gigney founded a children’s home called Dove’s Wings during her years serving in China, having had a clear…
What do you want Jesus to do for you? | Mark 10:46-52
After many months away from Taiwan, Ross Paterson returns to The Hope Church in Taiwan to preach on the topic of ‘What…
Keys For Today From Exodus 1
Ross shares from Exodus 1, originally in 2010, but relevant to us as we face our todays in faith and…
Joseph #4: The Lies of Joseph’s Brothers
In this 4th teaching on the life of Joseph, Ross discusses the lies of Joseph’s brothers that they lived with…
Zechariah gets a second chance | Luke 1
Ross shares from in Luke 1 about Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and stresses that our God is…
Transition and Change, Grief and Loss
At some point in our lives, we all face different types of changes that can lead to feelings of loss…
What Cross-Cultural Mission Is & What It Isn’t!
We desperately need a Biblical definition of cross-cultural mission today. “James Hudson Taylor (Chinese: 戴德生) was a British Protestant Christian…
J.O. Fraser – Two Men On A Journey.
Below are some notes to accompany my sharing in the video clip on our Facebook Page, speaking of a common…
Clueless by Jacqueline Scott
This post originally appeared on A Life Overseas. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author. When we head…
An ‘Ordinary’ Person, Who Made a Big Difference
Do you think your life could never make a difference? Let us show you how you are wrong! Especially right…
James Gilmour’s Unusual Courtship
I wrote last week about James Gilmour and his work in Mongolia. This week is about his courtship (or lack…
Bernie May – Christmas In The Amazon Jungle.
It was only a few days before Christmas. Bernie May, a pilot for Wycliffe Bible Translators, had successfully delivered emergency…
William Milne – Five Keys For A Pioneer Missionary.
William Milne (1785-1822) was the second Protestant missionary sent by the London Missionary Society to China, joining the first missionary,…
What Is Donar’s Oak?
Howard Peskett made some mission related comments when writing on Deuteronomy chapter 13 in Scripture Union notes. Howard wrote: “Missionaries…
What is Truth? – Easter Week Pt 3
This is part of our Easter week series from Ross Paterson’s daily devotional Facebook post. Like our page to keep up with…
Chinese Missionaries to Europe?
ChinaSource recently commented that “despite Europe’s historical legacy as an active sender of missionaries, Europe nowadays should be considered as…