What is Missionary Member Care?
Short & Simple Summary
Although some missionary member care has been done since the days of Paul in the New Testament, the modern movement has developed primarily since the 1980s. In this chapter we note that the term was not even used much in the 1980s. In the 1990s two terms “missionary care” and “member care” emerged as nearly synonymous. After the turn of the century most definitions included something about preparing missionaries to serve and helping them develop so they will have effective and sustainable ministries. Here are the topics covered in the chapter.
Missionary Care (1992)
Doing Member Care Well (2002)
Global Member Care Network (2012)
What did Jesus do?
If you want more detail and links to other sources, read on.
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Many words can be used to describe what takes place in missionary member care. Some of those words are friendship, encouragement, affirmation, help, and fellowship as well as sharing, communicating, visiting, guiding, comforting, counseling, and debriefing. All of these, and more, are facets of member care given by people who understand the special needs of missionaries.
Of course, all Christians have the care given by the Holy Spirit, the one whom Jesus promised in John 14-16. Translated “comforter,” “counselor,” or “advocate,” the Greek word (paraclete) literally means one called or sent to assist another, someone who has been invited to stand by our side.
In addition to the Holy Spirit, God often uses other people to come alongside and help individuals, whether they are missionaries or in other vocations. Most people living in their passport countries have other individuals they can call on for help, whether pastor, counselor, or friends in a small group—such as a Bible study group.
Among missionaries who are members of some mission agency or church but serving in another culture, the term used for this process of having someone come alongside to offer help is “member care.” This may be something routine such as regularly scheduled visits from a pastor asking, “How are you doing?” Or it may be as rare as a psychologist rushing to get to a missionary within a couple days for a trauma debriefing to help prevent post-traumatic stress disorder.
During the late 20th century, missionary member care was often called just “missionary care.” That definition was rather self-explanatory. Many people gave a one-sentence definition, followed by a sentence or two to expand on it. In 1988 Kelly and Michele O’Donnell titled their first major book Helping Missionaries Grow: Readings in Mental Health and Missions. Neither “missionary care” nor “member care” appeared in any part, section, or title of any of the contents of the book.
The entire book is available free at:
https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/helping-ms-grow-book
Missionary Care (1992)
Four years later Kelly O’Donnell titled his 1992 book Missionary Care and added the subtitle, Counting the Cost for World Evangelization. In the Introduction he said that missionary care had emerged, and it was “devoted entirely to the care of mission personnel.”
He went on to say, “Member care, a term which is frequently used to describe this field, refers to the commitment of resources for the development of missionary personnel by mission agencies, sending churches and other missions related groups. It is basically synonymous with missionary care, and I have chosen to use both terms interchangeably throughout this volume.” (pp. 1-2). This statement was followed by a longer paragraph unpacking the definition. The terms appeared about equally in the book.
· Part One was titled “Missionary Care Overview”.
· Part Four was titled “Mission Agencies and Member Care.”
· Chapter 1 was “Perspectives on Member Care in Missions.”
· Chapter 2 was “Historical Notes on Missionary Care.”
· The introduction to Part One defined missionary care as “a means of encouraging and developing those on the front lines of world evangelization.”
· As noted above, at the beginning of Chapter 1, Kelly and Michele O’Donnell defined member care as “the ongoing commitment of resources and potential resources by mission agencies, sending churches, and related mission organizations for the development of missionary personnel.” This is followed by two paragraphs of a more detailed elaboration. This entire book is available to be viewed or downloaded at:
https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/mc-counting-the-cost-book-
Doing Member Care Well (2002)
A decade later Kelly O’Donnell titled his book, Doing Member Care Well and added the subtitle Perspectives and Practices from Around the World (2002, William Carey Library). In the names of the parts, sections, and chapters “member care” occurs 13 times and “missionary care” occurs only once. In the Index, “member care” and “missionaries and member care” are subdivided into 31 parts and “missionary care” never occurs. O’Donnell defined member care as follows.
Member care is the ongoing investment of resources by mission agencies, churches, and other mission organizations for the nurture and development of missionary personnel. It focuses on everyone in missions (missionaries, support staff, children, and families) and does so over the course of the missionary life cycle, from recruitment through retirement. (2002, p. 4)
O’Donnell goes on to elaborate on the definition and to give examples in the introduction. Then, in chapter one, he presents a “Member Care Model for Best Practice.” In this model he divides member care into five types:
· Master Care: God caring for missionaries
· Self/Mutual Care: Missionaries caring for themselves and for each other
· Sender Care: Churches and individuals caring for the missionaries they support
· Specialist Care: Pastors, psychologists, physicians, counselors, financial advisors, etc. caring for missionaries
· Network Care: Interagency member care affiliations.
The first part of this book is available at:
https://sites.google.com/site/membercaravan/test/doing-member-care-well
Global Member Care Network (2012)
A decade later the Global Member Care Network defined member care as:
Member Care is the
ongoing preparation, equipping and empowering of missionaries for effective and
sustainable life, ministry and work.
Member Care addresses all aspects of well-being of missionaries and their
dependents. It includes spiritual, emotional, relational, physical and economic
matters. Member care addresses the needs of single people, couples, families
and children. It seeks to empower missionaries to make healthy choices by
offering ongoing training, resourcing and equipping in all these areas. It is
integral to all aspects of mission including leadership, logistics, spiritual
formation, and church life. It begins with selection and continues throughout
the missionary life cycle to re-entry or retirement and beyond.
The responsibility for member care rests with the sending agency, the sending
church, the receiving church, leadership (home/field), the team, families,
individual supporters, competent member care providers and the individual
missionaries themselves. Those providing member care will seek to develop
competence in all relevant areas through ongoing learning, networking and
resourcing. They will serve the mission community with humility, integrity and
compassion, recognizing their own weaknesses and dependence on God’s grace and
gifting.
http://www.globalmembercare.com/index.php?id=34
The Global Member Care Network summarizes it like this: Member care is doing whatever it takes, within reason, to insure that our workers are cared for and supported by their agency, field leadership, and sending church. It is the ongoing preparation, equipping, and empowering of missionaries for effective and sustainable life, ministry and work.
Obviously, there is no accepted general definition of missionary member care. Some definitions are so broad that they include nearly everything done, and others are so restricted that they omit things that should be included.
What did Jesus do?
Jesus sent people into ministry and helped them prepare to take the gospel around the world. Looking at what Jesus did with the people he sent out to spread the gospel, we see that people in missionary member care now do many of the same things.
· He “called” (selected/screened) his disciples. The first four were selected in Galilee to become “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:18-22). Others were called later.
· He “appointed” or “chose” 12, designating them apostles (Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:13-16).
· He wanted the 12 chosen ones to “be with him” and that “he might send them out…” (Mark 3:13-19). While they were with him he taught them verbally and by example over months.
· He gave these 12 people authority over evil spirits and power to heal the sick (Matthew 10:1; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:1).
· He gave them instructions about where to go, what to take and not take, what to do, how to get lodging, what to expect, and encouragement (Matthew 10:5-42; Mark 6:8-11; Luke 9:1-5). (Note that he sent them only to Israel, their “passport country”).
· He sent the 12 out (Matthew 10:5; Mark 6:7; Luke 9:2).
· When they returned, he listened to their report (debriefed) (Mark 6:30; Luke 9:10).
· He took the12 to a solitary (quiet) place to get some rest (Mark 6:31-32; Luke 9:10).
· Years of mentoring followed, and after his resurrection he appeared to the remaining 11 and told them to go and make disciples of all nations (ethnic groups) (Matthew 28:16-20).
· Finally, just before he ascended into heaven, he met with them and sent them to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:6-9).
It is clear that there is no one generally accepted definition of missionary member care. Most definitions include something about helping missionaries develop so that will have effective ministries and keep doing those ministries for a long time. Perhaps a good definition can be made by combining what Paul said about the people who gave him member care, “They supplied what I needed, and they refreshed my spirit” (1 Corinthians 16:17-18; Philippians 2:25).
Note to the reader: If you have suggestions about other things that would better answer this chapter’s question, please email those to me at ron@missionarycare.com. In that email please tell me three things: (1) what you believe needs to be included, (2) links to relevant websites if available, and (3) how it better answers the question “What is missionary member care?” I plan to periodically update and expand the book with these suggestions.