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
Cross-cultural marriage
Building a Support Ecosystem
In this course, we examine the different dimensions of support that are needed for a successful cross-cultural experience or lifestyle….
The Antioch Factor
Growing in Cultural Intelligence
Thriving Across Borders
This course covers the major transitions that someone will make when crossing cultures. We delve into the typical transition points…
Know Thyself
This course explores the concept of understanding ourselves within the context of our own cultures. Before delving into how we…
Calling – Who? What? Why?
In the church, there exists a widespread misconception that only “exceptional Christians” receive a “proper” calling from God. The truth,…
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…
Announcing the Field Partner Podcast!
We’re excited to launch the Field Partner Podcast, the latest addition to our resources. Listen here Why have you started…
Four questions from Jonah 4
Ross talks of Jonah’s battle with the Lord in Jonah 4 and how that relates to us today.
Podcast: Cross Cultural Mission Experiences That We Can Learn From Abraham
Abraham, the father of our faith and of cross cultural mission! Hi, this is Ross Paterson, I’d like to take…
Tackling Tough Topics with Elizabeth Trotter
Elizabeth and her husband Jonathan were missionaries to Cambodia. They returned to America during Covid lockdown in a sudden and…
Five Fundamental Mistakes re: mission
Ross Paterson lists 5 traps we can fall into which make us miss the invitation to reach the rest of…
Waiting for God – James 5: 7-11
Ross Paterson’s sermon recorded for the pacesetters at Hinghwa Methodist Church, Singapore In this sermon, Ross examines James 5: 7 –…
Hope in a Warzone with Simon Guillebaud
Discover more about Great Lakes Outreach (GLO) and their weekly Zoom prayer meetings, as well as watch Onesphore’s prayer for Europe &…
Sermon | Hannah: Ordinary People Making a Difference
Ross Paterson’s sermon on the example of Hannah. If you’d like a more in-depth look into the example of Hannah,…
Self-care for God’s Servants
FieldPartner was proud to host ‘Self-care for God’s Servants’, an excellent presentation from Tony Horsfall. ‘Self-care for God’s Servants’ asked the…
The 4 Questions
Transcript (Summarized) The 4 Questions English Today, I am going to share from John’s Gospel chapters 5 to 7, and…
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…
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 – Dear Old Paul, What Was Going On?
Below are some notes on what I talked about in my Facebook post.Firstly on J.O. Fraser. Secondly, on the Apostle…
Resolution Number 2 – Pray For Missionaries
The second of Chuck Lawless’ ten New Year’s Resolutions, all of which relate to cross-cultural mission, says: “I will pray…
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…
Mary Slessor – An Extraordinary Scottish Missionary
Mary Slessor, 1848-1915, was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary to Africa. She made a huge impact on Nigeria and beyond. One…
George Müller – A Second Wind For Mission
Many readers of these brief missionary biographies will know something of the remarkable life of George Müller (1805-1898), how he showed amazing…
J. O. Fraser – The Loneliness Of The Cross-Cultural Missionary
In this article, I want simply to share a short paragraph from J.O. Fraser’s biography, which in a few…
J. O. Fraser – Fraser’s Spiritual Secret
This week I want to cover an event in Fraser’s life that literally was the difference between success and failure…