Facilitating the Mission

American missionaries need a framework for understanding how people in other cultures treat each other, how to interact, and how to communicate in honor-based cultures.

This podcast is the second half of “Honor and Shame,” a talk Jeff Jackson gave at Calvary Chapel Bible College (Costa Mesa Extension) in the spring of 2016. For this series, we’ve grabbed some audio from our language and culture resources page.

In part two, Jeff expands on the differences between American culture and culture in most of the rest of the world.

Here's a link to part one in this series.

For this podcast, we’ve grabbed some audio from our language and culture resources page. This is the first half of “Honor and Shame”, a talk Jeff gave at Calvary Chapel Bible College (Costa Mesa Extension) in the spring of 2016.

In this message, Jeff Jackson defines the difference between American culture and culture in most of the rest of the world.

photo credit: CAPITOL STANDARD

NURTURE:  To care for and encourage the growth and development of someone.

The pastors and leaders of any healthy local church regularly seek God's guidance for fresh methods of growth and development of their members. They're nurturing the growth of the flock.

As important as this is for their local members, it's even more important for leaders in local churches to consistently seek God to discover fresh channels for missionary nurture and encouragement to flow through.

In this podcast, Jeff and Bryon discuss the importance of missionary nurture and how to make it a priority. 

Here are some links to resources highlighted in this episode:

» Neal Pirolo’s book, Serving as Senders

» Missionary Nurture Teams: Why are they necessary?

» Missionary Nurture Teams: A distinct expression of Missionary Care

» Missionary Nurture Teams: Making them a reality

» missionarycare.com

photo by Ben White

Jeff refers to his missionary re-entry experience as the catalyst for how and why Shepherd’s Staff Mission Facilitators operates the way it does. We also talk about easy and practical ways to include returning missionaries into the fold and include the local church in the re-entry process. When thought through, everyone grows and the local church’s vision for missions expands.

Finally, Jeff talks about how to train people in the congregation to own specific ministry to those returning from the field. These are some of the resources referred to in this show:

»Re Entry: Making the Transition from Missions Life to Life at Home by Peter Jordan

»The Reentry Team: Caring for Your Returning Missionaries by Neal Pirolo

»I am a Triangle and Other Tips for Repatriation by Naomi Hattaway

»Reentry Part Three

»Reentry Part Two

»Reentry Part One

In part three of our series about missionary reentry, Jeff Jackson interviews Susan Mondok about coming home from the mission field from a woman's point of view. In the first two parts of this series, we mostly looked at the issue from a male point of view, and Susan helps round the discussion out nicely since there are many layers to this issue. Susan also talks about the adjustment her teenaged children had to make when coming back to school and church in the States.

In this podcast, the second in this series about the phenomenon known as re-entry, we learn that it is a reality. Often missionaries go to the field thinking their biggest challenge will be adjusting to and learning a new culture on a foreign field. But the startling reality is this: coming home can be and often is more a bigger adjustment than going to the mission field.

If you need to get caught up, click here to listen to part one of this series.

In Part One of this series, Jeff Jackson introduces listeners to the reality of re-entry. Most people are surprised to learn that coming back to the States and American culture after serving for a term, whether short or extended, in the foreign field, is difficult. It seems the biggest shock to the system and senses would occur when a missionary arrives on the field. But the truth is, coming home is not necessarily a home coming.