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“…so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well” (1 Thes. 2:8).
Joseph told his brothers to return with their father as he wanted to care for them during the years of famine ahead. Care is a consistent theme in the Bible and is rooted in love (1 Thes. 2:8). It starts with God giving man responsibility to care for his creation (Gen 1:26) and later we are exhorted to love our neighbour as ourselves.
At MissionPREP (MP) our pre & post cross-cultural trainings are a way to care for people as they head out to or return from cross-cultural ministry. At MP, we are one part of a bigger team of organizations, churches, agencies and individuals who provide care. Just as the Good Samaritan needed others like the motel manager, to help care for the wounded traveller, and Jesus needed John to help care for his mom, we’re thankful for the collaboration we have with others who help provide care for the people we serve.
Jesse and Stephanie Poriz attended our online IMPACT pre-field training as they prepared for cross cultural ministry in Papua New Guinea where Stephanie was from. We discovered during the course that they had five children, three of whom were school age, but they had not considered the need for training for their children as they knew Stephanie’s family would be a good support for them.
Aware of the challenges missionary kids face as they cross cultures, we felt prompted to meet with Jesse and Stephanie to share with them about our children’s program and MissionPREP’s high value of training and debriefing whole families. We shared some of the key challenges for missionary kids including frequent transitions in their lives, the potential of accumulating grief from multiple losses through all the changes, the importance of helping children learn to identify and express their emotions in healthy ways and helping them anchor their identity in knowing they are loved by God who never changes even when everything around them is changing.
The parents were glad for the nudge to consider training for their children, and we arranged a special children’s online program. Henigrace (11), Mercy (9), and Xander (7) shared openly and engaged deeply with the lessons in a way that surprised us all. The family were grateful for the valuable lessons, with some similar topics for both the adults and children, to help them process their journey together as they prepared to transition to their new culture.
MP is a collaborative organization and we function as a caring community amongst over 20 facilitators, and 15 member organization besides the adults and children that attend our programs. In the last couple of years we have had ongoing prayer concerns for some of our leaders battling severe health challenges, retiring from ministry, leadership changes in their ministry and other challenges.
Several years ago, Chris came through our IMPACT program and later, upon return from her field of service, attended our RE-VIEW program. She expressed how helpful the MissionPREP training and debriefing had been for her and how she would be interested in caring for other missionaries in this way. We could see how her gifts could be helpful to other missionaries and invited her to be involved with us at MP. Her agency agreed to her part-time participation with us and we have been blessed by her gift of care and encouragement and her passion for ministering to Cross Cultural workers. In the last months, we have had a chance to care for her as she battles a major health concern and while she is no longer able to assist in our programs, she continues to stay connected with us at MissionPREP.
We thank the Lord for the ministry of MissionPREP that can be a conduit for His care.
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