Local Church Leaders,

For the majority of our missionaries, moving halfway across the world for the sake of the Gospel to answer a God-given calling started out as a small idea and a desire that they shared with us one day. Shortly after that conversation with them, our journey with them started. 

They entrusted us to take care of them, to lead them, and to equip them for the mission field. This journey may have taken several months or several years and probably involved intensive training, vetting, counseling, and fundraising. Near the end of our preparation season with them, we turned the page and sent them out—not only as church members from our fellowship but also as missionaries representing us as an extension of our church.

As church leaders, we all want to do an excellent job making sure our missionaries are celebrated as they are sent out: we host the familiar potluck dinner, meet up regularly with them as they have been fundraising, and we make sure to include a time of prayer for them in one of the Sunday services prior to them leaving.

We're reminded that we are losing some great lay-leaders and some of our community. Everyone feels simultaneously saddened and at peace. Their departure is a weird mixture of grief and excitement rolled in one as they seek to fulfill God’s calling for their life and continue the hard work of making disciples who make disciples. 

There is a lot of work that goes into preparing families and singles for the mission field… which is why it is typically shocking for us as church leaders to get the phone call a year later, explaining that life has been very difficult and they are coming back. This is when we all typically realize that living overseas to fulfill the great commission capacity is actually harder than we all thought it would be. And so is returning to the U.S.

Moving to the Mission Field is Really Difficult. 

Our Missionary Care Team at Houston’s First Baptist Church has lived through and heard it countless times: when the dust settles and reality sets in is when support is needed the most.

The first couple of months on the mission field are about encountering challenging molehills but befriending them in a blissful way. After 6 months to 1 year of living on the mission field, initial culture shock starts to kick in right on cue. While enduring culture shock, each one of those small molehill challenges are now combining as mountains to overcome: language, making friends, depression, isolation, and homesickness. Seeking to assimilate into a new culture without being familiar to a location, language, or people group are unique challenges within themselves. Initial culture shock has a lot to do with why it is so difficult to stay on the mission field.

As difficult as it is for missionaries to move overseas and live on the mission field, coming back stateside tends to be even more difficult. We must be sensitive to this. There are many reasons why missionaries return from the field before their committed time is up—some are preventable, while others are not.

As local church leaders, it is important to know how to handle the arrival back to the states with intentionality and purpose. Our missionaries and their mission organizations are entrusting us with their care, after enduring through a difficult season on the field.

In this article, I want to run through the difficulties missionaries go through as they come back State-Side in-order for us to be sensitive to their needs. Missionaries have three main difficulties upon returning from overseas:

1. Reverse Culture Shock is Real

For the majority of church leaders, we enjoy experiencing the “high” of working with missionary partners and serving together in community when we go on mission trips. The coming back “home” experience for us is embraced by our favorite foods and getting reacquainted to our warm bed. The biggest difficulty in this transition is probably getting back to a full email inbox and dealing with annoying jet-lag. 

For missionaries, it is nothing like this. Church leaders, it is essential for us to understand that we do not have the same arrival experience as our missionary partners when they land back her in the United States.

Last year, I wrote an article mentioning the dynamics of reverse-culture shock: 3 Things to Know — Before catching up with a Missionary. In my opinion, reentry is the most overlooked challenge a missionary experiences. Many missionaries look forward to seeing loved ones, but the coming back “home” journey can be difficult—especially after they have worked so hard through their initial culture shock. Our Missionary Care Team often hears that coming back “home” is more difficult than going away.

The transition and lack of belonging creates an undercurrent of tension called Reverse Culture Shock. Upon reentry, many missionaries struggle with anxiety and depression because of the overwhelming emotions of isolation, inadequacy, and constant transition. One example our team often hears about is the overwhelming choice they face in their first trip back to the grocery store. Having 30+ options to choose from for any given item from Kroger or H-E-B, can be stressful.

This struggle can make connecting and catching up with our missionaries over coffee quite uncomfortable or even awkward at times—especially when we realize we do not have a framework to understand their current needs.

2. Coming Back to Change is Challenging

Two major things typically change for missionaries when they come back from the mission field and visit their home church:

1. The Missionaries Themselves:

Living on the mission field for a duration of time changes folks. Moving to the field is not just a change in location but also a change in identity. It takes several months and even years to lay down who you were in the States and to slowly discover who you are meant to be on the field. Stepping back into old roles stateside is not that simple.

2. Our Church:

For any of us who have been on the staff at a local church for longer than 5 years, they know about transitions in leadership. These transitions have ripple effects on our churches—we all know that. They affect our staff and our members, but do we recognize how these transitions also affect our missionaries? The church leaders that typically transition out (for good or for bad reasons) have often had a deep impact on our missionary’s lives, through direct discipleship and preaching. Many times, these leaders have influenced their decision to leave everything behind for the mission field. It is essential for the sending church to stay in touch with their missionaries—especially through times of leadership transition.

3. Missionaries Need Debriefing

As mentioned earlier, there are many reasons why missionaries return to us from the mission field before their committed time is up—some are preventable while others are not. Either way, our church should have a debriefing protocol and plan in place to help our missionaries process their previous time on the mission field. Debriefing is a fancy word for counseling. It is an essential for our missionary folks to process out loud in a safe place which is provided and protected by us.

It is essential for our missionary folks to process out loud in a safe place that is provided and protected by us. Confidentiality is key in this! It is vitally important for our missionaries to know what they share with us stays with us. It will not be shared with their financial supporters, their mission organization, or to our own congregation. The only time we would communicate with their sending organization is if there were harm being done to themselves or harm to others.

Debriefing is something we highly encourage for all of our missionary partners to go through with a professional counselor as they return stateside. We actually make it a requirement. I would also encourage you to partner with a counseling practice if your church does not have those resources internally.

More Resources and Encouragement

A church that sends well is a church that also sustains well. I'm encouraged to see so many new churches taking on this idea of missionary care—taking on the responsibility for care and support of their missionaries who are living overseas. We will see the Kingdom advance, our missionaries re-mobilized, and great stories come from churches that love their missionaries well. Here are some resources to help: 

• Burn Up or Splash Down: Surviving the Culture Shock of Re-Entry

• Mind The Gaps: Engaging The Church In Missionary Care

• Tender Care: Providing Pastoral Care for God’s Global Servants

How can I help you?

1. If you are a missionary or global worker currently on the mission field and this piece of content really spoke to you… we would love to connect.

2. If you are a church leader interested in learning more about supporting your missionaries, we would love to connect.

3. If you are a family or friend of a missionary and would like to talk through some creative ways to support your loved one, we would love to connect.

Skyler Womack served as the Minister of Missionary Care at Houston's First Baptist Church. Skyler and side his wife, Abigail Womack, currently live in downtown, Houston. They work with Apartmemt Life to provide wholistic community for their high-rise community.

Photo by yousef alfuhigi on Unsplash