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Member Care Updates
Expanding the global impact of member care
Working together for wellbeing and effectiveness
Special News--June 2022
Doing Member Character Well
Global Integrity Day--9 June 2022
Tools for Being Righteous and Relevant
"Member care [develops] the resiliency to do our work well which includes our character, competencies, and social support. It is also about developing relational resiliency, which includes working through the inevitable differences and impasses with international and local fellow-workers. Member care helps to balance the realistic demands of suffering and sacrifice with the realistic needs for support and nurture in our lives.” Global Member Care (Volume One): The Pearls and Perils of Good Practice (2011) page 7
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Overview
What does integrity have to do with member care? Everything! And so does global integrity with global member care!
In this Update we focus (again!) on the very practical and personal linking of member care and mission with integrity. Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness--and hence a core part of the healthy, virtuous character needed in mission workers and for mission.
Specifically we present a selection of "spotlight events" for you from Global Integrity Day--9 June 2022 (focusing this year on the health sector). These special events are free, on-demand video-webinars that can further equip the mission and member care community with the understanding and tools for integrity and anti-corruption. We are both honored and challenged to be the initial GID convenors and website coordinators since the GID launch in 2020!
What is GID?
“Global Integrity Day (GID)...is a positive day to reflect, teach, and collaborate on ways to integrate integrity in all we do throughout the entire year. GID is a strategic day to promote a) cultivating lifestyles, cultures, and systems of integrity from the individual through the international levels; b) joining together to understand and address the causes and consequences of corruption in its many forms; and c) working towards just and equitable societies marked with wellbeing for all people and for the planet.” Global Integrity Day website
Our Suggestions for Member Care and Mission--Two of the GID Spotlight Events
Integrity and Anti-Corruption on the Frontlines (30 April 2022), five interviews with Christian advocates from around the world organized by Lausanne-WEA Global Integrity Network (about 20 minutes each)
Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Health Care: Why Do We Speak So Little About Them? (13 December 2021), a one-hour interactive webinar organized by the Faith and Public Integrity Network.
We also feature in this Update two core clusters of resources on "Psychological Insights on Integrity and Corruption" (GID website) as well as recent materials that we have done on integrity and corruption.
Applications
1. Into member character always! Take a few minutes to look over the various materials in this Update. Note a few items that you would like to review further (read or watch) and consider doing so interactively with some colleagues. How can the materials support the development of "member character" in mission and our commitments to be "righteous and relevant" in our lives.
2. Into integrity around 9 June! Click HERE for more information and resources for the GID spotlight events. We encourage you to watch one or more of them the week before or after 9 June. Spread the word!
Doing Member Care Well. We finish this Update with materials from Doing Member Care Well (2002), celebrating the 20th year of is publication. It includes links to many of its chapters in six languages and encourages us to prudently build on our member care foundations by developing our character as we face the ongoing and overlapping issues in our precarious, perilous, and precious world.
See these Member Care Updates:
--Soul Care: Spiritual Formation for Mission Workers (February 2022)
--Moral Health for a More Whole World (January 2019)
--Righteous and Relevant Leaders (June 2018)
--Character Counts! (August 2014)
Warm greetings,
Kelly and Michèle
 
--Share your comments and resources on our MCA Facebook page
--Send us your ideas and resources for future MC Updates
--Forward to your colleagues and networks
MCAresources@gmail.com
Featured Resources
Doing Member Character Well
Global Integrity Day--9 June 2022
Tools for Being Righteous and Relevant
Member care seeks to implement an adequate flow of care from recruitment through retirement. The goal is to develop resilience, skills, and virtue, which are key to helping personnel stay healthy and effective in their work. Member care thus involves both developing inner resources (e.g., perseverance, stress tolerance) and providing external resources (e.g., team building, logistical support, skill training). Global Member Care (Volume One): The Pearls and Perils of Good Practice (2011) page 10
Spotlight Event 1. Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Health Care: Why Do We Speak So Little About Them? (13 December 2021), a one-hour webinar organized by the Faith and Public Integrity Network.
Spotlight Event 2. Contributions for Moral Health from Peace Psychology (7 November 2018), a 25 minute presentation during Geneva Peace Week, held at United Nations.
Spotlight Event 3. Breaking Vicious Cycles of Dirty Money and Impunity (4 December 2020), a plenary from the 19th International Anti-Corruption Conference (90 minutes with Q and A).
Spotlight Event 4. Integrity and Anti-Corruption on the Frontlines (30 April 2022), five interviews with advocates from around the world organized by Lausanne-WEA Global Integrity Network (about 20 minutes each).
Spotlight Event 5. The Use of Technologies for Battling Corruption (free e-course available online from 9 May-June 20--in Arabic and English) offered by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Making the most of the GID spotlight events
Watch one or more of these events during the week before or after 9 June, including doing so interactively with friends and colleagues. Consider:
--What did you find the most interesting or helpful?
--List a few things that you would like to explore more.
--Was there anything you thought to be controversial or not helpful?
--List some practical applications for you/your settings.
Click HERE for more information and resources for the spotlight events.
Spread the word!
More Resources for Integrity
Being Righteous and Relevant
"Integrity is moral wholeness—living consistently in moral wholeness. Corruption is moral rottenness, the opposite of integrity--the distortion, perversion, and deterioration of moral goodness, resulting in the abuse and exploitation of people and the planet. It is integroty. Global integrity is living consistently in moral wholeness at all levels--individual, interpersonal, institutional, and international; across sectors and settings; local through global; the systemic and structural." Global Integrity Day website
Cluster 1. Psychological insights on integrity and corruption (resources listed on the GID website homepage in the Integrity and Corruption in the Health Sector section)
--Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Behaviors (2020, 3rd edition). Caroll Tavris and Elliot Aronson. See the Table of Contents, Preface, Introduction, and Chapter 1 in the Amazon book preview.
--Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm and Live with Themselves (2016). Albert Bandura. Moral disengagement refers to a variety of ways that people (individuals, groups, and social systems) selectively absolve themselves from self-sanctions and responsibility for their harmful behaviors Bandura identifies eight mechanisms of moral disengagement. You can read a summary HERE.
--The Social Psychology of Good and Evil (2016, 2nd edition). Edited by Arthur Miller. See the Table of Contents, Introduction-Overview, and Index in the Amazon book preview.
--Positive Psychology Resources. “Positive Psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance their experiences of love, work, and play.” Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Also see the related materials from the Authentic Happiness website including free self-assessments for wellbeing, character strengths-virtues, etc.
Cluster 2. Some of our recent resources on integrity and corruption (listed in the Global Integrity section, MCA website)
--A Psychologist's Journey into Global Integrity--the 20 minute interview with Dr. Kelly O'Donnell during the Lausanne-WEA Global Integrity Network Conference on 30 April 2022 (see the summary reflections and resources from the interview HERE).
--Living in Global Integrity: Moral Health for a More Whole World--a chapter by Dr. Kelly O'Donnell and Dr. Michèle Lewis O'Donnell in Part Three--The Word of God, Integrity, and Humility--in Essays on Holistic Biblical Ministries (2022).
--Multi-Sectoral Resources for Pro-Integrity and Anti-Corruption--an expanded list of resources to accompany the Drs. O'Donnell book chapter in item two above.
Doing Member Care Well
Doing Member Character Well
Building on Our Foundations into the Future
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35
This year 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of Doing Member Care Well (2002). Many of the 50 chapters are available in 6 languages and many are online for free. We continue to encourage colleagues to prudently build on our member care foundations as we develop our character in view of the many challenges and opportunities in our world to do good and to share the good news. Have a look at the excerpt below from the Introduction (page 4) and the two chapters highlighted.
“The development of member care really has its origins in the biblical admonitions to “love one another” (John 13:34), “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2), and scores of similar “one another” verses that fill the New Testament (see Jones & Jones, 1995, pp. 160-162). Member care, in this sense, is nothing new. Yet what is new is the more organized attempt to develop comprehensive, sustainable member care approaches to support cross-cultural Christian workers....The word “member” implies belonging. So member care includes the sense of community, along with the attendant mutual responsibility for care between those who belong to a group (e.g., a sending organization or colleagues in a specific setting).
Another key source of member care is the mutually supportive relationships which mission workers form with those in the host culture. Whatever the source, the goal is to develop godly character, inner strength, and skills to help personnel remain effective in their work. Member care, then, is as much about developing inner resources within individuals as it is about providing external resources to support them in their work. At the personal level, each individual must find a balance between the realities of suffering/sacrifice and the normal desires for personal growth/fulfillment. At the agency level, we must harmonize the organizational emphasis on “achievement/ task” with the staff needs for “support/ member care.”
--Chapter 17. Preparing to Persevere in Brazilian Missions by Marcia Tostes. “‘Blessed, happy, to be envied is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved he will receive the victor’s crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him’ (James 1:12 Amplified). This article looks at how this verse is becoming a reality in the lives of mission personnel from Brazil. The author offers practical encouragement on how the Brazilian church can take the next step forward--the step of perseverance--in its global missions efforts.”
--Chapter 24. Sexual Purity In Missions by Ken Williams. “Healthy sexuality is a significant challenge anywhere these days. Mission c workers can expect to be tempted and challenged in this area as they follow the Biblical guidelines/admonitions to live sensibly and holy (Titus 2:11-15). Here are several practical strategies and tools for remaining pure in missions, and for avoiding the snares of the Evil One.”
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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com
Member Care Associates Inc. (MCA) is a Christian non-profit organization working internationally and across sectors. We focus on personnel development for mission, humanitarian, development, and health workers and their organizations; global mental health; ethics and good practice; and integrity/anti-corruption. Our services include consultation, training, research, developing resources, and publications.
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Our Special News-Updates 1) promote the wellbeing and effectiveness (WE) of staff and sending groups and 2) support the diversity of colleagues with member care responsibilities. The focus is on the mission sector with applications for/from the overlapping health, development, and humanitarian sectors.
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Global Integration (GI) is a framework for responsibly and actively engaging in our world--collaborating locally through globally for God's glory. It encourages connecting relationally and contributing relevantly on behalf of human wellbeing and the issues facing humanity, in light of our integrity and core values (e.g., ethical, humanitarian, human rights, faith-based). See more perspectives about GI HERE.
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