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Featured Resources
Missionary Care
Counting the Cost for World Evangelization

A Handbook for Developing Healthy and Effective Mission Personnel
25 foundational chapters--30 years of relevance!

“Member care is concerned with keeping mission personnel and their families healthy, resilient, and effective. Pre-field training, field orientation, field coaching, personnel departments, pastoral counselors, and reentry preparation are but a few of the many ingredients needed for a successful member care program. Member care serves as a handmaiden to the missions task, supporting missions personnel from candidacy through retirement. As such it is an ongoing and strategic means to help missionaries get their job done.” Introduction to Missionary Care (page 2)

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Welcome (back!) to this landmark book and its foundational gems--ongoing relevant materials--from a variety of member care practitioners and leaders in the field! There are 25 chapters in Missionary Care organized into five sections (with introductions by the consulting editors): Member Care Overview, Counseling/Clinical Care, Team Development, Mission Agencies, and Future Directions. The materials below have links for free access/download. You are also able to purchase the hard copy from Amazon and other online retailers.

CONTENTS
TOC
Foreword--Ralph and Roberta Winter
Preface--Kelly O'Donnell
List of Contributors

Introduction to Missionary Care--Kelly O'Donnell, Editor

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PART ONE: MISSIONARY CARE OVERVIEW
Introduction to Part One--John Powell, Consulting Editor
“World evangelization exacts a price in human resources that can only be balanced by the eternal results that it produces. Sensitive and continuing care are needed to support those called to this divine and demanding task. But what types of care do missionaries need? How has it been provided in the past? And how can mission agencies develop balanced, effective member care programs for their people? Part One of this book addresses these important questions. Its five articles span the member care terrain, providing a bird's-eye view of its nature, practice, and relevance to missionary health and ministry effectiveness”. (page 7)

1. Perspectives on Member Care--Kelly O'Donnell and Michèle Lewis O'Donnell
2. Historical Notes on Missionary Care--Ruth Tucker and Leslie Andrews
3. Core Issues in Missionary Life--LeRoy Johnston
4. A Model for Mutual Care in Missions--Kenneth Williams
5. Supporting Missions Through Pastoral Care--Barry Austin

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PART TWO: COUNSELING AND CLINICAL CARE
Introduction to Part Two--Brent Lindquist, Consulting Editor
“Fortunately, there is a growing recognition that caring for missionary personnel only after they fall apart is probably not the best stewardship of resources, both economic and human. A balanced approach to member care is thus needed which also includes prevention, personal development, and ongoing supportive services. Part Two, due to its clinical emphasis, focuses largely on remedial care issues. Nonetheless, several authors have also included relevant material on preventing problems and providing supportive care.” (page 71)

6. Current Issues in Screening and Selection--Esther Schubert
7. Psychopathology in Missionary Personnel--Jarrett Richardson
8. Understanding and Managing Stress--Kelly O'Donnell and Michèle Lewis O'Donnell
9. Short-Term Missionary Counseling--John Powell
10. Crisis Intervention in the Mission Community--Laura Mae Gardner

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PART THREE: TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Introduction to Part Three--Kenneth Harder, Consulting Editor
“Part Three attempts to narrow the gap between team involvement and the minimal training in team life that team leaders and team members often receive. Missionary teams, of course, do not develop automatically. Like plants, they must be cultivated during their formation and subsequent stages. As the five articles in this section point out, teams require periodic, planned care and regularly scheduled times for coaching and team growth activities. Although most of the chapters are oriented towards teams in field settings, much of their content can be applied to teams and departments back in an agency's home office.” (page 153)

11. Multinational Teams--Sandra Mackin
12. Coaching Missionary Teams--Tim Lewis and Becky Lewis
13. Field Leaders and Team Nurture--Kenneth Harder
14. Tools for Team Viability--Kelly O'Donnell
15. Guidelines for Short-Term Field Consultants--Frances White

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PART FOUR: MISSION AGENCIES AND MEMBER CARE
Introduction to Part Four--Richard Gardner and Laura Mae Gardner, Consulting Editors
"Each of the five articles in Part Four focuses on a different aspect of the member care picture. Leaders and staff are challenged to pursue healthy agency practices, understand the dynamics of their agency, participate in a career development program, anticipate some of the ethical issues involved in member care, and make use of supportive resources. Perhaps the underlying theme connecting these articles is the emphasis on the responsibility of the organization to support and nurture its people. The more proactive we are in developing our people, the more effective and God-honoring we will be in the task of world evangelism.” (page 218)

16. Nine Essentials for Organizational Development--Hans Finzel
17. The Dynamics of Healthy Missions--Frances White
18. Career Development and the Mission Agency--Peter Shedlosky
19. Ethical Concerns in Member Care--Kelly O'Donnell and Michèle Lewis O'Donnell
20. Supporting Mission Leaders--Richard Gardner and Laura Mae Gardner

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PART FIVE: FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Introduction to Part Five--Michèle Lewis O'Donnell, Consulting Editor
“This final section looks at some of the ways in which member care services can be strategically developed and provided.....As the number of member care providers expands in the coming years, where and how can they be most strategically placed? What types of specialized training and experience will be needed to deal with the unique challenges of particular frontier settings and the burgeoning numbers of missionary personnel from the Two-Thirds World? And when will mission support centers, inter-agency consultations, and other member care resources be established to serve missionary personnel who have prioritized work among unevangelized areas and people groups? These are the crucial questions--and the directions—which the missions community must pursue as it seeks to both adequately care for its people and faithfully fulfill the Great Commission.”  (pages 283 and 285)

21. An Agenda for Member Care in Missions--Kelly O'Donnell
22. The Increasing Role of the Sending Church--Gary Strauss and Kathy Narramore
23. Training-Using Member Care Workers--Richard Gardner and Laura Mae Gardner
24. Missionary Support Centers--Brent Lindquist
25. The Member Care Consultation--Hans Ritschard

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Member Care Associates
MCAresources@gmail.com

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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