Missionary Care. Engaging the African Church for Holistic Care of the Missionaries in the 21st Century
Eric S. Mbuh
Academic Paper from the year 2022 in the subject Theology - Miscellaneous, , course: Contemporary Mission In African, language: English, abstract: Missionary Care provides an excellent follow-up to Helping Missionaries Grow, which gave a broader sweep of mental health issues as they relate to missionary families. Missionaries remain part of the body of their sending church. Regardless of whether they are physically present for worship every week or are working on the other side of the globe, they are members “back home” unless something breaks the relationship. Their church, therefore, is responsible to provide care for them just like they do for other members of the community—but missionaries need it even. .One of the key leading scholars in the field of Missionary Care is Kelly O’ Donnell. He is the editor of the book Missionary Care: Counting the Cost for World Evangelization. With close to thirty contributors to this book, the work is divided into five areas of discussion, each consisting of five articles: (I) "Missionary Care Overview," a good basic review and defense of the needs and history of psychological and emotional care provision to missionaries in Africa; (2) "Counseling and Clinical Care," focusing on changes in the psychological makeup of today's missionary pool and the assessment and counseling tools being used to address those changes; (3) "Team Development," speaking both to special needs arising in team ministries and the concept of developing teams of holistic-health specialists to minister to field staff; (4) "Missions Agencies"; (5) "Future Directions," two very practical models, specific suggestions, and updates on current advances in the field of missionary care-giving
