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Observations

Should I Stay Or Should I go?

What are the factors that should influence whether missionaries stay on the field or go home?

At the start of the pandemic (remember that?), there were a few blog posts agonising over the question of whether missionaries should stay in their location as the situation unfolded. Some were of the opinion that missionaries should always stay in their work situation, while others thought that travelling home made more sense.

The thing is, that a global pandemic is just one of many factors that might influence missionaries to return to their home country. Political insecurity, health problems, stress, the need to care for family at home and a wide range of other things can all have an impact.

Our Evangelical culture places a huge value on missionaries who commit to a situation for the whole of their lives. We see this as something that is admirable and an example of what true discipleship looks like. The thing is, the Bible doesn’t really give us any examples like this. The picture in Scripture is of missionaries who plant a church and then move on. Now, I’m not saying that real long-term service is not a value; I believe that it is. However, we should be careful about giving it a priority that Scripture does not accord it. Just because a missionary goes to a particular place, it does not mean that they should stay there till they die. Some will, some won’t.

On the other hand, missionaries who flee an area at the first sign of trouble don’t communicate any confidence in Jesus to take care of them.

Personally, I don’t think it is possible to give a hard and fast rule about when missionaries should or should not leave a situation. I have friends who have stayed in place through wars and others who have been evacuated by their government because of the danger they were in. However, I do think that there are a few principles which can help inform the decision.

You should consider leaving when:

You become a serious burden to the people you have come to serve. Missionaries need to learn to receive, however, if because of ill-health or some other reason they start to cause major problems for the people they are serving, they should consider leaving.

You put other peoples’ lives in danger. At times of political instability or violence, the presence of a missionary in a community can be a risk to that community. Equally, when a missionary stays in an insecure location, they may put their colleagues, who are responsible for their safety, in a dangerous position. It is one thing being willing to sacrifice your own life for the gospel, it’s quite another to sacrifice other peoples’ lives for your own stubornness.

Your family needs you. Family is not the highest calling in a Christian’s life, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have responsibilities that need to be born in mind. Whether we are considering elderly parents who need their children’s support or the children of missionaries who would best be served by schools in the home country, there are situations where family concerns should cause missionaries to consider returning home.

There are multiple issues at play here and I wouldn’t draw hard and fast rules with any of these three factors. However, there is one situation where I believe that any missionary should return home immediately.

You are doing more harm than good. Not all missionaries are effective in their roles (even if their prayer letters give that impression). There are all sorts of reasons why they don’t do well; culture shock, failure to learn the language and so on. Often, people can be reassigned to a role where they are able to make a more positive contribution. However, some people are just pains in the neck (an official theological term). They would be difficult to work with in any situation, but in a cross-cultural context where things are heightened, they can become unbearable to their colleagues and to the people they are meant to be serving. Others do a great job, but for one reason or another, they demand a massive amount of support and reassurance such that others can’t get on with their work. It is absolutely essential that some sort of review process is in place for mission workers (I’d say the same for church workers at home, too – but that’s another story) so that issues like this can be identified.

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