Article Archives - Page 14 of 35

Instruments of care

All Christians, even missionaries, are not super-human. We’re broken people who experience hardships. Political unrests, trembling economies, and the global pandemic paint a picture of losses, and often traumatic experiences. Our God is immeasur...

Behind the walls of crushing trauma

After Mule* hung up the phone, he felt like someone had turned him upside down. He knew intimately what was at stake. He felt betrayed, maligned, and crushed, but the impact was only beginning. “I was preparing for an exam that wee...

Called: Grief, scorpions and healing

I was struggling. Like frying popcorn in an open pot, my unexpressed emotions flew everywhere. I seethed silently in resentment and stewed in my depressive thoughts.

My relationship with fellow missionaries teetered on irrepar...

Burdened beyond measure

I just finished a long phone call with a brother who serves in a pioneering mission context. He was utterly traumatized by what his leader was doing to him. He felt rejected, abandoned, stigmatized, completely lost, and worst of all – alone. He ...

Barriers to and benefits of seeking counselling

The life of a cross-cultural missionary is fraught with stressors and challenges not typically experienced by those who reside in their own countries or cultures. The traumas of African Christian workers and missionaries can range from unexpected ...

Find the balance

Family is central to Africans, who we are and how we exist. Remove family, and we are not a people. Our nuclear and extended families are interconnected, and this web often determines many decisions we make. Family in Africa exists to support indi...

Called: Ralambo Tiffanie – no longer lonely

I faced a lot of suspicion when I first arrived as a missionary on the Island. Unknown to me, some Malagasy single women who arrived before me were involved in prostitution. It was tough to settle as a single Malagasy girl on an Isla...

Missionary call and family – an “Ubuntu” option

Must a missionary abandon his family to truly answer God’s call to reach the lost? Across the continent, a new generation of African missionaries is going out, and their families do not always understand the reasons. It can app...

A turnaround for Reagan

Reagan had never left the town of Kumasi in his entire life. So the day he boarded a bus for the mission field far away from home was a big day. Upon arriving in Tamale, he discovered that the bus to Gbintre moved once a day. He didn...

Missionary calling and family concerns

You have been called to serve as a missionary, but family concerns threaten to pull you the other way. How do you resolve the dilemma? We have compiled advice from mission leaders to address some common family issues that arise when ...