There is a growing interest in member care for Chinese missionaries as Chinese mission organizations are sprouting everywhere and Chinese churches in different parts of the world are responding to the call of the Great Commission.
How is the Chinese missions endeavor doing?
Aside from a few exceptions, it appears that there is high attrition!
At a 2016 consultation on Chinese member care held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we talked about how complicated it can be, since when we say “Chinese” we are talking about a heterogeneous group of people coming from different backgrounds and nations. Yet, we must remember that we are talking about human beings who all share a common need to be loved, heard, cared for, and feel safe. Despite differences, there are still many areas relating to member care that can apply to anyone. These areas can be a good starting point in providing relevant, culturally sensitive member care for most Chinese missionaries.
In 2022, the Chinese member care handbook compiled by Linghuei Wang, Yih Jia Chang, and myself, was published. This material tackles many topics that are deemed important in providing member care for Chinese missionaries. We included attempts at contextualizing pre-existing materials used by Western member care providers as well as thoughts from our own experiences as Chinese missionaries and as member care providers for Chinese missionaries. Out of this handbook came the desire to provide training for Chinese people in ministry who have a heart to serve Chinese missionaries.
Ambassadors for Christ, seeing the importance of member care for the future of Chinese missions, has agreed to host four online introductory training sessions in June, and an in-person experiential retreat in July using Mandarin as the preferred language. The hope is that these trainings will encourage Chinese churches and mission organizations to send folks who show the gift of caring and have a heart for missions, so they might use their gifts to better care for the missionaries being sent out by their churches and organizations. We desire to see pastors, mission committee members, church small group leaders, designated member care staff of mission organizations, agency leaders, and missionaries attend this introductory training. We believe that member care is an integral part of missions sending and we want to see Chinese senders better equipped in this area!
The time is ripe to have men and women answer the call to be effective senders who truly care and who want their missionaries to survive and thrive well in the mission field. The sent and the senders will fulfill the Great Commission together.
Click here for more information on the upcoming Chinese member care training.
Ruth C. Chang
Ruth C. Chang received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Rosemead School of Psychology in 1980. Since 2006, Chang has been an associate staff of Narramore Christian Foundation, serving missionaries as well as speaking and writing about marriage, family, and other relational topics. From 2006 to 2012, Chang and her …View Full Bio
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