Pray for our “Returning Missionaries”

This post is about those missionaries who are returning “home” from the “field”. Ok, it can be hard to define terms, especially the “home” one. But generally I’m talking about missionaries returning to their “passport country” after a time in another country, involved in cross-cultural missions.

However you use your terms, the point is, we need to pray for these people.

Why have they returned? You may think you know, but you may not. Because the reasons are often very complex. Is it a temporary return, or permanent? Retirement? Kids in college? Health problems? Trouble on the field? Personality problems? A completed task? Or that notorious cover-all explanation – they were “called” back?

Even if the reasons are good, understandable and positive, you need to understand that this transition is hard.

Recently I heard from a missionary who had returned home after many years on the field. He was asked,”Which was more difficult? Transitioning to the field, or transitioning back?”

I don’t know what I expected to hear. I wouldn’t be surprised if transitioning back is harder for a lot of people, but I know that both have their challenges.

But I was not expecting the answer I heard.

First, I should explain that this missionary, although now in his home country, is still involved in cross-cultural mission work in his second language. In fact, he’s still doing cross-cultural church planting. So perhaps the change isn’t as great for him as it would be for others.

But his answer was that transitioning back was harder – in every way.

Yes, in every way.

This isn’t intended to scare missionaries on the field, or depress missionaries returning home. This is for family, friends, and most of all, churches, who are receiving missionaries back from the field. We need to pray for and support these people – perhaps just as much as we did when they left, if not more.

In case you’re still skeptical, here are a few things that returning missionaries may face:

• Grieving: They’ve left home and friends behind to come “home”, even if the reasons are “positive”.
• Reverse culture shock: This phenomenon is well known, even in non-Christian circles. It can involve a general feeling of confusion and disorientation as you try to adjust to another culture – one that may at first seem familiar, but may have changed drastically, as you have.
• Practical matters: This is compounded by the last point, but a huge adjustment is simply figuring out where to live, how to live – doing the paperwork, making the contacts, learning the roads.
• “Shallow” relationships: – or at least it may seem that way. It’s no one’s fault, but the friends and family a missionary has back home may not be as close as they once were. Very few people, if any, may be interested in the whole other world the missionary knew on the field. All the people and situations back on the field remain a critical concern, but there’s no one to really share with.
• Loss of identity: Depending on the situation, many missionaries may feel like they had a place and a purpose on the field. But back home, they are no one and have no purpose. It takes time to fit back in.
• Family issues: Some in the family may be happy to be “home”. Others not so much. Others may not even know “home”. Everyone has to adjust together.
• Emotional baggage: What if there was unresolved conflict on the field – or back home? What if leaving was a deep hurt that will need time to heal? What if there was a health crisis, or other type of crisis?
• Expectations: “Home” is not how you remember it. It’s also not really the way it appears when you’re “just visiting”.

These are just a few things, off the top of my head. But I think it shows that returning missionaries need support, and maybe even training, as they enter into a new phase of life. Is your church there for your returning missionary? Can you point them to help? Maybe even provide financial support? Maybe given them a chance to share (more than 5 minutes on a Sunday morning when they return after 20 years of service)?

But something we can all to to start with is pray. Let’s pray for our returning missionaries. And maybe even let them know we’re praying.