Missionary attrition study

Hudson Deane* has recently published a study of the reasons New Zealander have returned home from the mission field.  He gave his respondents a list of 45 possible reasons and asked them to rank the top 7 factors causing them to return.  The top reasons (weighted ranking) are as follows:

All missionaries:

1. Children’s education
2. Completion of task
3. Emotional stress
4. Physical health
5. Job satisfaction

Singles only:

1. Work overload
2. Emotional stress
3. Cultural fatigue
4. Lack of pastoral support

Emotional stress ranks highly, and is probably a problem for everyone involved in ministry.  Unfortunately, the study does not probe what particular stresses people experienced.  Clearly support and member care is necessary to help sustain missionaries.  A second area of importance to me is the correct placement and assignment of responsibilities so that workers are being fulfilled and challenged but not overwhelmed.

* Deane, Hudson.  2008.  Good and Faithful: New Zealand Missionaries and their Experience of Attrition.  Mairangi Bay, NZ: Daystar Books.

 

The pastor who mobilises.

My doctoral dissertation was entitled:  Characteristics of church leadership that mobilizes lay people: A case study of ECWA churches in Nigeria (Columbia International University, Sept 2004).  I have posted a summary of the dissertation presented at a lecture series at the ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos, Nigeria.  This can be found at http://www.ecwaevangel.org/documents/pastormobilises.pdf

Influence of a supervisor

Kouzes and Posner, in their book: A Leader’s Legacy, report that the relationship a person has with his or her first supervisor is the “single best predictor of career sucess” as show in longitudinal studies of corporate executives (2006: 34).  They do not quote their source but a quick look on the internet found a few documents that support this finding. 

We can have a powerful influence on the people who report to us.  They look to us for guidance and instruction, but they also look to us for confidence and motivation.  We will most effectively encourage and empower as we have a close relationship with them, and as we seek to build into their lives.

 Although the finding comes from the business world, it has application to the church. Here we may have supervision of an assistant pastor, or a Sunday school teacher, or a musician.  These people will have various aptitudes for their current role, but also have potential for other roles in the future.  Are we using our leadership relationship to empower them for all God has for them ?    

Lay-led church in Ethiopia

I was encouraged by the Kale Heywet Church when I visited Ethiopia last month.  It was started by SIM in the 1920s and has survived war and persecution to become the largest evangelical church in Ethiopia. 

The basic approach to church growth is to send out evangelists to plant churches.  Once established leadership is handed over to elders, and the evangelists move on.  After 10 churches are functioning a Bible school is established which trains evangelists and other church workers.  There are currently over 5,000 Kale Heywet churches and about 250 Bible schools.

The denomination has recently begun to recognise the position of pastor and has started ordaining suitably qualified and experienced pastors, but they still function under or as a part of the eldership.  There are signs of increasing centralisation of control with regional and central administration, but the church is still powered from the grassroots level.  There are lay people exercising effective leadership at every level of the church.

Theological training is emphasised with the aim of discipling and equipping church members not with the intent of creating a clerical level.  This is a healthy approach and is refreshing in Africa where hierarchy and clericalism dominate many churches.

First posting

“Ask the Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Luke 10:2).

My life focus is to see God’s people mobilised and equipped for works of service.  By ‘mobilising ministers’ I don’t mean exclusively clerical ministers, but the diakonos (servant) variety.  God intends all believers to become ministers. 

Before launching this blog I googled ‘mobilising ministers’ and was aghast to find the term used to refer to a US politician seeking to mobilise clergy to advocate for his political interests.  This is NOT what I have in mind.  I would have liked to have used the equip in the domain name, as it is more my strength, but others have got in ahead of me.  Mobilising and equipping have to go together, but more on that at another time.

Welcome to my blog.