How We Care for Our Missionaries, Part Three
Juli Duvall-Jones, our Director of Missionary Care and Development, shares how they use a special tool to help our newest missionaries prepare for what is often a challenging time of ministry on the mission field.
A tool we have seen some really good results from is the Personal Development Plans (or PDPs, as we call them.) These are created for each missionary recruit by a team at their affiliation with CMF and are on each recruit’s list of items they must complete before departing for their country of service.
These Personal Development Plans are created personally for each missionary recruit using information gathered from their application’s life history, education, ministry experience, and references as well as their psychological assessment. All the while, we keep in mind where they are going to serve and what sort of skills and contextualized understanding they may need when they get there.
These PDPs consist of resources like books, videos or podcasts based on each missionary recruit’s unique needs such as: dealing with anxiety, processing family history, gaining confidence in leadership (or how to lead when they aren’t in charge), time and self-management, healthy life rhythms, raising TCKs, conflict competency, and other ministry specific topics.
The Plan may also include required counseling sessions with specific goals and feedback from a mental health professional, specialized training from places like the Missionary Training International in Colorado, and perhaps even university courses and degree programs.
Each of these “assignments” is followed up by a conversation with CMF leadership to help the missionary recruit process and apply the information they have learned. I believe these Personal Development Plans are helping our missionary recruits have more realistic expectations and be better prepared for intercultural ministry in their specific contexts.
When I think of growth, there is one missionary in particular who comes to mind. From day one of their orientation week this person seemed to be challenged by the systems and processes that were out of their control and over their first few years with the organization they were often discouraged and frustrated. At the same time, I could see that they had the missionary “it factor” in them, and they had a lot to offer the ministry but that would require a lot of stretching and growing for both of us.
Oof, we had a lot of conversations—a lot of hard conversations—but now, years later, this person is rocking it and has become an anchor for their team and the work they are doing together. Just last week, I received an email from them which ended with a word of thanks for “putting up with them,” and then they said, “serving with CMF has made me a better person in so many ways and because of that, I am eternally grateful for the support I’ve received. It has made me a much healthier human and therefore a more effective intercultural minister.”
Our Personal Development Plans are just one tool to help promote growth, but healthy, effective, and grateful missionaries is why we do what we do.