E-Connected Archive - May 2011
COST IN THE EVERYDAY, NOT JUST THE EXTREME
As part of our Member Care team, Sally has met, talked to and helped many of those who are living and working in the Muslim world. Her work gives her a unique perspective on what it costs to leave behind family and friends to invite Muslims to follow Jesus. As you read her article below, we encourage you to pray for Frontiers workers across the Muslim world for whom these costs are a daily challenge.
We know that following Jesus will not always be easy. There will be costs, whether we live out the gospel in our home town or whether we go to “the ends of the earth”. Working as part of the Member Care team at Frontiers, I am often reminded of the diverse costs for our field members. |
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First, there are “extreme” costs: those which occur relatively rarely but which have a huge, immediate impact. These might include death, kidnapping, imprisonment, natural disasters and serious medical difficulties.
Then, there are “everyday” costs, which all fieldworkers will face. Over time, these can accumulate and cause emotional and physical exhaustion. These costs often relate to comfort, autonomy, identity and relationships.
>> Comfort may be compromised by extremes of temperature, inadequate living conditions, power cuts, erratic food supplies, hostile environments, hostile political climates, loss of familiar home comforts and loss of former support networks. Anonymity is a less obvious aspect of comfort: fieldworkers can’t easily fade into a crowd. They stand out as foreigners. It may be difficult to relax when in public.
>> Autonomy: Field members may lose the freedom to choose what they wear, what and when they eat, where they can travel, how long they can stay in the country, what they can speak about in public (and sometimes even in private) and how they spend their leisure time. Furthermore, fieldworkers work in close teams and thus may have to surrender their personal vision for the good of the team vision. Dependence on the financial support of others can also impact upon plans, choices and overall freedom.
>> Identity is often challenged, especially in the first few years overseas. People who were experienced professionals in the UK may now find themselves at beginner level both in terms of their new occupational role and their language learning. Skilled communicators may be reduced to the level of conversational infants and female field members may have to abandon former careers and instead take on a supportive, background role.
>> Relationship costs are among those felt most keenly. Indeed, loneliness is one of the most common issues raised by single field members. The stresses outlined above will impact upon relationships between spouses, within families and most commonly, within teams. Teamwork may provoke issues such as competition, envy, judgement and disappointment. Spiritually, field members may find that their relationship with God suffers as other stresses increase and opportunities for spiritual nourishment are in short supply. A further relational cost ensues from the transitory nature of work: there will be many comings and goings; many hellos and goodbyes.
Beyond these extreme and everyday costs, there will be “unknown, future costs”. These may not be apparent until returning to the UK at the end of their time overseas. For example, it may be difficult for field members to find a place where they “fit”. They may face renewed struggles with identity and purpose and there may be long-term costs relating to careers, pensions and children’s education.
One thing I’ve learned from working in Member Care is that it is the small, “everyday” stresses, especially around relationships, which can cause us the biggest difficulty. Whether we’re following Jesus in the UK or overseas, our greatest challenge may simply be learning to love and share our lives with other people!
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” A quote from C.T. Studd.