The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) performed two studies so that they could identify causes of, and hopefully reduce, unnecessary attrition among missionaries. In their first study, published under the title “Too Valuable to Lose” (1997), they unearthed deficiencies in the missionary experience and provided recommendations to help improve longevity. In their second study, they hoped to show improvement in the missionary experience after applying their solutions for a decade.
Among their initial findings, the WEA demonstrated that a lack of “pastoral care” is common among missionaries and contributes to them returning home too early. Their follow-up study showed little-to-no improvement—“pastoral care” remained “very poor” among overseas ministers.
These findings may surprise us. After all, aren’t missionaries usually some of the most dedicated church members back home? How do they find themselves in a situation where they lack pastoral care?
In more than twenty years of involvement with missions, I have seen that, too often, these dedicated church members turn into “free agent” ministers with at best very loose membership commitments to any local church where they live. This is not always true, to be sure. But more often than they should, missionaries fail to pursue church membership commitments in their
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