EMQ » Jul – Sept 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 3
Summary: This article reports on the results of a survey of fieldworkers. The research revealed a gap of communication between goers and senders. This can be exacerbated when missionaries feel that they have to be superhuman. Many challenges that missionaries face are normal human experiences although these can be compounded by cross-cultural life and ministry stresses. Practical recommendations for senders are provided.
By Amy Young, Stacey Covell, and Christine Rollings
When I [Amy] first moved to China, I didn’t take a computer with me. Email was still in its infancy. I’d write letters to my parents. They photocopied the letters and mailed them to family and friends. My friends and family poured over the letters because my life was so different from theirs.
Today, when someone moves to the mission field, it’s not a question of will senders and goers communicate – It’s more a question of which of the many communication options will they use! With such easy access, it’s tempting to think that the gap between goers and senders, that clearly existed and was acknowledged in the past, has narrowed.
Recently we discovered that the gap may not have narrowed as much as we may have thought.
I [Amy] was asked to present a workshop at the MC2: Midwest Care Connexion conference – a conference primarily for ministry leaders and senders from local churches – in February of 2024.[1] The planning committee suggested the topic and title: “4 Issues That Missionaries are Dealing With That You’re Not Talking About.” I thought it would be interesting to see where a gap in understanding existed between goers and senders. I decided to conduct a survey of missionaries (cross-cultural workers) in January of 2024, so we’d have current information.[2]
The survey was open for the last two weeks in January 2024. It was anonymous and consisted mainly of open-ended questions. This allowed participants to more freely share what they wanted without assumptions on my part. Because participants knew the results were going to be shared in a workshop, it was a chance for them to speak directly to senders via the survey.
The responses poured in with nearly 360 cross-cultural workers taking part in the survey. For the sake of preserving anonymity, I (Amy) did not collect demographic information. However, I did ask whether they were still serving in the field. Of those who answered, 78.8% were field based, while 15.5% served in a support role off the field.
I then invited Stacey Covell and Christine Rollings to assist with processing the data. The core question posed was, “Do you have an issue (or issues) that, if your organization knew about, you worry might jeopardize your ability to stay on the field or work in the home office?” Nearly 51% responded yes. The next question was, “Is there something you wonder or believe that if your supporters, organization, or sending fellowship knew about, it might jeopardize you being on the field or your support role?”
Some participants simply wrote one word or phrase, such as “differing doctrine” or “depression and suicidal thoughts.” Others wrote multiple paragraphs unpacking where they sensed something might cause alarm or possibly end financial support if known by their senders. There was no single issue consistently reported for all cross-cultural workers.
Eleven major categories emerged from the responses. These were:
- Debt and finances
- Faith and theology
- Kids
- Marriage
- Mental and emotional health
- Organization
- Physical health
- Politics
- Sex, sexuality, and gender
- Singleness
- Miscellaneous
As we went deeper into the data, we noticed that many of the “this may jeopardize me” items participants reported were related simply to being human rather than being specific to cross-cultural work. In sharing our initial findings during a casual conversation with a friend who has never served on the field, the friend resonated with the issues that missionaries are facing. She said, “Their issues are just like mine. My kids are also dealing with mental health issues and my husband and I worry about our finances.”
It was encouraging to see a sender connect with the humanness of cross-cultural workers. At the same time, part of me recoiled, because my friend did not understand the pressure that cross-cultural workers are under. The survey results did not point simply to the shared human experience between senders and goers; they underscored the higher stakes that cross-cultural workers face.
When you are on the field in a different culture, it often feels like being in a fishbowl. You feel watched by friends, supporters, and locals you live among. You feel like everything surrounding your family and family life may be on the line and the stakes are higher. For instance, if a cross-cultural worker’s child is struggling with severe anxiety, it’s not just their child struggling with anxiety. The parent may wonder, “If it gets bad enough, are we going to have to leave the field? Could we lose our home and community? How will this affect all of our children’s schooling, education, and friends? How will this affect our children’s relationship with God? How will it impact our livelihood?” While some of these are things that every parent may wonder, you can see the added layers that cross-cultural worker’s face. Cross-cultural workers are human, but on the field the stakes can be dire. As we went over these results and sought language to describe what we were seeing, the language and image of the “ministry pedestal” emerged.
Cross-cultural workers can be put on a pedestal by those who send them. Examples of this can be seen in language like “you’re my hero” or “I could never do what you do!” This led us to wonder: How do we—senders and goers—perhaps inadvertently, perpetuate the ministry pedestal? What sort of direct and indirect damage is it causing to all of us?
As we continued to process the data, we wondered how we got to this place where so many cross-cultural workers had things they felt they couldn’t openly share or discuss without deep concern over losing their ministries and livelihoods. We also noted from the responses, and our own decades’ worth of experiences on the field and working in various ministries, that most of the time, senders and goers are well-intentioned. We didn’t get to this place because one side is better or more enlightened, or because one side is ignorant, foolish, or desiring to cause harm. For the most part, neither side intends to elevate or be elevated. Both senders and goers, all of us, play a role.
On the senders’ side, senders often think that those who are called to foreign lands or cultures are “not like me, they are superhuman.” They understand the reality that cross-cultural worker’s housing can be challenging and maybe they don’t have easy access to medical care. Senders are trying and want to honor the sacrifice and reality cross-cultural workers face, but instead of what is meant to be honoring, it becomes elevating.
On the goers’ side, goers realize a lot is at stake and feel the pressure. If you’re told, “You’re my hero,” it indirectly communicates that you must be superhuman to do what you do. It’s easy to internalize the message “I need to be superhuman. I cannot simply be human.” Goers are trying to be worthy of the money, effort, and prayer that has been invested in them. Reinforcing this premise, many responses on the survey were given with an apologetic tone. In particular, they used words or phrases to qualify, soften, or provide context for what was being said.
The senders’ side saying, “You’re superhuman” and the goers’ side saying, “We need to be superhuman” keeps cross-cultural workers’ humanity and the stakes at odds with each other. This is not simply something either side can change. For change to take root, we all need to address the issue and change.
How Can We Respond to What Cross-Cultural Workers Are Currently Dealing With?
Having named the tension around cross-cultural workers’ humanity and the pressures they face, we also noted that specific pressures varied from person to person. No one pressure was felt by all survey respondents. The top three areas mentioned were mental and emotional health, faith and theology, and marriage and singleness. It is important for those who send and support cross-cultural workers not to focus on specific categories, such as singleness, mental health needs, or retirement, but to see each person individually.
One participant summarized the reality for so many on the field: “So many things on this list that we deal with that we can’t talk about. Over the years in our family we have had to deal with super tight finances, troubles (big and small) with our kids including an out of wedlock pregnancy with our daughter, pornography, an extramarital, long-distance affair, and on and on. … Because we are elevated to this space of ‘super spiritual Christian’ who does the thing that they aren’t willing to do … and then we move away from our support systems. … It feels like an out of sight, out of mind situation. We feel beloved, yet forgotten; supported, yet lonely; attached but disconnected; spiritual but parched.”
In the live workshop where I first presented the findings, I [Amy] paused after presenting this list of issues and expounding on the top three. I asked everyone to take a holy pause and reflect on what they had heard. Even though this might be an unlikely place for such a pause, I invite you as well to pause and reflect on what you’ve read so far in this article so far. How are you feeling? How do you want to respond to this information?
I wrapped up the survey with a thank you comment and left room for people to respond if they chose. It was informative to note how many volunteered a response.
“It was actually really helpful and eye opening to write this out and name some things. I look forward to seeing what others say! Thanks!!”
“Thanks for the space to be honest—we need to create more space(s) for this more often!”
“Thank you for giving us a voice.”
“Thanks for the opportunity to vent. Didn’t know how much I needed to until I started typing. Thanks for all you do!!! Hope this survey is helpful to you and many others, as well.”
So, what can we do to begin to narrow the disconnect between senders and goers? Here are five suggestions for senders that came out of our research:
- Recognize and remember we are all, as humans, growing and changing. Going to the field changes the way a cross-cultural worker sees the world. In addition, if someone stays on the mission field, they too will experience normal life-stage growth. If someone went to the field in their twenties, it is to be expected that they will view life differently in their forties.
- Note the toll it takes and the energy—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually—to live on the field. The more that senders are aware of and able to acknowledge the realities of life on the field, the more they will have realistic expectations.
- As senders, you can mandate, value, and ask about days off. You can also subsidize and incentivize for them. Many cross-cultural workers in the survey expressed a reluctance to either take a vacation, or admit to taking a vacation, because of what senders would think. However, if you require days off and budget for them, this will help to establish a new norm: that not taking vacations and days off is a problem.
- Offer financial and/or logistical support for vacations, counseling, spiritual directors, and coaches. It is not enough to promote taking days off. We all benefit when we have people investing in us and providing space for us to process our experiences and grow. As well, while many organizations provide organizational support, many cross-cultural workers benefit from input outside their organization. This allows them freedom to share knowing they won’t potentially jeopardize their roles.
- Ask goers what they might find helpful in their circumstances and contexts. As is clear from the results of the survey, what is helpful to one cross-cultural worker is not helpful to another. So, ask! Needs will be different for different people, different circumstances, and for different locations. Not every option needs to involve financial resources. Do you have points, passes, or gift cards? Your points (or pooled points) can be used for car rentals, plane tickets, or hotels.
Conclusion
A disconnect may always exist between cross-cultural workers and those who send them. The results of the survey provide insights into the realities of what cross-cultural workers face today. In the results, we can hear echoes of what earlier generations of cross-cultural workers have faced. But it is not enough to say, “these issues and areas are just part of the call.” While there is a cost to being a cross-cultural worker, let’s not turn the cost into an altar where we sacrifice marriages, emotional health, financial stability, and the chance for cross-cultural workers to continue to grow. The good news of the gospel isn’t just for those who have never heard, it’s for us too. And in this case, thanks to the survey participants who shared so candidly, our response is invaluable in helping to narrow the gap of understanding between senders and goers.
Author Biography
Amy Young, MA, LPC served in China for nearly 20 years, holding various leadership roles, including Member Care Director for 10 years. She cofounded Velvet Ashes and founded Global Trellis. Global Trellis provides online training and resources that enlarge the capacity of cross-cultural workers. In addition, Amy has written six books for Great Commission workers including Looming Transitions and Becoming More Fruitful in Cross-Cultural Work.
Stacey Covell has been a part of cross-cultural ministry for over 24 years serving in many capacities. She served on the field in Ireland for 12 years in various roles, repatriating to the US in 2016. She continues to serve her fellow cross-cultural workers as someone who has walked in their shoes. Stacey loves words and is a writer and editor, working with clients in her business, One Word Editing.
Christine Rollings is a children’s book author with an MS in Counseling and a decade of experience serving overseas. Having spent the last 5 years working in Member Care, she has also contributed to three devotionals and countless blogs, blending her professional expertise with her passion for supporting others.
[1] Amy Young, “4 Issues That Missionaries Are Dealing With That You’re Not Talking About,” MC2: Midwest Care Connexion, Roseville, Minnesota, February 23, 2024, https://mc2.global/mc2-2024/.
[2] This article has been adapted from a Global Trellis survey conducted on January 16–31, 2024, and resulting white paper: Amy Young, Stacey Covell and Christine Rollings, “Let’s Talk About It: Eleven Areas of Concern for Cross-Cultural Workers on the Field,” Global Trellis, 2024, https://globaltrellis.com/lets-talk-about-it-white-paper/.
EMQ, Volume 61, Issue 3. Copyright © 2025 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.
