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Hats off to the World Evangelical Fellowship for mobilizing evangelical churches the world over to pray for persecuted Christians. Last September 29, according to WEF estimates, Christians in some 150,000 churches from 117 countries rose up to pray for their persecuted brothers and sisters.

Balancing family and ministry is a continual challenge for all married missionaries (men, too!). For me, two things have been key—priorities and discipline.

The process of understanding the differences between missionary generations and identifying the changes that the Boomers and Busters have encouraged yields several recommendations for the missions community.

Are you a missionary, a mom, a wife, a teacher, or what?” This was a fairly routine question as we traveled widely to minister in churches around the U.S.

Hussein Qambar Ali, a citizen of Kuwait, wasn’t looking for trouble. Married, the father of two small children, and the owner of a successful construction business, he told Open Doors’ Compass Direct news service, “All I wanted was happiness, tranquility, and a peaceful life.”

We had been in the States on furlough for over a year. Our last term on the field had been unusually grueling. Any tired missionary fresh home on furlough suffers some stresses of psychological readjustment. But, ordinarily, a year is ample time for one to be refreshed, restored, and highly motivated to return.

Like most missionaries, I thought I was ready for culture shock, but my preparation didn’t help me at all.

The woman in the crowded market obviously wasn’t cooperating with me. I had simply pointed to her basket of tomatoes and asked how much they cost. I expected her to say something like, “Four for a quarter,” or “Seventy-five cents a dozen.” But she kept repeating a simple word I had never heard before.

Some ideas about how to handle stressors common to missionaries: language study, culture shock, discouragement, loneliness, burnout, and depression.