WHAT DO MISSIONARIES DO?
Part IV | 7 Things that undermine our settling—Revisited
If you missed Part I, Part II, or Part III of this series, we dove into areas of mission work that are either overlooked or missed altogether:
The starting point for every mission
Some practical ways to process and confirm calling
Factors that determine mission work
Good questions to ask a mission agency upfront
Ordering your priorities
Candidate Orientation + Cross-Cultural Training
Lessons learned during fundraising
Visa overview and practical tips
Student loans and consumer debts
Support schedule + taxes
Building a Sending Team
Onboarding during the first year on the field
Revisiting our vision for ministry abroad
How the British view Americans
Ever since our arrival in the UK we’ve continued to build a deeper and more intricate understanding about the differences between American and British culture. We gained such knowledge through our interactions with locals, students, cultural coaches, mentors, and the leadership of our partner church. There were a couple of illustrations that were used quite frequently to get at the heart of the distinctions between our nations and cultures that we found very helpful:
Iceberg - we may speak the same language, but we are very different once you get beneath the surface—“2 nations separated by a common language.” "The Culture Map" by Erin Meyer was a very helpful book for us to systematically think through these differences. She provides a useful framework of particular categories that we kept in mind when engaging with people from the UK.
Peach and Coconut - Americans are perceived as peaches—soft and easy to approach but perhaps come off as disingenuous to the Brits. People from the UK (particularly the English) are like coconuts, they are hard on the outside and soft on the inside. A cultural coach once told me, if you can get through the hard shell you’ll have a friend for life. A helpful book that does a thorough job in critically examining the uniqueness of English culture is “Watching the English” by Kate Fox.
In keeping with maintaining honor for all parties involved, and to not go into too much detail, we have experienced specific challenges with regard to coming in as an outsider. Suffice it to say we have experienced varying gradations of cultural challenges whilst residing in the UK. It had nothing to do with skin color or ethnic background but rather everything to do with our perceived national identity. Ultimately, our identities aren’t based in or sourced from these different categories—our identities are in the person and work of Christ. Sadly, these culturally specific estimations occurred both in and outside the church. The experience served as a reminder that we (sinful people) are all in progress and, more often than not, the Lord uses our relationships and interactions socioeconimcally and cross-culturally for our good—our steady growth and sanctification in Christ.
What’s on my Resume/ Curriculum Vitae?
What do I do as a missionary in the UK?
To begin to answer this question here are a few bullet points, taken from my ministry curriculum vitae, that describe my job:
Build a donor base of partners consisting of businesses, charitable foundations, churches, families, couples, and working professionals.
Maintain a diverse set of ministry partnerships (US/UK) through Squarespace site and email communication, Substack publication, Hubspot CRM, Facebook campaigns, video promotions, Zoom interviews, video or phone calls, and post.
Attend field staff meetings, cohort trainings, an agency-wide conferences.
Learn, support, and engage in cross-cultural ministry with a local UK church.
Manage administrative work such as visa/immigration process, finances, benefits, tax withholding and filing.
Things we do in addition to these components and future vision:
Build relationships and create community groups (1-to-1, triplets, and third-space or home-based small group gatherings).
Develop bible studies, craft sermons and presentations, etc.
Cultural learning and immersing ourselves in our local community, serving wherever possible.
Year One Review
There’s plenty of lessons learned and particular circumstances to dredge up that many who research how to become a missionary would find beneficial to know beforehand. Cultural distinctives are most likely the heaviest query among those envisioning ministry in the UK. We’ve been asked questions such as: How do you find a place to live and is the process different? How do you budget with an unfavorable currency exchange rate ($->£)? Does your agency really have a policy of zero credit lines and consumer debts whilst on the field? What specific challenges did you face during your first year? Why do you continue on in the face of immense adversity?
As aforementioned in Part III of this series, our agency had some specific guidelines to adhere to with regard to a structured settling timeline, which we’re told is an all too often overlooked component of the ministry. As Steph and I look back at the first year of our mission we think it’ll be helpful and mildly amusing to revisit a list that was presented to us during our initial week-long Field Orientation in the UK to see if it’s aged well…
7 Things that undermine our settling—Revisited
Trying to do too much too quickly
Being too independent - pioneers/entrepreneurs
Not being honest (The Christian “I’m doing fine.”)
Not trusting the process
Not embracing this phase of life
Giving in to personal or national pressure to engage quicker (partners/donors)
Having unrealistic expectations or not establishing expectations (unmet expectations may be the hardest to overcome).
1 - Trying to do too much too quickly
One of the main lessons to learn while starting out on the mission field is to slow down and establish a baseline for you and your family. You’ll come to realize a plethora of things you took for granted living in the States, quite literally starting over with a blank slate and having to slowly build up day-to-day competencies. Our agency’s member care team mentioned that if you can get one thing accomplished each day consider yourself ahead of the curve. It’s wise to get your household in order prior to diving headfirst into cross-cultural ministry! As Americans we must be aware of our tendency and hyper-focus on productivity. However, the problem with advice surrounding “doing too much” comes when there aren't clearly established expectations discussed throughout the first year, making objective gauging complicated.
2 - Being too independent - pioneers/entrepreneurs
It has taken a deeper understanding of our faith in Christ and our tendency toward control to really understand the best way to engage in vocational ministry abroad. Our approach during the first year of our first term was to abide by all of our agency’s instructions and recommendations with regard to raising financial support, the settling process, and ministry involvement. After all, this was our first year and first stint into full time ministry and there are many factors we cannot control. What someone may consider “too independent” may clash with…