Covenant News

Program Helps Missionaries Adjust to Itineration

SKOKIE, IL (August 4, 2004) - After years of missionary service in a foreign land, re-adjustment to the North American culture can represent quite a challenge for many missionaries, including those of the Evangelical Covenant Church.

To assist missionaries returning for itineration – usually a year spent traveling to local Covenant churches to discuss ministry opportunities – the Department of World Mission operates a re-entry orientation program designed to help these individuals become re-acquainted with their home culture.

Eleven returning missionaries participated in a four-day re-entry orientation that began last Friday at the Skokie Holiday Inn, with some sessions conducted at Covenant offices in Chicago. David Stockamp, coordinator of church relations, helped lead sessions while Curt Peterson, executive minister of the Department of World Mission, hosted a barbecue at his home during the five-day event.

"The first priority was to care for missionaries as they came home and give them support that's very much needed," said Peterson as he assessed the event. "We also wanted to prepare them to be able to spread the message to churches and give them a cultural context, letting them know what the Department of World Mission is doing. They go out as a representative of both the denomination and World Mission to share that story."

Day one of the orientation focused on allowing missionaries to share updates on their ministries and the emotional highs and lows of their work. For some, the reunion with longtime friends was a welcomed opportunity. For others, it was a first-time meeting with other missionaries known only by photographs in a world mission prayer calendar. The stories were as varied as the missionaries themselves, Stockamp reports.

"Some missionaries faced multiple evacuations during a period of political strife in Africa," he noted. "Others dealt with theological issues pertaining to their churches. Still others had family issues pertaining to unexpected illnesses and changes in ministry focus. And the 'reverse culture shock' - the reality of re-entering an entirely different culture than the one they had previously lived in - was also a very real issue to discuss."

Peterson observed that "the purpose of this is for those missionaries coming from their term of service, to care for them, give them an expression of their joys and pains. We spent the first half a day giving people an opportunity to express what lifts their heart in joy and what weighs them down in pain or challenge. That expression needs a place."

On Monday, the group toured Covenant offices and met with the Department of World Mission staff, Executive Vice President Donn Engebretson and other administrators. They also spent time at Covenant Resource Center to learn how to effectively use existing resources and services. Stockamp led a meeting Monday night that centered on ways missionaries can tell their stories more effectively at the churches, including use of PowerPoint presentations and tips on how to use the materials most effectively during the coming months of itineration.

Before leaving the Chicago area, missionaries were interviewed individually by member care personnel and itineration coordinator Barbara Fisk worked with missionaries to develop their fall schedules.

More about the Department of World Mission and its orientation program can be obtained by calling world mission staff at 773-907-3316.

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