China Member Care

"在过去的几年中，一种特殊的事工（其实是一种运动）在世界各地渐渐地开展起来，我们称之为肢体关怀事工。这项事工的发展并非轻而易举，往往是一些危机、错误和失败迫使我们开始认识到一点，就是基督徒工人们需要高质量的支持，来帮助他们去完成他们所肩负的一项项极具挑战的重任。开始的时候，我们许多人都会在自己身上找问题，认为是自己不够属灵，太软弱，对主信靠不够等等。可实际问题是我们忽略了自己的人性，在缘木求鱼式地希望做到一些神创造我们时没有赋予我们能力去做的事。这时我们才意识到圣经对我们的教导——新约圣经中几十处提到“彼此”（如：来3；13；约一4：7，8），让我们认识到原来我们是相互需要，互为依存的。这时我们才开始认识到，原来这些问题往往还不在于信心大小，而在于我们能否清楚地去明白神的计划和他周详的关怀、供应....

因此，肢体关怀不是为要营造一种舒适的生活方式，也不是让人信靠他人过于信靠神，而是要增强我们的活力和敬虔，好让我们把工作做得更好。我们希望能在受苦与牺牲这种真实的要求以及支持与关怀这种真实的需要二者之间取得平衡。我们可以祈求让自己的腰背更强壮来支撑重负，但有时却必须寻求为自己和同事们减轻负荷的出路。主呼召我们要天天背起自己的十字架，但同时也让我们看到另一个事实，就是我们必须彼此扶助，共同地背负我们的十字架；除此以外，主还提醒我们要到他那里去得安息，因为他的轭是容易的，他的担子是轻省的（太11：28-30)...."

为得胜而奔 : 华夏同工资源文集

"Over the last several years, a special ministry, really a movement, has developed around the world which we call member care. This ministry did not develop easily. It was often through crises, mistakes, and failure that we began to realise that Christian workers needed quality support in order to help them in their challenging tasks. At first many of us thought that we were being unspiritual or weak, and not trusting the Lord enough. But we were overlooking our own humanness, sometimes trying to be something that we were not created or called to be. We began to realise our Biblical need for one another—as seen in the dozens of “one another” verses in the New Testament (e.g., Hebrews 3:13; I John 4:7,8). We began to understand that the issue was not so much a lack of faith, but rather our need to clearly see God’s plan and His provision of care....

Member care therefore, is not about creating a comfortable lifestyle. Not is it about trusting people rather than trusting the Lord. Rather, it is about further developing the resiliency and godliness to do our work well. We want to balance the realistic demands of suffering and sacrifice with the realistic needs for support and nurture in our lives. We can pray for stronger backs to endure, yet at times we must also find ways to lighten the load of ourselves and our colleagues. The call to take up our cross daily is also understood in light of the fact that we are to support each other as we bear our crosses together. And in light of the reminder from the Lord to come to Him for refreshment, as His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30)...."

Running to Win: Resources for Chinese Workers

Member Care Websites

1. China-Asia Member Care Projects (CHAMP)
Running to Win: Resources for Chinese Workers
为得胜而奔

华夏同工资源文集

https://chinamembercare.com

2. Chinese Cross-Cultural Workers
An online resource toolbox to support the well-being of Chinese Cross-Cultural Workers worldwide.

English -- 简体 -- 繁體
本网站期盼能为全球跨文化华人工人身心灵健康提供一个线上”肢体关怀”资源平台

3. ChinaSource
A window into Christianity in China and the key issues that impact the church.
--Nine Best Practices for Chinese Sending Organizations
--Church-Based Models for Chinese Sending Organizations

--See also the blog series: Missions from China: A Maturing Movement

4. Center for Counseling and Growth--Asia
Serving mission workers and pastors.
以下文章均是中文，我們希望能對你有所幫助。英文原文則是由 Cross Cultural Workers 所提供。
我們非常感謝, 的寶貴資源能夠讓我們使用和翻譯成中文的翻譯者。

焦慮-Anxiety, 賄賂-Bribes, 倦怠-Burnout, 同情疲勞-Compassion-Fatigue,
衝突-Conflict, 諮商-Counseling, 憂鬱-Depression…

The above articles in Traditional Chinese are translated from the English version provided generously by Cross Cultural Workers.
The original English versions are on the website.

Recent Research-Studies

Chinese Mission Experiences: A Step Towards A Contextualized Member Care Model (March 2020)
Based on interviews with 25 Chinese mission workers."随着中国教会和宣教士跨文化宣教活动的日益活跃和深入，中国宣教士的精神健康、心理 健康、身体健康和人际关系健康越来越受到重视。本研究的目的在于瞭解中国宣教人员 对会员关怀的需求。本研究从系统的角度探讨中国宣教士对会员关怀的需求。25名参与者 接受了采访。采用扎根理论方法，分初始编码、聚焦编码和理论编码三个步骤对数据进行 分析。从这项研究中得出的核心发现是：中国宣教士在四个相互作用的生态系统中的经历 揭示了发展中国宣教士关怀模式的必要性。这四个系统分别是：（1）生态系统，它由时 间系统构成，是指中国宣教所处的发展阶段; （2）宏观体系，即中国文化; （3）外系统 ，即宣教士工作的跨文化环境; 最后是中系统，也就是宣教士，派遣教会，和宣教机构之间的相互作用。这四个系统在一个相互影响的过程中相互作用，从他们的相互作用能看到发展处中国宣教士关怀模式的必要性，从而使中国宣教和宣教士能够健康和发展。本研究 通过后设架构图来检查不同系统之间的相互作用是如何影响参与者对会员关怀的需求的理 解。这一模式有助于教会、宣教机构和宣教士了解他们之间的互动以及他们与环境的互动如何影响中国跨文化宣教士对成员关怀的 知。本研究也为有兴趣发展适合中国宣教士关怀模式的学者提出了新的角度."

"With the growing enthusiasm and involvement of Chinese churches and missionaries for cross-cultural missions, more and more attention has been paid to the Chinese cross-cultural missionaries’ spiritual, psychological, physical, and relational wellness. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand and explain Chinese missionaries’ member care needs. This study explored Chinese missionaries’ member care needs from a systems perspective. Twenty-five participants were interviewed. Grounded theory methods were used to analyze the data using three steps of coding: initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding. The central understanding to emerge from this study is that Chinese missionaries’ experiences in four interacting ecological systems revealed the need for a Chinese model of member care. The ecological system is composed of the chronosystem, meaning the current developmental stage of Chinese mission; the macrosystem, meaning Chinese culture from which missionaries originate; the exosystem, meaning the cross-cultural setting in which missionaries work; and finally, the mesosystem, meaning the interactions between missionaries, sending churches, and mission agencies. All four layers of the environment interact in a mutually influential process and result in a need for a Chinese model of member care to enable Chinese missionaries to flourish. A metaframework was introduced to examine how the interactions between various systems impact the participants’ understanding of member care needs. This model is useful in helping churches, mission agencies, and missionaries to understand how the interactions between them and their interaction with the environment impact the Chinese cross-cultural missionary’s perception of member care. This study also makes unique contributions to the scholars who are interested in developing the appropriate member care models for Chinese missionaries."

Note: You can access a six page summary of the above dissertation along with the recommendations and the member care model HERE (in Simplified Chinese and English).
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Honor-Shame Culture and Its Impact on Chinese Mission Worker Retention and Attrition (December 2020)
“Pre-field training and on-field member care that equips missionaries with a cross-cultural education that is indigenous to the Chinese Christian and contextualized to his or her chosen host culture will serve to set up these individuals desiring to do God’s will for long-term success. My hope in the Chinese church is firmly placed upon the power of Christ and the wisdom of His Holy Spirit that has been placed in the hearts of His missional church scattered across the globe. My prayer for the Chinese church is that 2050 is a date that will be proven far too late and that faithful servants will be sent faster and more effectively than the statisticians ever anticipated.” (excerpt from the Conclusion, p. 77)

More Resources

Third Culture Kids
Off We Go English version--Activity book for TCKs aged 3-8

Click to read Traditional Chinese 我們出發啦!

Click to read Simplified Chinese 我们出发啦!

"當孩子要面對搬家和轉變時，我們需要幫 助他們作好準備。這本活動手冊是為3至8歲 的第三文化孩子（Third Culture Kids - TCKs）所編寫，旨在預備 他們面對轉變，好讓這些經歷能成為孩子的祝福."

TCK Book Suggestions 書籍推介

Chinese Cross-Cultural Workers

Multicultural Mental Health Resource Center, Canada

Chinese (Simplified)

Chinese (Traditional)

Embrace--Multicultural Mental Health
"Mental health and illness is complex and diverse. It is even harder to understand when it’s not explained in your own language. These resources have been translated into a range of languages for those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to access."