A Culture of Caring
Top 6 Ways to Care for Others
A culture of caring is the quintessential property of followers of Jesus. It is how we express “love God and love others.” The interesting thing about withholding care is that “both the person who is not feeling the love and also the person who is withholding the love are marginalized.” Missionaries experience challenging situations, challenging places, difficult relationships, yet they must reflect the image of Christ in their emotions and behaviors. In order to be able to do that, we must foster wellbeing with a sustainable caring culture.
Caring begins with a strong foundational connection to God. We call this Holy Spirit Care. Part of loving God is connecting to Him, continuously allowing Him to care for us. The next foundation is Self Care. If we want to love others, we must be at our best, taking care of ourselves spiritually and physically. Fostering unity by listening, connecting, and caring for our teammates, even when they are different from us, is Team Care. Being collaborative, sorting challenges with proper attributions for differences, and appreciating the sacrifices of leadership is a big part of Leader Care. Reaching out and allowing connection with regional team members, the church, and local partners is Community Care. All of this builds a strong culture of caring where missionaries can thrive and reduce the need for crisis care. Yet, there may be times when Clinical Care is needed. In this situation, Global Member Care will help to facilitate getting the appropriate care plan and provider.
OMS President Jeff Edwards has made it an organizational priority to care well for our missionaries. Global Ministries director, Chris Williams, has committed resources to be able to meet as regional hubs in an effort to facilitate connection. What is strengthened at these retreats is sustained by all of us embracing a culture of caring.
Article courtesy of Michael Tallman, clinical director, Shawnea Tallman, Christian life coach, and Bonnie Benshoof, MK specialist, from the Soul Care Project, partnering with One Mission Society
OMS Member Care specialist, Michael and Shawnea, have participated with our Asia/Pacific regional team in Thailand, our Africa regional team in Mozambique, and our Europe/Middle East regional team in Austria. They will minister to our Latin America/Caribbean regional team in July 2023 in Colombia.