ORGANIZATIONS:
In addition to the resources listed below, which are focused more directly on educating and training pastors, church leaders, and member care providers, we would encourage all pastors to be aware of the member care organizations that exist to support, encourage, and counsel missionaries in order to be equipped to direct their missionaries to the resources that will be able to meet their individual needs. You can familiarize yourself with these organizations on the 'General Helps' and 'Counseling / Debriefing / Retreats' pages of this website.
Based on Mark 16:15, Sixteen:Fifteen "exists to help local churches discover and use their unique gifts in partnership with others to make Christ known among all nations." They put on conferences and provide coaching for local churches to help them develop a missions vision and strategy. They also offer a variety of resources on their website including podcasts, teachings, webinars, and PDFs.
The Upstream Collective offers training and coaching to sending churches and missions leaders to help them develop a missions vision and strategy, identify and prepare sent ones, provide ongoing care to sent ones and maintain deep relationships with them, and continue to innovate. Their website also contains a variety of resources including a blog and podcast.
Catalyst "helps mission organizations and local churches to expand and improve their global efforts." They help churches develop a global strategy, build a missions leadership team, and prepare members of their congregation for overseas service. Their website has a variety of articles and resources, which includes a list every December of the best missions books of the year.
Mission Resource Network helps churches develop a plan to meet their missions goals and then assists them in the execution of the plan through "personalized consultation, expert knowledge and vision casting, access to mission experts, customized guidance and training, ongoing coaching to execute the plan, and connection to resources and professionals." Their website contains excellent articles on caring well for missionaries as well as recommendations for further reading on missionary care.
Propempo International assists churches to develop a biblical, local church centered missions ministry, providing "international planning and training consultation; certified cultural diversity training; advising and counseling for expatriate workers in international environments; international strategy planning." Their website also contains helpful resources including a blog and podcast which address issues in missions.
Emmaus Road International has a wide variety of resources on missions from preparation for the mission field to caring for missionaries. They publish several books (including Serving as Senders and The Re-entry Team), produce DVDs, offer many different seminars, and have a variety of downloadable resources on their website.
Barnabas International "exists to edify, encourage, enrich and strengthen servants in ministry." In keeping with this purpose, they provide debriefing and counseling for missionaries; publish Tender Care, an excellent book on providing pastoral care for cross-cultural workers; and put on several different retreats and conferences. In addition, they have collected a great deal of information, articles, and forms, available as free downloads in their "Member Care Toolbox" under the "Get Resources" tab on their website. They will also travel to missionaries to meet with them and provide needed encouragement and support, supplementing the on-field visits with on-line follow-up.
Paracletos "exists to reduce preventable missionary attrition" by helping the local church be more effective in caring for its missionaries. They provide seminars and training to churches to help them understand the needs of missionaries and how to meet those needs. Some key points they address are developing advocate teams, staying connected, and "keeping Christ the focal point to foster endurance."
Three Strand Partners seeks to "strengthen the relationship between the church, agency and missionary through providing resources that will enhance efforts to fulfil the Great Commission of Jesus Christ." They created the books Pipeline: Engaging the Church in Missionary Mobilisation, Mind the Gaps: Engaging the Church in Missionary Care, and Transforming Missionaries: A Short-Term Mission Guide. Their website supports the books, giving links to organizations and forms referenced in the books and contains further resources in the field of member care.
Member Care Europe "is committed to working together on behalf of the cross-cultural Christian missions community by helping provide and develop member care resources within/from Europe." They host conferences, trainings, and retreats, and their website provides information on member care resources.