DEBRIEFING AND RE-ENTRY FOR AN INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS
EXPERIENCE
Introduction
to Student Missionary Debriefing
Basic Debriefing Tips for Family and Friends
Re-Entry Stress
Re-entry Coping Styles
How
to Cope with Re-entry Stress
Understanding Grief after a Mission Experience
Working Through a Crisis Experience from
the Mission Field
If your student missionary experienced a traumatic or crisis
situation on the mission field and since returning home is
struggling to work through those issues, please contact the
IMB's Member Care department at (800) 999-3113
to speak to a counselor.
Between Two Worlds
Conflicting Values
Common Unexpected Situations
"Moving On" Exercise
"Settling Back In" Exercise
What's Next?
The following material is reproduced by permission from
International Missions Training Institute Team Leader Training
Handbook, Module 11, from the International Mission Board,
SBC. Coypyright 1997, 1999 by the Macedonian Project, a
ministry of Campus Crusade and the Volunteers In Missions
Department of the International Mission Board, SBC.
Students serving on the international mission field have
encountered life-changing experiences that they will want to
share with their family members, friends, and church families.
Unfortunately, family and friends often struggle to empathize
with the student's passion about the mission field and few can
understand the student's emotionally charged stories.
To prepare for your student's return from international
missions, please read carefully the following debriefing and
re-entry materials for student missionaries and parents of
student missionaries. Some of the information and exercises
are for you as a parent and some are for your returning
student. We recommend that you read all the materials,
including those for your student, so you will be aware of the
emotions and struggles your student may experience upon
returning to the USA. Your assistance with your student's
re-entry process to the culture of the USA is vital to a
smooth transition.
Two debriefing exercises for students are also included to
help with re-entry into North American culture. If your
student has not complete the "Moving On Exercise"
before leaving the mission field, please encourage its
completion shortly after your student returns home. The
"Settling Back In" exercise is for your student to
complete after one or two months back in the USA.
1. Listen, listen, and listen some more.
Your student will have many emotionally laden stories to tell.
The most loving response you can have is to listen until all
the stories have been told (and re-told).
2. Expect your student missionary to be a different person.
Global experiences change a person. Encounters with poverty, a
new culture, inability to communicate in an unknown language,
and being an ethnic minority possibly for the first time will
alter the way your student views and interacts with the world,
including you and your family. Seek to discover the changes in
your student and help him/her to make adjustments in a godly
manner to living in the USA.
3. Help your student find places to share his/her story.
Encourage your student missionary to speak at collegiate
gatherings and help them to make contact with churches, WMU
groups, RAs, GAs and any other groups that would be interested
in hearing about their experience.
If your student does not like to speak in public, encourage
him/her to invite family and friends over for small gatherings
where mission stories and pictures from the summer can be
shared.
4. Encourage your student to be involved in ministry to
international students on their college campus.
Students from the people groups among whom your students
served are likely to be on American college campuses.
International students are the future leaders in their home
countries. By reaching out to international students on
American university campuses we can reach the world through
those who have come to our doorstep.
5. Help student missionaries mobilize their church and
campus college groups for international missions by
a. leading Bible studies about God's heart for the nations
Excellent studies include:
i. In and Not Of the World: Life Mission of a World Christian
by Felicity Burrow and Laura Savage
ii. God's Heart for the Nations by Jeff Lewis
b. coordinating a mission team to serve internationally in the
next year
c. mobilizing fellow students to consider giving a spring
break or a summer to international mission service.
Mission projects lists available at www.thetask.org/projects.
A. Definition
Re-entry stress is like culture stress in many ways - only
in reverse. While culture stress is
associated with a sense of disorientation brought on by a new
and unfamiliar environment,
re-entry stress is precipitated by returning to a setting you
presume to be familiar, but which
in reality is no longer the same.
It is the unexpected nature and subtlety of such change
that will cause stress for you and returning missionaries.
Your once familiar and comfortable environment no longer
appears the same. Something definitely has changed. But you
don't easily recognize just what has been altered.
Suddenly you find yourself out of phase with your own
culture. Your reaction may come in the form of bewilderment,
dismay, disillusionment and perhaps even irritation or anger.
Somehow, "things are just not the way they used to be.",
"nobody seems to care..",
"nobody really understands.".
There are several contributing factors to re-entry stress.
One is that you are being caught by surprise - you do not
anticipate change and consequently are unprepared to cope.
Another factor is value conflict. Your values, once taken for
granted and even highly cherished, now seem of lesser
significance or of little importance at all. Your way of
thinking, your manner and your responses to many situations
have been changing. Often these changes are not apparent until
you are back in your own culture.
B. Common symptoms and effects of re-entry stress
1. Disorientation - feeling out of place, not fitting in
2. Feelings of loneliness, isolation, or being lost in the
crowd
3. Restlessness - a desire to "get away" from those
who don't seem to understand or care
4. Feeling that nobody understands your experience or that
nobody cares
5. Feeling tired, listless
6. Critical attitude toward home country - its waste,
extravagance, wrong way of doing
things, etc.
7. Loss of identity - just "another cog in a big
wheel"
8. Inability to communicate new ideas, concepts freely
9. Feeling of superiority - standing aloof from others because
of your overseas experience
10. Feeling of dissatisfaction
11. Defensive in responses
12. Retreat, withdrawal, lack of concern
13. Unnatural, uncomfortable responses to "ordinary"
situations
14. Confusion over conflicting attitudes and responses
15. Rejection of overseas experiences or a desire to forget
and not talk about them
1. ISOLATE and be alienated
A person who responds this way to re-entry stress.
- pulls away from being in a stressful situation by being
alone or with like-minded people (e.g. former short-termers)
- continues to identify with the home culture for the most
part, but has strong negative reactions to it
- may express a strong judgmental posture towards the values
and lifestyle of the home culture (church, family, friends,
politics)
- may feel deep guilt over home culture's materialism and
affluence
- may tend to day dream a lot about the short-term
experience, holding on to memories
- unaware of other alternatives to impact the home culture
(church or campus group)
NEEDS - someone who has been through re-entry stress to help
in understanding the transition process and exploring options
2. IMITATE and be re-socialized
A person who responds this way to re-entry stress.
- "Goes native" in USA culture by reverting
immediately back to conventional norms
- resumes life as if nothing happened
- unable to translate the impact of short-term experience to
the rest of life
- may have a very high need for acceptance by the home
culture
- may be afraid of the repercussions of being different or
standing on one's convictions
NEEDS - to be with compassionate mission-minded people who can
assist in sorting out the short-term experience
3. INTEGRATE and be proactive
A person who responds this way to re-entry stress.
- accepts the reality of transitions between two cultures
- relates back with the home culture in a way that does not
compromise or negate new values or lessons learned from
short-term experience
- recognizes that changes have occurred through the
short-term experience
- continues to learn lifestyle incorporating the old and new
NEEDS: seeks support from like-minded people
Prepare your student for re-entry stress before he/she
leaves home. Recognize that when a person comes to love people
in another place, there is always going to be pain. Your will
never be completely at home again because part of your
student's heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price a
student missionary pays for the richness of loving and knowing
people in more than one place.
Share with your student the following tips for coping with
re-entry stress.
1. Expect some of the same areas of culture stress as you
experienced when going overseas. Allocate time and energy to
cope with these. Review coping strategies.
2. Realize the importance of balancing between readjustment
and maintaining new values.
3. Consciously apply your theology of culture (seeing both
patterns of exploitation, idolatry, loveliness and kindness)
to your home culture.
4. Cultivate a network of people who have been overseas
with whom you can discuss (and if they are Christians, pray
for) the needs of the world, so that they can be mutually
supportive in thinking globally.
5. Cultivate friendships with people from the region where
you lived, International students, businessmen.
6. Help your friends and your church know what questions to
ask you. Try to look at your ministry from their context and
tie your concerns to their values.
7. When you want to talk about your overseas experience
more than they want to hear, put your message in "I
need" frames: "I need to work through this".
Often they will listen, not because they care about your
information but because they care about you.
8. From the beginning of your time overseas, keep records
that will help you talk and write to people back home. Record
your first impressions in detail. Record anecdotes
periodically. Now and then, reflect on what you are learning
in light of the context in which you will have to report back
home.
9. Help your church figure out where to use you in an
on-going way. Analyze their ministries, your gifts, and then
make a couple of proposals to the church as to how you could
serve, integrating what you have learned overseas with the
priorities of the church. Don't wait for them to come to you
with a proposal.
10. Recognize that your American supporters may be under a
great deal of stress themselves. Be prepared to counsel,
comfort, pray for and bless them, as much as to receive their
counsel and care.
(STUDENTS' COPY)
Dr. Miriam Adeney, a Christian anthropologist, tells her
students that they "will never be able to go home again . they will probably always leave part of themselves behind,
and thereafter will be split . and home may be in more than
one place. But that is the price they pay for the richness of
having experienced more than one culture deeply."
SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS:
1. Find other returnees with whom you can share and have
fellowship.
2. Give yourself time to readjust, be patient with yourself
and with others.
3. Recognize and accept which transition stage you are
going through, and remember that "reverse culture
shock" or "re-entry shock" is a normal part of the
process of returning home.
4. Have a good sense of humor.
5. Let your re-entry work for you: use it as a growing
process to continue learning about yourself as a bi-cultural
or multi-cultural person.
6. Appreciate the opportunity you had to go abroad and the
commitment to return home.
7. Find someone who can give you a current briefing about
your community, church, culture, country, job situation and
people you know.
8. Review the most significant changes you have undergone
while in the U.S. and the implications of those changes.
9. Review your great expectations in returning home . how
relevant and realistic are they?
10. Keep a clear perspective and remember that God is with
you!
Between Two Worlds: Returning Home
up
(PARENTS' COPY)
Dr. Miriam Adeney, a Christian anthropologist, tells her
students that they "will never be able to go home again . they will probably always leave part of themselves behind,
and thereafter will be split . and home may be in more than
one place. But that is the price they pay for the richness of
having experienced more than one culture deeply."
SOME PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS:
1. Help your student to find other returnees (short-term
volunteers, missionaries) with whom you can share and have
fellowship.
2. Give your student time to readjust. Be patient.
3. Recognize and accept which transition stage your student
is going through, and remember that "reverse culture
shock" or "re-entry shock" is a normal part of the
process of returning home.
4. Encourage your student to have a good sense of humor. Be
aware, though, that your student could feel that you are
laughing at him/her and the mission experience if you make too
light of their experience or feelings.
5. Use this time of re-entry as a growing process for your
family to learn about your student, the people group/culture
in which your student served, and how you can continue to
minister to the people group from home. Re-entry provides an
opportunity for you and your family to become bi-cultural or
multi-cultural people.
6. Express to your student what God has done in your life
and your family's life during your student's time in another
country. Possibly the changes God prompted were the result of
your student serving internationally.
7. Help your student find opportunities to share the story
of his/her international mission service. Examples of this can
be a church service, Sunday School classes, WMU or Women on
Mission meeting, Baptist Student Union or other campus
ministry meeting.
8. Help your student learn to tell his or her story well.
See the pages titled, "Telling Your Story" for
suggestions.
9. Review the most significant changes that have occurred
while your student was gone on mission. Talk through the
events and changes, show pictures and videos of events, if
possible, and discuss the implications of those events and
changes on your student's future.
10. Talk with your student about his/her great expectations
in returning home . how relevant and realistic are they?
What are steps your student can take and your family can take
to meet the realistic expectations?
11. Keep a clear perspective and remember that God is with
you!
WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO COME ACROSS AS "I'M
BETTER THAN MOST CHRISTIANS BECAUSE I'VE BEEN OVERSEAS."
A. Preoccupation with materialism
Back in the U.S., the desire for material comforts and
possessions is a dominant theme. Are you prepared to face this
fact if you are returning from a culture where people are
content with little or have only the basic necessities of
life? Has your sensitivity to basic human needs been
heightened by your experiences abroad? What response might you
have to affluence, waste or overindulgence?
Suggestions:
1. Do not be quick to condemn; realize that others have not
had the same exposure to another way of life. Their
preoccupation with "their world" as they know it is
only natural.
2. Be prepared for a sensory bombardment if you are
accustomed to simplicity in choice and lifestyle. An
overabundance of goods, choices, etc. can overwhelm you at
first.
3. Expect others to not fully understand how you feel when
their "materialistic
ways" strike you as sinful.
B. Doing things the "best" way
This is often referred to as ethnocentrism. It's only
natural that every culture values its ways.
Is bigger, better, faster and more accurate really best? Do
other cultures have something to offer us? Expect to receive
blank stares or an air of disapproval from your compatriots if
you question traditional ways.
Suggestions:
1. Be on the alert for a "holier-than-thou"
attitude. Do not be too quick to judge others for their
ethnocentric stance or to think that your way is the best way.
2. Share your perspectives, but at the same time avoid
becoming involved in
arguments . Do not allow yourself to withdraw or refuse to
discuss matters
because of opposition.
C. Personal worth and recognition
Possibly one of the most difficult areas to address is
personal fulfillment. Your questions may include: Was my
service valuable? Will anyone recognize my contribution or my
sacrifice? Will I be just another fish in a big pond? What
will the situation be like upon my return?
Quite likely you are returning from a position where you
were the focus of attention, where you felt needed, accepted
and loved.
Suggestions:
1. Do not expect to be in the limelight for long after your
return. Some may ask
to see your slides, have you speak, etc., but soon you will be
back to your "ordinary citizen" status.
2. Realize that your worth and recognition comes first from
God. View your service as service to Him, not something with
which to gain recognition and praise from others.
3. Do not allow yourself to feel hurt or sorry for yourself
when people do not notice you or your service. God does.
Look for ways to meet others' needs; this will help you
take the focus off yourself (Phil. 2:3-4).
Frequently, returning missionaries are surprised or caught
off guard by situations they do not anticipate. The following
examples illustrate some of the more common situations. Along
with these examples are some possible responses or reactions,
plus some suggestions to help you deal with specific
incidences.
| Missionaries Returning Home Did Not Expect: |
Reaction: |
Suggestions for Avoiding
Problems In The Future: |
| To arrive feeling so physically
and emotionally drained |
Tiredness, lethargy |
Schedule in
several transition days of rest and re laxation between departure
and home arrival. Do
not over schedule your time upon return. |
| To feel so "foreign" upon
return |
Confusion, disorientation |
Make
yourself aware of changes within yourself before you return. |
| A "let-down" feeling after
arrival |
Disappointment, unfulfilled |
Be
prepared for a possible "let-down"; realize that you probably have been operating on an
emotional "high" prior to and shortly after your return. |
| Readjustment to take more than
a few days |
Discouragement |
Readjustment
can be expected to take some time -- more for some than for others. This is natural. |
| To be so out of touch with current
issues at home (political, economic,
etc.) |
Embarrassment |
Plan ahead
to read and get caught up. Have someone send you news articles
while you are away. |
| Their own personal values to have
changed so much |
Uncertainty, confusion |
This often
comes as a surprise to many when return ing home. The extent of change can
only truly be
compared with the standard in your own culture.
Attempt to define the changes that have taken place. |
| Others to see or understand things
differently than they did |
Frustration, discouragement |
Remember
that your perspective has changed -- not theirs. |
| Others to show so little interest
hearing about your experiences |
Discouragement, withdrawal,
resentment |
Take it
as fact that others are usually not able to relate to your experiences
as you would wish. Some are just not interested. |
| People to ask so many superficial
questions |
Irritation |
Be prepared to
face these questions. Develop ways to make transitions into what you really want to
communicate. |
| To be so appalled at the values of
home society |
Disappointment, discouragement |
Be
prepared for a somewhat greater gap between your moral values and those of
your own culture. |
| Family possessive after initial
return |
Impatience, discouragement |
Be sure to
reaffirm your commitment to your parents and family. Reassure them that you are
not "lost" to
them and that you love them. Avoid coming on too
strong with your experience. |
| Peers back home seem so insensitive to materialism and
wastefulness |
Irritation, disappointment, contempt |
Do
not allow yourself to slip into resentment, anger, or other
responses that appear judgmental. |
To see so much apathy and unconcern for the needs of
the world |
Anger, discouragement |
This
may rightly disturb you, but do not become self-righteous or
indignant over another's response
or lack of response. Lovingly try to inform them about the
world's needs. |
To be so troubled over the imbalance of Christian
workers at
home versus workers abroad |
Impatience, discouragement, disillusionment |
Accept this
imbalance as fact. Instead of reacting emotionally,
plan how you can use your life and experience to
challenge others back home to
missions service. |
People to be so ethnocentric
in
their perspectives |
Rejecting, feelings of superiority |
Remember that you do not have the right to judge others on the basis of your
own "enlightened ex
perience". |
| To be ignored and not necessarily
treated as someone special upon
return |
Disillusionment, hurt feelings |
Even
though you are a "special" person, do not view it as a right to
have attention focused on you. Realize that others are involved in the routine of daily
affairs. |
| To find a critical attitude developing toward their own culture or
peers |
Guilt, frustration |
Keep breathing spiritually. Critical attitudes can easily slip in during
readjustment. Some things definitely will bother you, but do not allow Satan to
use these things to defeat you. |
| Feelings of superiority due to
overseas experience |
Guilt, aloofness |
Review
Philippians 2:1-11: "regard others as more important than yourself." |
| To feel so lonely |
Unfulfilled, feelings
of rejection |
Especially if you
have established deep relationships overseas, it is natural that you will feel the
loss of
friendships. Actively seek out new relationships at
home. Get involved with people right away; do not
isolate yourself from others. |
Please take this exercise with you to the mission field and
complete it during the last week of your mission experience.
Complete the following sentences with your own words. You
may write whatever comes to mind. You may want to use another
sheet of paper for space to write full answers.
LEAVING
1. When I think of leaving my host country, I feel .
2. My experience here has been .
3. For me (name of country) means .
4. The people I will miss are .
5. The things that I will miss are .
6. The things I will be happy to leave behind are .
7. When leaving a place I usually .
8. The easiest point of leaving for me will be .
9. Before I leave I really want to .
10. I feel that my goals/expectations have been .
11. The most stressful part of leaving will be .
EXPECTATIONS
12. I expect that the process of returning will be .
13. I expect the reception from my family will be .
14. I expect the reception from my church will be .
15. I expect the reception from my friends will be .
16. I think my church will expect me to .
17. I think my family will expect me to .
18. I think my friends at home will expect me to .
19. If my career does not work out I will .
RETURNING
20. When I think of returning to the United States, I feel
.
21. I will be going back to .
22. Regarding money, I will be .
23. Going back will enable me to .
24. I think the hardest part of going back for me will be
.
25. I think the easiest part of going back for me will be
.
26. I am really looking forward to .
If your spouse is on mission with you:
27. When I talk to my spouse about leaving he/she .
28. For my spouse, I think that leaving will be .
DEBRIEFING triggers the re-entry process. Re-entry can be
seen as an end and a beginning.
- an end to a foreign experience, but the beginning of
feeling foreign to your own culture.
- an end to being/feeling special, but the beginning of
being ordinary with a special heart for God and for people.
- an end to being stared at, but the beginning of looking
at people and the world through different eyes.
- an end to simple living, but the beginning of a different
lifestyle.
- an end to crowded housing, but the beginning of having
space for God and for people.
- an end to eating foreign food, but the beginning of
friendships with "foreign" people.
Adapted from an exercise written by Lisa Espineli Chinn,
Interaction. Inc.
(To be completed 1-2 months after returning home)
Complete the following sentences with your own words. You
may write whatever comes to mind. You may want to use another
sheet of paper for space to write full answers.
1. Now that I am back home, I feel .
2. I find it easy to .
3, I find it hard to .
4. I wish .
5. The people who I feel understand me are .
6. I enjoy being with .
7. I enjoy (activity) .
8. My family says I .
9. My friends say I .
10. My pastor says I .
11. I need help in .
Written by Lisa Espineli Chinn, Interaction, Inc. © 1993
Now that you and your team have had the opportunity to
experience mission service through a volunteer project,
perhaps some of them are sensing that God is leading them to
give more of their time, abilities and passion to serving
overseas. The following few pages will provide the information
that you need to assist them to begin exploring the
possibility of serving for four months to three years through
the International Service Corps, Masters or Journeyman
programs, or from three years to a lifetime through the
Career, Associate or Apprentice programs. The Office of
Mission Personnel staff will be happy to assist you in helping
your team members make a good decision about God's call for
overseas service. If God leads, we look forward to hearing
from you.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CONTINUED SERVICE
|
CATEGORIES |
LENGTH OF SERVICE |
MINIMUM AGE |
SUPPORT |
|
Career Missionary |
Long-Term |
24 (Upper age 45) |
Provided by IMB |
|
Missionary Associate |
4 Year Term (Often renewable) |
30 |
Provided
by IMB |
|
Missionary Apprentice |
3 Year Term |
24 (Upper age 45) |
Provided
by IMB |
|
Masters |
2 -3 Year Term |
50 |
Provided by IMB |
|
Journeyman |
24 Months Only |
21 - 29 |
Provided by IMB |
|
International Service Corps (ISC) |
4 - 24 Months |
21 |
Provided by
IMB |
For information on all the ways you can serve overseas:
|
