Conflicting Reports
I’ve been told on several occasions that the number one reason for missionaries leaving the field early is team issues/dynamics/conflicts. I would attribute the bulk of this to poor execution of conflict resolution. Thankfully, I have yet to personally experience a situation where someone left the field for such a reason, so perhaps the statistic isn’t accurate. But I’m willing to believe it. I know in my time on the mission field, the times I’ve most wanted to go home were due to team issues. I also know that the time I had to talk someone I supervise out of leaving the field was largely the result of unwillingness to practice healthy and redemptive conflict resolution on the parts of several people. And most recently, in the case of someone not returning to the field, I believe it is the result of a weariness directly related to expecting people to forgive when they can and come directly to you when they can’t rather than gossiping (and gossip is the perfect example of poor conflict resolution) while actually being the subject of much continued gossip.
Of course, this is exactly the sort of thing that is hard to put down in a prayer request email or monthly report to supporters. Noone wants to write about how their team (encharged with proclaiming the truth and living as salt and light) is dysfunctional on a pretty regular basis. And when you try to write about it, it’s hard not to sound judgmental (another thing that doesn’t help) and you find yourself dealing with some people who just want the juicy details (again, not helpful).
Bottom line, if you pray for some missionaries (and man I hope you do), pray that they and their teams would have the courage, strength, and willingness to seek and practice redemptive and compassionate conflict resolution, daily. We need those sorts of prayers.
