<\/p>\n
People join mission work with a calling and a natural enthusiasm; the costs have been carefully weighed, as has Jesus\u2019 command to put him above all else.<\/p>\n
So when crises occur we can be surprised and troubled: \u2018Are we in the right place or made of the \u201cright material?\u201d\u2019 But missionaries often live in extreme circumstances and are affected by the same stresses as everyone else; they\u2019re also in the \u2018spiritual front-line\u2019.<\/p>\n
In 1991 AIM partnered with another mission organisation to open a counselling and mental health service for missionaries, staffed by professionals who are themselves missionaries. \u2018Before this,\u2019 psychiatrist and AIM Care missionary Roger Brown explains, \u2018missionaries simply had to go home if they had any kind of mental health needs requiring professional help.\u2019<\/p>\n
Rich & Kathy served in Mombasa; Rich had taken on several additional roles, alongside his teaching. Then regular anti-Western demonstrations in their strongly Muslim city began, coupled with a deteriorating environment in their daughter\u2019s school. \u2018I could see I was spiralling down,\u2019 Rich remembers. Previous depression, thought to be under control, surfaced again, and with intensity.<\/p>\n
Tumaini helped them with the difficult decision to change ministry locations, hard schooling decisions for their kids, and guided Rich through his battle with depression. \u2018He\u2019s a new man,\u2019 Kathy says of her husband today. \u2018Rich and I are different people.\u2019 And their ministry was affected, too. \u2018Sometimes we offer people a shallow spirituality because we haven\u2019t worked through our own issues,\u2019 Kathy says, \u2018In some ways, the crises are a God-send.\u2019 God uses such difficult times, not just for our own healing and spiritual growth, but so we can bring God\u2019s love to others who are in a broken place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mark Phippen was the former Head of Counselling at Cambridge University and has recently joined the Tumaini team as a counsellor. He says\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":["default"],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10],"tags":[114,7,113],"aim_location":[723],"aim_ministry":[743],"aim_media_types":[],"unreached_people":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-stories","category-films","tag-administration-and-pastoral-care","tag-kenya","tag-tumaini","post_format-post-format-video","aim_location-kenya","aim_ministry-support-pastoral-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n