Thursday, May 22, 2008

Reversing reverse culture shock

Last week I was at a conference, which was just awesome. I may tell you more about it, but for now, it needs to sink in a bit. One evening though, I ended up having an awesome meal with about 5-6 other people. We had all lived overseas serving in some capacity (some had come to England especially for the conference before returning!). We have a rich conversation about reverse culture shock, and the process by which one returns home and settles back in. I was really interested.. because of the job I had done, because I am smack bang in the middle of returning home, and because I am really interested in learning more about how to support people as they come and go from overseas.

On fact that really shocked us, was that 40% of returning missionaries suffer from depression! That’s terrible! It was great talking through some of the things that can help or hinder the process of leaving and returning home, such as finding people to talk to who understand, our feelings of failure, or completion, or being, or feeling judged. It was awesome too, to hear about courses that are run for people who are going, and even returning home (I had never heard of that before!), as well as new books that are out.

There is also a new bible available which has an emphasis on God’s heart for the poor- how great is that! Check out an article on it HERE.

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