When you were at home and settled in your own culture, you “knew who you were and what you were good at” (to quote Dave Pollock) and so did everybody else. In other words, you had an identity and a role. When you move to another culture, you lose all of that. No one knows what you are capable of, when you are struggling to string two sentences together in a new language. That can be very unsettling and undermining to your self-worth! But slowly and surely, as you progress with the language and get familiar with the culture, you begin to find your feet again.

You start to believe you might once again be able to make a contribution and find your ‘niche’ in ministry in this new context. Others will also start to see where your gifts lie and how you fit in. This is where all the hard work and pain you have gone through in the adjustment period start to pay off. You have found a new place of belonging and significance, and that is truly a reason for celebration and joy.

It’s also a time for building a life not just a ministry – I’m reminded of the Lord’s words to the captives in Babylon in Jer 29: 5-7, where He tells them to settle down in the land and pray for it, “for in its peace you will have peace”. We need truly to ‘settle’, make friends and find a balance of work and play – that is one of the secrets of longevity!

Once your mission partner has adjusted to the culture and gained some fluency in the language, they will progressively feel more settled there and more able to exercise their gifts and fulfil their calling. Ironically, though, reaching this stage and learning to be more functional in the host culture is the very thing that will ultimately make it harder to readjust to the culture back home! This is part of the price of a cross-cultural calling, and it is important that the sending church understands this. We look at this in more detail at the post-field stage.

For now, though, it is important to celebrate the wins and rejoice that the long months and even years of investment in time and effort are paying off. Pray for them and their family as never before, that they will settle in the land and be effective in the work God has called them to. Pray too that He will protect them from ‘all the wiles of the evil one’. We must never forget that this family is on the ‘front line’ of spiritual warfare and that family is often a ‘vulnerable place’ where the enemy loves to attack. Encourage them to remain close to the Lord.

When you were at home and settled in your own culture, you “knew who you were and what you were good at” (to quote Dave Pollock) and so did everybody else. In other words, you had an identity and a role. When you move to another culture, you lose all of that. No one knows what you are capable of, when you are struggling to string two sentences together in a new language. That can be very unsettling and undermining to your self-worth! But slowly and surely, as you progress with the language and get familiar with the culture, you begin to find your feet again.

You start to believe you might once again be able to make a contribution and find your ‘niche’ in ministry in this new context. Others will also start to see where your gifts lie and how you fit in. This is where all the hard work and pain you have gone through in the adjustment period start to pay off. You have found a new place of belonging and significance, and that is truly a reason for celebration and joy.

It’s also a time for building a life not just a ministry – I’m reminded of the Lord’s words to the captives in Babylon in Jer 29: 5-7, where He tells them to settle down in the land and pray for it, “for in its peace you will have peace”. We need truly to ‘settle’, make friends and find a balance of work and play – that is one of the secrets of longevity!

Once your mission partner has adjusted to the culture and gained some fluency in the language, they will progressively feel more settled there and more able to exercise their gifts and fulfil their calling. Ironically, though, reaching this stage and learning to be more functional in the host culture is the very thing that will ultimately make it harder to readjust to the culture back home! This is part of the price of a cross-cultural calling, and it is important that the sending church understands this. We look at this in more detail at the post-field stage.

For now, though, it is important to celebrate the wins and rejoice that the long months and even years of investment in time and effort are paying off. Pray for them and their family as never before, that they will settle in the land and be effective in the work God has called them to. Pray too that He will protect them from ‘all the wiles of the evil one’. We must never forget that this family is on the ‘front line’ of spiritual warfare and that family is often a ‘vulnerable place’ where the enemy loves to attack. Encourage them to remain close to the Lord.