By Amanda Cunningham

(Recently, Craig and Amanda Cunningham moved to Canada, where Amanda will be joining the LAM staff in Member Care. I interviewed them after walking through First Lobo Baptist Church, where Craig is the new pastor. Amanda expressed her passion in these words. – David Phillips)

“I love member care! It’s such a critical aspect of missionary life, one we in our home needed and received repeatedly. Recently, Craig, Sam, our son, and I moved from Bolivia to London, where we will live in the beautiful outskirts of the city where urban and rural life overlap. I look forward to being able to bring the member care skills I learned in Bolivia to our new place of ministry in Canada. I will be joining Sue Vissers in her area of responsibility in member care.” 

The Global Member Care Network defines this ministry: “Member care is the ongoing preparation, equipping and empowering of missionaries for effective and sustainable life, ministry and work.”

Amanda adds, “Missionaries and cross-cultural workers take care of others, but they are not as good at taking care of themselves. LAM’s Member Care objective is to improve the well-being of our workers through the ongoing development of a pro-active, preventative, all-encompassing and educational program. This program seeks to encourage each missionary to keep growing their personal relationship with God, to enhance the growth and heath of all aspects of their lives, and to facilitate the development of their support network. Our prayer is that our workers not only survive but thrive.

“It is all too easy for personal stress and challenges to go unseen when a missionary is ‘on the field.’ Many people expect a Christian worker to act a certain way, conforming with a commonly held preconceived notion of missionary life, but each person should have the opportunity to be recognized as an individual in unique circumstances. Asking people to be open and vulnerable about the truth of their lives on the field requires trust. If there is no trust, the physical distance between the sending office and on-field missionaries can mean communication breaks down and people don’t ask for help when needed. Missionaries need their relationship with their sending office to be based on trust. 

“Member care covers so many aspects of life. For example, children need time and attention, and aging parents can be a concern. Long-term sustainability is our aim and the best way to achieve this is through relationships built on trust and openness. It may not be easy to explain that one’s children are feeling alone or lonely. Walking with a missionary through such a crisis and having scheduled moments to check in helps to lower the stress level; it helps people on the field feel less alone in the challenges they face. Member care is demonstrated when a reasonable degree of dialogue exists and when resources can be provided.

“Some examples I’ve seen of this include working with parents as they raise TCKs (Third Culture Kids), making others aware of seminars, resources, and even have a topic-appropriate book group. I also love to match people with others in similar ministries, so they don’t feel alone in what they are doing.”

Amanda’s passion for member care has come from 14 years of on-field experience where she has received the gracious gift of care from others. She now feels called to serve others this way.

Welcome, Amanda, to this next wonderful chapter in your life! God bless you!