Dale Johnson: This week on the podcast, I have with me Eric Abisror. I’m so grateful for this brother and his work in Argentina. He’s been married to Danica for 17 years. They have five boys, ages 6 to 14. And they were sent out as missionaries from Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, Washington, in 2018 to serve in Córdoba, Argentina where they have served with Reaching and Teaching International Ministries for the last six years. Eric serves as one of the pastors of Iglesia Biblica Bautista Crecer in Córdoba, and as one of the professors of biblical counseling in Seminario Carey, where he also serves as a director of our ACBC training center in Argentina. Eric is certified with us here at ACBC, and he serves as one of the first Spanish-speaking fellows, as well. He along with two other ACBC members recently published a short introduction to biblical counseling in Spanish. He’s currently working on his PhD in biblical counseling here at Midwestern, and he is writing his dissertation on the subject of trauma. I cannot wait for that to come out, but we can’t get side railed today. We want to talk specifically about missionary care. Eric, we’re so grateful that you’re here to help us think about this.
Eric Abisror: Thanks, Dale. Thanks for having me.
Dale Johnson: Now, this is something that’s near and dear to my heart; it is one of the burdens. When I was going through seminary, I went to the seminary that at the time was sending out the most missionaries from the west, you know. So, lots of my friends were going overseas. And I just began to see as they were going overseas, that those who had strong relationships with other churches often, you know, not that they didn’t have problems—they had lots of problems, but they were able to deal with them in a different way, In part because of that relationship. And then others, who did not have such a strong relationship, life seemed to be much harder. And that’s correlation, not cause and effect, but there was some significance to that. And I just began to be very burdened about that and I would try to relationship with them, and try to help, you know, where I could personally. But it has allowed me to think even while I’m at ACBC—how can we serve missionaries, specifically, doing member care? And things like that–even helping sending organizations as we think about, you know, helping them to care for their members. Well, so we’re brainstorming about that. We’re seeing the Lord open up some opportunities with some different mission sending organizations. But I want to talk specifically. We’ll talk a little bit about your thoughts here, but also some of your experience personally. So, let’s chat about this idea of missionary care, specifically in the local church. One of the common ideas that often we have about missionaries, is that mission organizations send these missionaries, so they are sort of responsible for them. However, let’s talk specifically about a biblical perspective on who’s responsible to send missionaries.
Eric Abisror: Yeah, that’s a really good question. And when we’re talking about caring for the missionaries that we’re sending out, if we don’t get that right—who sends missionaries, then we’re going to be kind of short-circuiting the care that they’re going to receive. So, biblically speaking it, you know, it’s not organizations, it’s not seminaries that send out missionaries, right? It’s obviously first, the Lord Jesus Christ, that sends us. You know, we see in John 20, He says, “peace be with you as the Father has sent me.” So, I am what? “I am sending you.” Then the question is, well, now Christ has delegated authority to the local church to send out missionaries. And we see this really an Acts chapter 13, amongst other places, where Paul and Barnabas are first being sent out by the church at Antioch. And what’s interesting is, if we come back to the church at Antioch in Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas are actually returning to that same church. And what are they doing? They’re giving a report, and they’re telling the church they’re all that God has done. And so, we see really a form of accountability there, and a way in which, I think, the church at Antioch was caring for their first missionaries. This is really important because I think often times in the idea of sending missionaries, there’s this concept of kind of the individual call to missions. A lot of people, you know, they’ll talk about how they’re called missions. And a lot of times they’ll bypass their local church, and they’ll just go straight to a sending organization, and be sent out to a place. But really, if we understand that the local church is the sending entity of a missionary, there should be no idea of this ‘individual call to missions.’ It should be something that the person does with the local church.
Dale Johnson: I think this is a helpful distinction, and this is not a specific slight on sending agencies. When we talk about sending agencies, there’s value in cooperation and collaboration. But when we’re talking specifically about the missionary and giving them the commission to go and do the work of Christ and proclaim the gospel, that’s something given to Christ’s Church. And they are, therefore, responsible for sending, and I would argue, caring and holding them accountable for the work that’s being done there. So absolutely tracking with you on that level. So, we follow out, and we say, okay if the church is responsible for sending, agreed? If local churches are designed to send their own missionaries, what are some of the ways that churches can properly care for their own? And let’s think about this in a couple of different ways. I want to talk first about: How can churches care for missionaries before they’re sent?
Eric Abisror: Yeah, so we obviously, as a local church, we want to make sure that we are preparing our missionaries. That’s Ephesians 4, right—pastors and leaders of the church are called to prepare and equip their members for the work of the ministry. That’s something that the church has, and even in Argentina, we are sending missionaries out. We are wanting to do more of that, to send missionaries to places and unreached parts of the world. And so, we have to think through that, as well just, how can we be preparing our missionaries? So, there are several ways that we can be doing that as a local church. And I might just answer that in two ways: The first is more general and that’s in, you know, just in having a healthy local church, we are going to see our missionaries cared for. So, if we have a biblical view of the ‘one another’s.’ If we’re just practicing the one another’s, we’re going to be caring for them. If we have a biblical view of membership and future missionaries are committing themselves to a local church before, then they’re going to be submitting themselves to other members and their leaders, and they’re going to be receiving care. If we think through the idea of sending qualified missionaries, we have a list of qualifications of elders or pastors. And I think it’s helpful, if we think through those qualifications in terms of how we’re sending missionaries as well. You know, it’s amazing to me, if we’re planting a church across town, we wouldn’t send just anybody. And it should be the same overseas, right? If we’re wanting to plant churches overseas, we should be thinking through those qualifications of an elder thinking, “Well, they should somehow meet that standard, before we send them,” and even just understanding what’s a biblical model of change and sanctification. If we have that right, then you know that applies to missionaries as well.
Obviously, there’s more practical ways in which I think we can be doing that. Before we send them, I think we should be intentional about how we assess them spiritually. So, we should be asking questions about their theology. You know, the future missionary doesn’t need to dictate that conversation. I think the local church needs to be part of that. What’s the health of their marriage? We see that as a problem on the mission field quite often. I think a lot of those problems can be avoided, if we just understand what’s going on before they’re sent. Are there any personal sins that need to be uprooted? Do they have an addiction to pornography? Do they have really bad financial problems? What’s going on there? Obviously, assessing their understanding of ministry; that’s a way of caring for them as well. So, are they currently serving others? Are they discipling others? What’s their giftedness? And helping people understand their own giftedness. And how do they work as a team? Do they work well with others or don’t they? That’s you know, that’s the number one reason why missionaries come back from the field, because they have problems with their teammates. And then, obviously maybe just a calling assessment. So, do they love the local church? Is their spouse on the same page as well? You know, we want to make sure that both parties, both spouses, are on the same page when they’re going. Is the sending church in agreement that this couple, this family, this person, this individual should go? And then also helping them proactively find and choose a sending organization. You mentioned that sending organizations are important. And I think that the local church should be part of helping them find a missions organization.
Dale Johnson: Yeah, that’s well said Eric. And I appreciate those particulars. Again, we’re just giving a few things, there are so many more things that we could focus on and hone in on, but I appreciate the way in which you’re trying to evaluate their character. And are they already doing some of the things that would demonstrate, they would do the work that missions calls for once they arrive on the field and facing some of the challenges that we know they’re going to face?
Now, we move through the process, okay, we’ve sent the missionary. I want you to think about the church, specifically the relationship between the sending church, the missionaries, and then the church on the field. Care has to happen. Because as you know as well as I do, when missionaries go on the field, they’re not perfect. They’re human beings just like the rest of us. And often what happens is normal problems that we would experience are exacerbated because of their context—different, you know, pressures that they face, and cultural differences, and language barriers, and all kinds of problems that begin to exacerbate that. So, let’s talk about care, as maybe they’re going to a place where the church is establishing. They’re going to try and be a part of that, but we are still responsible for the sending church. So, you can see some dynamics there—where we have to think wisely about who’s responsible? How do we hold accountability? How do we continue to care for these people in the mission work that they’re trying to accomplish? So, give a few thoughts here.
Eric Abisror: Yeah. So, when we think about missionary care, there’s often these three levels or three layers of missionary care, right. There’s the sending church, there is the mission’s organization that they go with, and then there is, you know, hopefully some sort of local church on the ground as well. So, we’re part of Reaching and Teaching, and they provide missionary care, although, they are always kind of, sending us back to our local church on the ground and even our sending church. But I think that when we are sending missionaries, hopefully they’re going to be established in some sort of local church. And I understand that might be different in maybe a more pioneer type context. You know, thankfully, we’re part of a healthy local church, where our sending church provides care, but at the same time, they’ve kind of handed off a lot of that authority to our local church, which now provides care. So, even just this last year, we went through a lot of different things just in trials, and our sending church provided some care, and our sending organization provided a lot of care. But really, most of that care came from our local church on the ground in Argentina. So, I think that’s really important. And for those that may not have a healthy local church that they belong to, because their whole goal is that they’re trying to plant new churches—Well, then they should seek for that, at some point as they’re planting new churches. If that isn’t happening at a local church because it doesn’t exist, then they should lean more on that sending church and sending organization as well.
Dale Johnson: I think that’s so critical, not just for the missionary to understand, but I think it’s also critical for sending churches to understand.
Eric Abisror: That’s right.
Dale Johnson: What I really appreciate is the spectrum that you’re offering here. What you’re saying here is that “Hey, there may be a really solid local church on the ground there, that’s doing great work. And the sending church can cooperate there and entrust some of that care, but the sending church also has to be aware that in many pioneer places, they have to up or maintain their solid involvement to help the work as it’s in this pioneering phase. And there may not be a local church there. We may be appointing Elders, setting up churches in every city; We may be at that stage. So, we have to pay attention to what’s needed in particular places around the world. I really appreciate that wisdom: That it’s not a one-size-fits-all, sort of spectrum. We’ve got to look at it as, you know, what’s the need of the moment? To the missionary? To their specific case, where they’re at? And what’s going on the ground? Now, let’s take this if we’re moving chronologically, this is one of the places where I see it’s most difficult for missionaries. They become accustomed. They transition well. Maybe they’ve been on the field for two, three, four years, or sometimes longer, and what’s difficult is they adapt well to the places that they’re at. And then they come back to the States, maybe we call that re-entry or their time on furlough, or whatever it might be. Oftentimes, that’s a very difficult transition—that all the missionaries I talked to have struggled with. Just the culture in the west—particularly the culture in America, specifically, with how things are radically different. And sometimes that’s really hard to adjust to. I think the materialism of America, and sometimes the shape of church in America, is really hard. And so, this is sometimes one of the more difficult parts. You would think, “Oh, somebody’s coming home,” but they have really adjusted their life to the setting overseas and here they are coming back. Talk about that process, because this is a place where they’re sending church can be so valuable and so helpful in helping them to adjust well, as they come back to what’s familiar, but it seems quite foreign and difficult.
Eric Abisror: Yeah, that’s a really good question. And we’re kind of in that stage right now because we’re back in the States for some time and of our furlough or our stateside assignment. And so, we’re seeing how a lot of churches are, you know, seeking to kind of help. Or they’re seeking to do that really well. They are, you know, inviting and receiving the missionary family back in, but it can be a challenge. It oftentimes is a challenge for the missionary, especially for their kids at times—Where they don’t know where home is. It’s been said about the missionary kids that their home is oftentimes in the airplane, because they’re kind of in between two worlds. And so, I think there are some different ways with that. That local churches can really care for the missionary family. I think. One way in particular is really looking out for their kids. You know, what are their kids interested in? What are their kids need? How can we integrate and involve their kids into the life of the church? I remember a couple of years ago when we were back in the States for just a time, there were kind of designated kids that were really targeting some of our kids in a very helpful, friendly, natural way. They were just making sure that they were befriended and that they were welcomed, and that was really kind.
I think another way to care for people that are coming back, either for a short time or if it’s permanent, is to care for them spiritually. Like you said, there are a lot of different pressures that missionaries face on the field. And I think that a lot of times, this reveals just maybe different sins we haven’t seen before. And so, we need to care for missionaries as they come back spiritually. What is the health of their marriage? Are there any particular sins that they’re battling with anger? How’s their parenting going? And also, maybe just seeking to understand them, you know—we’re sometimes a little weird. We come back, and we face this reverse culture shock, you know. Danica and I will, often times, just joke about how it’s like we have forgotten how to speak English; We phrase things in Spanish ways. And so, things are just different. There’s this reverse culture shock that takes place. Maybe another way is just helping your church get to know the missionary family—that might be a lunch after service on Sunday. You know, we were part of a church in Florida not too long ago, just for a month. They were just seeking to care for us, and they sent out a letter to their congregation just explaining what we were doing there, and who we are, and how they’re just super excited we were there. And that was really, really kind of them. You can help care for them logistically. So, what kind of physical needs do they have? Sometimes we forget where to buy things. Maybe we don’t have a car to get places or a place to stay. So, we’re going to be going to Washington State, where are sending churches next week. They have kindly provided a car, and a place for us to stay with a pantry full of food. And so those are just ways that they can care for missionaries. And maybe just understanding and being aware of why missionaries come back. You know, what are those main reasons? So, it could be loneliness, personal sins, issues with the team, or burnout. So those are some ways to care for people upon re-entry.
Dale Johnson: Yeah. And I would add maybe another is where they’re having to come back and raise funds, and there is a pressure to that. It’s a real need. That’s a part of the pressure of missionary life. So, Eric thanks for being very helpful, giving us some insight from a personal perspective. I think this will be very helpful to us as churches in the states. Not that we don’t want to care, but this teaches us how we can care better and to pay attention to be vigilant and how we can care for those that are serving the lord around the world so that we can propagate the gospel and see, the gospel of Christ. Spread to all nations in a healthy way. Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.
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