Outcomes

To be human is to be wounded and to have wounded others. Left to themselves, our wounds can lead us to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms and perpetuate hurting others. This is particularly true for those in helping roles. 

We define healing as moving toward redemptive processes both in the places we have been wounded, and in our patterns of wounding others. 

Our presupposition is that all cross-cultural workers carry wounds that impact the way that they serve others, sometimes even subconsciously. Serving others out of unhealthiness or unhealed wounds tend to harm oneself and those being served. A trajectory of healing can lead to increased blessing to others and self. 

Many times, cross-cultural workers don’t feel the need to heal wounds for their own benefit, but it is when they realize that their unhealed wounds are harming those they care about the most that they become motivated to seek healing. 

Most Global Workers raise financial support, get some orientation about living cross-culturally, pack some suitcases and boxes, and attempt to be as equipped as possible to move to another culture.

The single most important factor in longevity, effectiveness, and contentment living and working cross-culturally is resiliency: the ability to bounce back from adversity.

Geoff Whiteman conducted research on resiliency among global workers, and he found that resiliency is less of a character trait and more of a skill, meaning that it can be grown, built, or acquired. Highly resilient global workers and low resilient global workers had three areas in common, but in a converse way. Highly resilient workers had adequate skills in their relationship with God, others, and self. Low resilient workers had inadequate skills in their relationship with God, others, or self. 

The implication is that if a global worker will acquire adequate skills in these three relationships, they are much more likely to enjoy longevity, effectiveness, and contentment in their life and service cross-culturally. The converse is if a global worker does not acquire adequate skills in these relationships, then they are likely to find it challenging to stay. 

“The deck of life is always shifting,” a former professor used to tell us students. If you stand still, or static, you will fall off one side or the other. The application is that we must continually adjust, shift, and lean in different directions in order to remain faithful. 

We call this Aligning. Aligning is making adjustments throughout life in order to stay focused and resolute in our calling. Generally there are two contexts for Aligning:

1. External change: unexpected events occur, circumstances change, or require a particular response/reaction to what is happening.

2. Internal: maturing/change of season in life, refinement of desire or focus, or shift in thinking or skills.

Ongoing aligning is necessary for enduring faithfulness and for maximum contentment and effectiveness.

Although many people experience feelings of conflict, accusation, blame, or guilt, we believe that aligning can be a healthy process and does not have to conclude in hurt feelings or unreconciled relationships. One analogy that can be helpful is that we are on the same team and sometimes players need to change positions to help the team win. 

We see two themes of “calling” in Scripture. One is to Shalom: abundance, blessing, peace, joy, fullness, well-being. This is the hope of the Outcome “Healing.”

The other “calling” is suffering. Since we are called to suffering, we don’t want to interpret all suffering as a sign of unfaithfulness or assign undue meaning to the suffering. We also don’t presume that we are to resolve or eradicate all suffering in this life. So, we have identified the Outcome “Struggling Well” as a hope for all global workers. Struggling Well is in tension with Healing. Some areas of life can and will be healed. In some areas of life, faithfulness is to struggle well and not be completely healed or unfettered by the suffering. In these situations, we see faithfulness as accepting and stewarding these struggles. 

The story of Jacob wrestling with the Angel of the Lord illustrates a pivotal picture. Jacob relentlessly pursues a blessing and won’t let go despite admonishments to do so. His struggling well leads to a blessing, which is a new name, Israel, meaning “to wrestle with God.” God was pleased to identify His chosen people as those who wrestle or struggle with Him. The other reality of struggling well is that Jacob walked with a limp the rest of his life.

Our observation is that global workers who struggle well tend to be gracious to themselves and others, no longer allowing shame to constrain the fruit of their work.

Would you like to learn more about the Outcomes? Click here to watch a video presentation.