What global workers experience that senders aren't talking about - Global Trellis

#🪴evergreen
These are notes from a Global Trellis webinar for global workers, reviewing insights from responses to a survey on things global workers experience that they fear would get them sent home from the field if others knew.

Introduction to scope & responses

• 358 people responded, and responded in some depth! This clearly strikes a nerve! (Biggest survey response to date for Global Trellis!)
• Important to remember: nothing “unique” was shared. All topics were mentioned by multiple people.
• The question asked: “If my senders/supporters knew ‘this,’ I’m worried it would impact my ability to remain in my work on the field. What is your ‘this’?”
• Themes reported, not in any particular order:
  • Politics (international and local)
  • Physical health
  • Emotional/mental health (LOTS of responses!)
  • Sex/sexuality/gender (porn, infidelity, children questioning gender, etc.)
  • Faith/theology (stuff that has changed since going to the field, stuff supporters don’t know)
  • Marriage (stresses of being coworker-spouses, sense of loneliness)
  • Organization (opinions about shifts in leadership, questions about finances…)
  • Kids (including adult children not in the home!)
  • Debt/finances
  • Singleness (realities in different contexts in the world, sense of loneliness)
  • Miscellaneous: drinking too much, too much social media, “ministry is failing,” eating disorders, being sexually assaulted
• It comes down to “being human”! Not much is related to the work you’re doing. It’s just being you!
• Dilemma: how to present this in a way that doesn’t “vomit all over” people, so that they can feel the weight of it, but also feel encouraged with a way moving forward.

“Just like me” or “the pedestal”?

• The survey leader, Amy, shared about the themes with a non-global worker friend. Her friend’s reaction was “oh, people on the field are just like me!” — which in one sense, is great (we want people to recognize our humanity!) but also, we need people to recognize that we don’t experience these issues just like everyone “back home.”
• “On the field, in a different culture, often in a fishbowl, with the added layer that your ‘job’ may be on the line.”
• “You are not superhuman…you are human. But on the field, the stakes are higher.”
• How did we end up with the “global worker on a pedestal”?
  • Senders: “I couldn’t do what they do, therefore, they are not like me. They are superhuman.” Trying to honor the sacrifice and reality cross-cultural workers face.
  • Goers: “A lot is at stake. I need to be superhuman.” Trying to be worthy of the money, effort, and prayer invested.
• What seems to be in tension is the humanity and higher stakes.
• Goals: we want the senders to understand the catastrophic stakes global workers experience, and the goers to feel more freedom to be human.

Top 3 areas of responses

1. Emotional health

• Many, many responses about struggle with depression and/or anxiety
• “I don’t have much bandwidth” — struggling with anger! Especially towards children, due to stress.
• Spouse’s mental health limitations, spouse struggles with our location
• Taking meds
• “I feel beaten down”
• Periods of intense fear, anxiety
• “I feel done, I no longer have dreams or plans, I’m so weary and discouraged.”

2. Faith/theology

Faith

NOTE: There was a lot of apologetic tone about being human! A lot of feeling guilty!

• “I struggle to pray/haven’t prayed in ages.”
• “I’m in the Bible regularly as part of my church and in the Bible study I lead, but for my own 1:1 with God, I can go quite a long time without reading Scripture.”
• “I feel like God is not fair”
• “Why is church and the world so mean to women?”
• Many wrestle with organized American church and with “Christian” subculture
• My spouse is struggling to believe

Theology

• “I don’t completely agree with all the theologies of my organization.”
• No longer believing in a literal hell, but still very willing to share Jesus because of the different he makes in this life.
• Theology around sexuality and gender (this tension is playing out on the field—between team members, even between spouses!):
  • Fully affirming/inclusive of LGBTQ+ in the church and in marriage (often related to children, a family member or lived experience).
  • Conversely, being firm that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
• Questioning understanding of Scripture, “no longer think it’s my job to convince anyone of anything. I view the Bible differently than I did ten years ago.”
• Rethinking a lot of second/third tier theology things; traditions and preferences
• Impact of “purity culture” (common answer)

3. Marriage/singleness

• Singleness: not much that they worried would get them removed from the field (just habits like porn, self-touch, etc.) — but things they felt supporters don’t understand about singleness on the field.
• Of all the areas, the responses on marriage said the most in the least words!

Marriage:

• “I’m not very happy in my marriage.”
• “My marriage is strained.”
• “Unstable marriage”
• “Marriage problems”
• “Loveless marriage and chaotic family life.”
• “We have marital conflict and stress that is isolating to work through by ourselves…”
• “We basically live as housemates with very little real connection or intimacy. But we are functional as a team in ministry, so everything ‘seems okay.’”
• “Having to do everything with your spouse doesn’t always make the marriage better. Instead, often I have to choose between being a good spouse or a good colleague. They don’t always go hand-in-hand.”

Singleness:

• “Everyone has an opinion and for some reason they all think it is okay to speculate on the single person’s life, status, and mindset without actually getting to know the individual.”
• “Remaining a faithful witness as a single, celibate person in contemporary culture is hard, even in church culture.”
• “If I have to hear ‘the gift of singleness’ one more time, I’m going to throw something!”
• “Nowhere was there any intentional discussion on being single past your 20s and what that means as a human who still has sexual desires and longings for connection.”
• “Navigating the Muslim world as a single woman is not easy. And it’s a drain on my male teammates to assist me.”

Conclusion & next steps

How to respond (for senders)

• Recognize/remember we are all growing and changing. Being on the field changes people, but also, life stages change!
• Acknowledge the toll it takes and the energy physically, mentally, spiritually to live on the field.
• Mandate/value/ask about days off, and subsidize and incentivize them.
• Offer financial and/or logistical support for vacation, counseling, spiritual directors, and coaches (help more upstream, before crisis)
• Ask what they might find helpful and use what you have. Points? Passes? Gift cards? To help global workers get to a conference or retreat.
• “Hey, I just heard this seminar and wondered…” — check in with your global workers!

What’s next:

• There is a 1-hour recorded session for senders, with discussion guide. (Now available here)
• Plans for future sessions on different areas (gender and sexuality, politics, marriage/singleness, etc.)
• Share the findings in writing, starting with a blog post about the “ministry pedestal.”Academic paper in progress.