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Member care Third Culture Kids

Care for Christian Workers

Posted on 07 July 2025 by Global Connections

Welcome to the Care for Christian Workers Resource.

This resource has been produced using the recording of the special Care for Christian Workers event held in June 2025. The resource contains an introductory video, three main content videos and a section containing supporting resources gathered from the event coffee break.

Resource Overview:

This resource is designed to provide an introductory overview of member care, wellbeing, and support for individuals in Christian ministry. This resource serves three primary purposes.

  1. To provide people unfamiliar with member care with an introduction to the topic and the tools needed to dig deeper.
  2. To provide a refresher on some of the basics of member care to those seeking to return to it.
  3. Finally to provide language to help those working in member care to communicate the value of their work, to supporters and others in their organisation.

We hope you find this resource enriching and beneficial for your professional and personal growth. If you would like to further explore this topic please consider joining the Global Connections Discourse, an online space where Global Connections members can discuss member care, and signing up to receive email updates about future resources and events from this Forum.



Speaker Introductions

Sarah Hay

Sarah has worked with European Christian Mission in HR and Member Care for 16 years. She was the leader of the MA in Member Care and is a current visiting lecturer at All Nations on the staff care and well-being MA. She represents the Global Connections network at Member Care Europe. Sarah also previously worked in Nepal.

Jennifer Snelling

Jennifer is based in Exeter and runs High Meadow Retreat with her husband, providing rest, counselling, coaching, and debriefing for people in Christian ministry. Jennifer has experience in church ministry, missionary work in Ethiopia, and has held roles at Tearfund. As well as this Jennifer is herself a TCK having grown up on the mission field.

Ian Orton

Ian is currently serving as the chair of the Member Care and TCK Forum. In his day to day work he offers services under the banner of People Care Matters. He previously worked with OM for 35 years and with Tearfund for 11 years. His main areas of expertise are counselling, debriefing, training, and supervision of counsellors. He has global experience in crisis support and training.

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1. An Introduction to Member Care

In this first session Sarah Hay explores Member Care and why it can be a useful term to describe caring for Christian workers. Using religious terminology in different global contexts, can be quite tricky and so having a neutral term can be very valuable. In the session Sarah also explains the focus of member care, and how that differs from other disciplines such as HR. Finally this session concludes with a list of activities that come under the umbrella of Member Care.


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2. Why We Care For Christian Workers

In this session Jennifer Snelling explores the reasons behind why we care for Christian workers. Initially explaining the value of having healthy Christian workers, and their subsequent impact on the health of the global church. Jennifer then covers the various stats relating to missionary attrition rate and the challenges that pastors face. Then she talks about the need for care, the benefits of proactive care, and the importance of having multilevel support. Finally Jennifer finishes by reiterating the biblical mandate to care for Christian workers, and shares a beautiful reminder that while this work is important ultimately it is the work of Jesus to care for his people.


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3. Member Care in Practice

The third and final session is led by Ian Orton and explores how in practical terms we should approach member care. He highlights the importance of having a holistic approach that covers all levels of personal need. He reiterates the need for care to be a collaborative effort, covering the whole of the Christian workers' journey, from first interest in the role, all the way to retirement. Ian also shares from his experience of the necessity of helping people prepare for crisis situations before they occur. He shares about the need to customise care for individuals, as different people will have vastly different needs. Finally Ian closes by sharing an encouraging story about a church that rallies around a family of mission workers facing tragedy, highlighting the enduring and life-giving impact of care done well.


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Resources shared in the coffee break