Should Missionaries Take Vacations?
Posted by C. Holland on Jan 18, 2009We’ve arrived back from taking a week off to celebrate a milestone anniversary. It was a great time of unwinding, disconnecting from daily tasks, and just plain resting. While we travelled a bit away from our home, it wasn’t so much of a sight-seeing trip but a get-away. Besides, the January weather of most anywhere in Europe just isn’t conducive to travel or outdoor activities.
But our supporters don’t know that we took a vacation.
Despite the fact that we only took four vacation days last year (it’s just so expensive for accommodation and travel in our neck of the woods), we risk criticism and support loss if we revealed we took a holiday or even some time off. Why? Because as we queried missionaries, pastors and supporters (before we began our mission) as to how they felt about vacationing missionaries (not on furlough), we were met with some disappointing responses.
Former missionaries to Spain told us that they not only refrained from any vacations but that they didn’t even take a weekly Sabbath. In their eight years in the field, they rolled a conference in another country into a brief sightseeing day. Some supporters felt that, since our mission field is also a popular tourist destination for the States, we were already on holiday by default. One person said that missionaries were to work tirelessly in the mission field, yet the same person had no problem with the four vacation weeks per year that their pastor took.
In actual fact, the few times we’ve taken extended time off we’ve been blessed by others offering housing or airline tickets, so our actual expense has been less than the cost of our everyday living. Even if we explained in detail that some jaunts were virtually free for us, all they would hear is that we got to go to Italy.
So why bring this up on Missionary Confidential? Because the culture we currently minister to has a government-mandated 28 days of vacation time, plus state holidays, etc. Most people take this a week at a time, usually spaced out over the year. Sometimes they travel to exotic places, other times it’s a quiet getaway like we just had. Essentially, their work ethic recognises the importance of taking a break from the usual to rejuvenate, and I have to agree with it.
Yet when we don’t take as much time off, we are questioned by those in our mission field why we are working so hard, and much concern is expressed about our health and well-being. Leading in a ministerial position means that people look to the leader, and if we’re to adapt to the culture, how far do we take it? Should we respond with, “we’re Americans, and some people in the States take virtually no time off”? Or do we take the same amount of time others receive here?
Either way, we feel that we cannot reveal any time off to our supporters because of the majority that disapprove, the example of our native culture, and the possibility of losing support through it. So why do we take vacations anyway? Because I believe we were made to take periods of rest to keep healthy and sane. Sabbath is a form of this, and any doctor would tell you the perils of not taking any extended time off from a stressful situation. We also haven’t taken many vacation days anyway, nor have we furloughed back to the States. We’ve been incredibly careful with our support money, and I just don’t feel like getting a consensus from our supporters about what to do. But it is a bit disappointing that people have such unreasonable expectations of the lifestyle of a missionary.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Related posts:
- “I Can’t Call You a Missionary”—ouch
How I Became a Missionary, Part 4: You’re Nuts
I’m a Missionary, Not a Travel Agent
Missionary Confidential by Email
January 28th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Interesting subject. I think that proclaiming 4 weeks as a ‘right’! communicates a mis-understanding in the fact that being a missionary is not a profession, its a vocation, but I firmly believe that those in ministry need sabbath days and extended sabbaths (read holiday, rest period etc).
Ive also wondered what peoples take on taking a holiday most of your supporters couldn’t afford, such as a ski trip, if it wasn’t mostly gifted to you?
Im finding great interest in your blog posts, Thanks!
January 28th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Fascinating ideas and also a very interesting comment from Liam about taking a holiday the supporters themselves couldn’t afford. Ultimately, I don’t think there can be a hard and fast rule. But why do we not have problems with our pastors taking holidays but for missionaries, it is a different story? And even though I haven’t been on a furlough, I cannot imagine that being very restful at all.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Wow! I say ditch the gringo mindset, contextualize & take that 28-day holiday! Just don’t so openly broadcast it… X-D
February 9th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I have a few things to say as I am a missionary myself in Sweden. Of course you should be able to take a vacation and I would say if you are trying to adapt to the culture do so within the cultural context if possible. Swedes get 5-6 weeks paid vacation a year which most spend during the summer and guess what, they are some of the healthiest, at least physically speaking, people in the world for taking a break. God created our body for rest, we have to sleep 7-9 hrs a night, and God even commanded Israel to take a day off per week. If your supporters have something wrong with you taking a vacation, I would be gentle with them but lovingly explain that missions is not a vacation. When I tell many people that i’m going to Sweden they have a sarcastic remark, “oh that’s gotta be tough”. Live in a country where 2% of the population is Christian, and where you don’t see the sun half the year, it’s not a Ski resort. As far as saying a missionary taking a holiday that some of their supporters couldn’t afford, well I would honestly just say then there’s a possibility that maybe they are not managing their money as wisely as the missionary is. My grannie supports me, but she wouldn’t have the money to do some of the things I’ve had the opportunity to do nor would she want to. Missions support is supposed to be about a partnership of trust on both ends and not about judgement. I find myself sometimes in the same boat saying, okay this guy can go out and by a brand new motorcycle that he can’t afford, but he can’t give me $5 more a month? Us missionaries are guilty of judging the givers as much as the givers are about judging the receivers. I think if our supporters have a problem with anything their money is going to we should be able to talk with them about it. Show them your budget and explain why. If they still don’t like it, then maybe they are not suppose to support you any longer…. We as the receivers of financial support are to minister to those not just in the country we are in, but also to our supporters. Teach them, pray for them, encourage them. Sorry this was kind of long, just had a lot of thoughts about it. If you have any comments about what I said, feel free to let me know.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
@Greg: We don’t broadcast any time off, and we’re still getting used to the concept as we didn’t get more than a week back in the States at our secular jobs. But we’ll get there slowly.
@Adam: I agree completely, especially about the Sabbath. And it’s not like we went into missions for grandiose vacations. We, too, got some of the same sarcastic remarks, and we’re in a place that’s less than 1% evangelical Christian. Good point about missionaries judging the givers. I’ve definitely been guilty at times.
July 20th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
It’s a little different for us because we’re fully funded by our organization. We’re allowed 4 weeks per year and I take every day of it. We need it as a family…and I need it personally.
The thing that people don’t understand is that in the US when you’re off of work…you can do and go anywhere you want…see family…go shopping…go out to eat…in a world that is comfortable and in English. On my days off I don’t see family…don’t get comfort foods and still have to do everything in the local language. It’s not the same….so I take the vacation time….I just don’t publicize every aspect of it.
July 21st, 2009 at 2:31 am
@Grady: I understand. We take vacation in our mission field, and because it is such a small country where everyone seems to know or be related to everyone else, we’re conscious that in a way we’re still being “watched” as missionaries. We were in a shop just last week in another part of the country that we’d never been in, and the workers were whispering to each other. I clearly overheard our church mentioned (it’s an odd name), and they were staring at us.
However, I’ve been in my field for close to three years with no visits back to the States that I fear the severe culture shock if we should return.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
The thing is for Americans who do take time off it’s still hard because Europeans takes more time off, but for those of us in Taiwan who is called to Europe, it’s worse because Taiwanese or any other Asians takes NO time off. I mean none, most people work over 15 hours a day, six days a week and they get at MOST, one week per year of vacation, and they are usually not paid. In Asian culture they see rest as a taboo and if anyone takes time off it is often seen as laziness. I do recognize that a time of rest should be mandatory after a period of stress, regardless of culture and unfortunately in Taiwan the general health of the people here shows what a long period of continuous work does. News stories of people suddenly dying from heart attack at the age of 35 or under is commonplace! Most of the time cause of death is overwork, they really work a lot.
September 25th, 2009 at 2:00 am
@Tai: I wasn’t aware of Taiwan’s culture about rest and vacation. That would definitely not be understood in Western Europe!