Comments on: Should Missionaries Take Vacations?

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 01:01:56 +0000

@M: We had a supporter offer us his apartment in a major European capital for a couple of weeks, plus most expenses paid. Our outlay was incredibly minor, yet we knew that our supporters would bristle if they heard we went there, not understanding that we didn’t start the trip in America.

By: M. Wright

M. Wright — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:14:46 +0000

One thing that I think many people back in the US simply do not understand is how much more difficult it can be to simply live in another culture and another language. This is one area where short-term teams have been beneficial for us. When they come and see what life is like (we try to give them a taste on their own without us shepherding them all the time) they tend to understand the need for a break from time to time.

We, too, have to be careful talking about where we take our vacations. we are less than a day’s drive from several Biblical cities or other major European tourist sites that Americans pay big bucks to visit. The fact that we can drive there somehow doesn’t always compute. We skimp and save to be able to afford a couple of weeks off a year (well below the mandated vacation in our country of service).

In Mark 6:31 Jesus tells his disciples it is time for them to get away for a break, because they didn’t even have time to eat – taking a vacation, or even a spiritual retreat is not a sin, it is a necessity if you are going to be able to serve long term. And we plan on serving long term…

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:50:17 +0000

@C Holland – Thank you for the input about the business. I’ll have to continue thinking and praying about how to communicate with our supporters about it.

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:06:35 +0000

@Beulah: Well put. Thank you!

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:05:21 +0000

@Josh: We, too, have a business that we’ve worked before and through our mission. We’re working on it more than ever, now. While we haven’t disclosed how much it makes, we had at the initial fundraising, mentioned to supporters that our business made up the rest of our fundraising. Because most people knew us already and that the business was part-time income, this wasn’t a surprise and at no time have people implied that we didn’t need their support because we had a business.
Oddly enough, at times our business was our biggest supporter in the mission, and without it there’s no way we could have stayed as long as we did. I don’t think it was a hindrance to disclose it at the beginning, but we haven’t kept bringing it up, either.

By: Beulah

Beulah — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:26:32 +0000

The shift from all belivers being responsible for the work of spreading the gospel to it being the task of a limited group- missionaires/ evangelist, who have somehow to live under totally different standards than other believers is a departure from the fundametal priciple of the mandate of ALL belivers. It was ALL the dicsiples that the Lord sent out without “purse or script” Not just a few, and to ALL the disciples the command to “go ye into all the world” was given. Any expectaitons put on on any full time christians worker must also be applied to all believers. We will ALL give account for the stewardship of our time and our finances. Cultural expecations will differ and I would urge anyone struggling with this issue to seek the direction of the Holy Spirit who will help you find a path between the cultures you work in and come from, and at the same time provide the rest you need from the work load. Most mission organisations allow 4 weeks vacation per year. Which i would say is fair guide. Having said that, not all the four weeks are usually taken ‘away’ but just time off from the work load.
The pressures in the differnt missionfields vary, some being much more congenial to life, and others causing much strain on normal family function. ANyway, like i said, we are ultimately going to answer to the Lord for the use of all he has blessed us with, so i would urge that HE be your guide more than pressure and expecations from others, in some casesHIs directing will hold you back more, and in others it may liberate you, such is the freedom of walking with the Lord and not being bound by rules, If the SOn shall make you free, you shall be free indeed!

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 04:03:37 +0000

Thank you for your honesty in this post. My wife and I serve in the United States as missionaries to a rural area. We are not far from our native culture but recieve support because a rural area cannot support a full time minister. I too have felt guilty about vacations and even about purchases that are not absolutely necessary. I have found that we need a vacation about every six months as a family and that this is good for our congregation as it results in more energy and creativity for ministry. We budget and save for vacations. My wife also has a business to provide additional income for things such as ongoing medical bills and other things we find necessary for the good of our children but which some of our supporters would not invest in. I worry that our supporters believe we have more money than we do and that they will drop us if they find out about things such as vacations which would then force my wife to work even more and pull more time from our ministry. I have considered writing a letter to our supporters to fully explain our situation. Has anyone on here tried this? If so, is it a good idea or should I keep things quiet about our finances? Thank you again for your honest on this blog.

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:00:54 +0000

@Tai: I wasn’t aware of Taiwan’s culture about rest and vacation. That would definitely not be understood in Western Europe!

By: Tai Fu

Tai Fu — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:31:22 +0000

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.

By: C. Holland

C. Holland — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 07:31:49 +0000

@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.