There I was, a newcomer to the world of missions, sitting around the family table of a missionary family with two teenagers about to go to college together. They invited me to be with them in this “family consultation”, because of the next big step they were taking in their lives, sending their children off to college. Waiting for the delicious duck stew to be cooked and surrounded by wonderful smell of food being prepared for lunch, I listened.
They shared their journey as a missionary family who have had to cope with the reality of home schooling their kids, and later helping them adjust to regular schools and now, the big step, releasing their kids to pursue their college degrees in a school far from home. “How can we make sure our decisions and choices are right?” “How can we protect our children from potential danger?” “Can we sustain paying for their tuition fees given that we live by faith?” These and many more questions and fears from the heart of parents were shared.
Then we talked about their dreams, the parents’ and the children’s. To my surprise, each child would share that their dream were to be a missionary like Dad and Mom… but, there’s a but!... “We want to pursue a Profession too”. So one said, “I will be a missionary-doctor”, another said, I will be a “missionary-nurse”. Dad and Mom were now red in the face and close to tears. It is the first time they are hearing this indirect affirmation from their children. “I want to be a missionary like my Dad/Mom”.
Never did they imagine that their life of faith, full of challenges and dangers, times of hunger and want, would so impact their children as to make them choose the same lifestyle. But it wasn’t really a matter of choosing, we all realized, it was one of calling. Each child, now in the threshold of adulthood, had heard God’s call upon their lives, and it is this revelation, not their circumstance or situation, that was the fire burning in their hearts.
First we have the MK’s, the acronym for missionary kids, now we have TCK’s or Third Culture Kids. Who are they? David Pollock wrote in the book Kids without Borders,
A Third Culture Kid is an individual who has spent a significant (varies from individual to individual) part of their developmental years (birth to approximately 18) in a culture other than their parents’ culture. Such a person is a perfectly normal human being, but during their critical years of development they have been influenced in their formation by very strong dynamics.
It is important for parents, educators, organization leaders, counselors, pastors and members of the extended family to understand that these young people cannot help but be different from those who have had fewer but very strong influences from only one culture. These young people are not damaged or ill. They cannot “get over” being third culture kids…They are being prepared to live and work in the 21 st century with insights, understanding, and patience that could have been gained in no other way than to grow up as Third Culture Kids. These are the people who are needed to lead ministries, organizations, companies and countries in the days ahead when high tech communication and rapid transportation continue to create a smaller, more interfaced world of people from every race, culture and nationality on earth. These are the leaders of the future as well as the present.”
In the same book, Kathy Narramore writes,
“ Investing in missionary children by understanding them and calling out their God-given identity is essential for parents, extended family, supporting churches, agencies and educators. In this complex global village in which we live, who can be better prepared to exercise vital Christian leadership than young men and women who have experienced cultural diversity firsthand throughout their impressionable developmental years.” (From “Kids without Borders”; Journals of Chinese Missionary Kids, Helen Loong and Polly Chan, Editors, 2000)
Please pray for the following prayer requests from MK’s (Missionary Kids) and Missionary parents:
Indonesia
1. Loid and Rose Lamosa ‘s children, Ron (16), Jabba (14), and Winnie (10)
