A Brief History of Psychology and Missions in JPT: Looking Back, Around, and Forward

Abstract

Beginning in 1983, the Journal of Psychology and Theology has published four special editions devoted to the topic of psychology and missions; on average, these issues were released at a rate of two per decade (i.e., 1983, 1987, 1993, and 1999). After a 17-year hiatus, this fifth psychology and missions special edition of JPT provides an opportunity to reflect on what we have learned thus far through the almost 70 articles published in JPT since 1973 on the interrelationship of psychological and theological concepts--all to the fulfillment of Christ's command to make disciples of all nations. To do so, we will follow Hall & Schram's (1999) outline in their introductory article to the fourth special edition; looking back to the past to consolidate gains, looking around to the present to note current trends, and looking forward to the future to identify gaps. Looking to the past: Consolidating gains Hall & Schram (1999) noted that since the early 1970s, the field of psychology had firmly established a place for itself in missions work, culminating in the creation of the new missionary discipline of member care, the leveraging of advancements in psychometrics on pre-field psychological assessments, and the promotion of a more robust understanding of the missionary family as a whole, with particular attention being given to missionary children. Indeed, these three gains noted by Hall & Schram back in 1999 continue to be influential to psychology practitioners and researchers involved in missions. Care. O'Donnell (1997), in his seminal article, Member care in missions: Global perspectives and future directions, provided the now frequently referenced definition of the term member care: Member care is the ongoing investment of resources by mission agencies, churches, and other mission organizations for the nurture and development of missionary personnel. It focuses on everyone in missions (missionaries, support staff, children, and families) and does so over the course of the missionary life-cycle, from recruitment through retirement (p. 144). Concurrent with O'Donnell's work were the influential Reducing Missionary Attrition (ReMAP) studies (Taylor, 1997; Bloecher, 2005). Over the eight years between the ReMap I and the ReMAP II studies, the missionary attrition rate among New Sending Countries (e.g. Brazil, Ghana, Philippines, etc.) dropped by 50%; moreover, attrition rates in Older Sending Countries (e.g. Canada, Germany, U.S.A., etc.) remained low, in spite of global trends toward shorter appointments and frequent career changes (Bloecher, 2005). Bloecher (2005) in fact credited the contribution of on-field member care efforts and more comprehensive candidate selection procedures for these improvements in attrition rates. Many of the participants in the ReMAP studies who spoke of the effectiveness of member care efforts were mission agency leaders, rather than the missionaries themselves. To address this gap, Camp, Bustrum, Brokav, and Adams (2014) investigated the effectiveness of current member care practices specifically from the perspective of missionaries. This paper augmented O'Donnell's (1992, 2002, 2011) former depictions of member care by positing that effective member care involves a web of supportive and healthy relationships that facilitate fellowship and growth, consistent investment and support from sending and supporting churches, and personal investment in caring for oneself. As O'Donnell's classic definition of member care has guided much of the member care movement, we are excited to include O'Donnell and Lewis O'Donnell's (2016) latest work on the topic in this special issue, where they speak of member care workers as 'global integrators' who engage the world through multiple sectors. Pre-field psychological assessment. One key finding of ReMAP II (Bloecher, 2005) was the relationship between the thoroughness of an agency's selection procedure (i. …