Mission Leaders Research Articles

The Epidemiology of Operation Stress during Continuing Promise 2011: A Humanitarian Response and Disaster Relief Mission aboard a US Navy Hospital Ship.

This was a retrospective study of Disease Non-Battle Injury (DNBI) data from the medical sick-call clinic and from weekly self-report questionnaires for approximately 900 US military and civilian mission participants aboard the USNS COMFORT (T-AH 20). The incidence rates and job performance impact of reported Operational Stress/Mental Health (OS/MH) issues and predictors (age, rank, occupation, service branch) of OS/MH issues (depression, anxiety) were analyzed over a 22-week deployment period. Incidence rates of OS/MH complaints from the sick-call clinic were 3.7% (4.5/1,000 persons) and 12.0% (53/1,000 persons) from the self-report questionnaire. The rate of operational stress increased as the mission progressed and fluctuated during the mission according to ship movement. Approximately 57% of the responders reported no impact on job performance. Younger individuals (enlisted ranks E4-6, officer ranks O1-3), especially Air Force service members, those who had spent only one day off ship, and those who were members of specific directorates, reported the highest rates of operational stress. The overall incidence of OS/MH complaints was low in participants of CP11 but was under-estimated by clinic-based reporting. The OS/MH complaints increased as the mission progressed, were more prevalent in certain groups, and appeared to be related to ship's movement. These findings document the pattern of operational stress in a ship-based medical humanitarian mission and confirm unique ship-based stressors. This information may be used by planners of similar missions to develop mitigation strategies for known stressors and by preventive medicine, behavioral health specialists, and mission leaders to develop sensitive surveillance tools to better detect and manage operational stress while on mission. Scouten WT , Mehalick ML , Yoder E , McCoy A , Brannock T , Riddle MS . The epidemiology of operation stress during Continuing Promise 2011: a humanitarian response and disaster relief mission aboard a US Navy hospital ship. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2017;32(4):393-402.

Læringsarenaer som kan fostre misjonalt lederskap

Learning arenas which may foster missional leadership: Reflections on The Cape Town Commitment’s evangelical and missiological contribution to leadership development This article explores evangelical perspectives on how to foster missional leadership on key learning arenas. The Lausanne Movement is widely regarded as representative for evangelical perspectives, and its roadmap The Cape Town Commitment (CTC) is therefore selected as the material. In line with CTC, missional leaders are viewed as a broad category which includes church and mission leaders, Gospel-inspired social action leaders, and Christian thought-leaders in the public arena. The background is today’s pluralistic and secular context, with ‘the civil public square’ as a desirable common vision. Key evangelical convictions in CTC, shaping the fostering of missional leaders, include the foundational grace of Christ, a classical evangelical theology, a holistic missional approach, and a ‘whole person’ leadership development. The church, theological education, and the academy at large are selected as significant learning arenas in CTC. The church arena, claims CTC, should be shaped by biblical teaching, equipping for apologetics, and a holistic view of calling. As a learning arena, per CTC, theological education needs to have a focus on the missional intention, the missional tasks, and the missional equipping, all of which presuppose the centrality of the Bible. Therefore, every theological education should undertake a «missional revision». In terms of the arena of the academy at large, CTC emphasizes its formative role, stresses the need both for Christian institutions and Christians in the ‘secular academy’, encouraging faith and learning as well as public apologetics. All this leads to final missiological reflections, where it is argued that fostering missional leaders on these arenas (a) is enhanced by an emphasis on «bearing witness to Jesus Christ and all his teaching in every nation, in every sphere of society, and in the realm of ideas», (b) presupposes an understanding of cognitive dissonance as a key challenge in the contemporary secular context, and (c) should include a comprehensive apologetic strategy for all three arenas.

Steven S.Maugham, Mighty England Do Good: Culture, Faith, Empire, and World in the Foreign Missions of the Church of England, 1850-1915. Grand Rapids, Michigan; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014. 511 pp.

Steven S. Maugham, England Good: Culture, Faith, Empire, and World in the Foreign of the Church of 1850-1915. Grand Rapids, Michigan; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2014. 511 pp. England is a recent addition to the series Studies in the History of Christian Missions published by Eerdmans. tide refers to a speech made by Jacob Wainwright, one of the faithful Africans who transported the salt-encrusted and sun-dried body of David Livingstone from the interior of Africa to where it was solemnly buried in Westminster Abbey on 18 April 1874. Speaking on the missionary circuit in Wainwright described the long journey of Livingstone's remains, culminating his story with a powerful missionary message in which he compared the nations of the world to a train being drawn to heaven by a powerful engine, with the Bible supplying its time table. England, he said, was the engine driving this train. Wainwright concluded his presentation by shouting out, Mighty England Good. His audience responded to this appeal and its challenge with rapturous applause. England provides a meticulously researched and very well written history and analysis of the impact of the attempt to Do Good for God, the church, the nation, and the world that inspired and propelled the missionary enterprise of the Church of England in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Chapter 1, entitled The Foreign of the Church of England: Reconceptualizing Anglicanism in Imperial Culture, 1850-1915, begins by raising some important matters related to the historiography of English society and missions in the 19th century that Maugham insists have not been given sufficient attention by historians. Among these neglected matters is the fact that in studies of an age when the largest voluntary organizations and charitable societies in England were mission agencies, not only secular historians but also historians of religion have largely ignored the history, impact, and ideology of foreign missions on English society and its churches in historical studies of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Another neglected matter concerns the fact that historical studies of the mission movement, with only a few recent exceptions, continue to emphasize male agency and accomplishments, ignoring the role of women in the movement. Foreign mission was totally dependent on women for organizing grassroots support, for fundraising, and for providing the largest number of recruits for the mission field in the form both of missionary wives and of single female missionaries, with the result that the roles of women and the opportunities open to women were expanded to the point of transforming both church and society. Despite this fact, historians of the women's movement generally overlook the opportunities that the foreign mission movement opened up for English women. Similarly, in spite of the fact that the 19th-century expansion of the English missionary movement coincided with the greatest period of expansion of the British Empire, the role of mission leaders and of missionaries as both agents and critics of Empire has been largely ignored by secular historians of Empire and, until recently, by historians of religion. Maugham concludes the chapter by identifying some tensions in 19thcentury church and society in England that provide the context for his goal of producing an integrated account of the relationships among culture, faith, empire, and the world during that era. These tensions include the religious divide in English society among members of the established Church of nonconformists, and Roman Catholics; within the Church of England among evangelicals, broad and high churchmen, and Anglo-Catholics; the tensions produced by the rapid expansion of the British Empire and the reciprocal effect of both metropolitan and peripheral influences on one another; and finally the tensions caused as developments in the mission movement and society as whole challenged traditional views of the role of women in relation to the roles of men, and of lay persons and voluntary organizations in relation to the authority of clergy, and especially of bishops. …

Primary Identity of Missional Leaders: Servant Leader or Leading Servant?

오늘날 우리에게 필요한 것은 더 많은 리더(servant leaders)라기보다는 기꺼이 지도함으로써 섬기는 종 (leading servants)일 것이다. 비록 교회 안팎에서 많은 이들이 Servant Leadership이라는 개념으로부터 이익을 얻었지만, 이 용어 자체가 면밀히 검토되지 않을 경우에는 특별히 그리스도인들 안과 가운데 결정적인 혼동을 일으킬 수 있다. 이는, 예수 그리스도 안에서의 우리의 제 1의 부르심은 다름 아닌 섬김에 있음에도 불구하고 이용어의 강조점은 (그 순서를 볼 때) 아직도 리더십에 있기 때문이다. 사람들로 하여금 리더십 자체를 목적으로 추구하게 하는 요소들은 무엇일까라는 질문에 필자는 두 가지 잠정적 답을 제안한다: 힘에 대한 굶주림 (hunger for power) 과 중대성에 대한 굶주림 (hunger for significance). 힘에 대한 정의들을 살펴보고, 힘이라는 것이 어떻게 리더십과 구별되는지를 설명한 후, 필자는 지도자는 힘을 가지고도 또한 힘 없이도 이끌 수 있지만 힘이라는 것은 지도자 한 사람 안에 유지하기 위해 추구할 것이 아니라 이끎으로 이뤄지는 가운데 공유되어야 하는 것이라고 주장한다. 더 나아가, 필자는 리더십의 위치들에 있는 대부분의 사람들은 자신들의 가치를 확인하고 용납 받고자 하는 필요와 욕망으로 인해 중대한 일들을 갈망한다고 표명하면서 중요한 사람으로 인정받고자 하는 굶주림과 목마름을 만족시키려는 욕구는 이끄는 섬김 가운데 분명히 극복되어야 할 요소임을 주장한다. 그러므로, 선교적 리더의 첫째 되는 정체성은 궁극적 끝, 즉 열방이 예배해야 하고 예배하게 될 하나님의 영광을 품고 하나님의 선교에 동참하는 종 (leading servant)이어야 할 것이다.

A Comprehensive Approach to Multidimensional Operations

Peacekeeping and crisis response missions face novel challenges in the modern era. Disruptive changes, including economic globalization, mass communications and access to information, and the emergence of powerful and influential non-state agents require a better understanding of the mission space and the political, economic, and social conditions that impact stabilization efforts. The comprehensive approach is among the most recent functional models for coordinating the efforts of the broad assortment of actors involved in addressing complex crises or conflicts. The principles of a comprehensive approach are widely accepted, but mechanisms for practical application are still evolving. Moreover, the benefits realized through coordinated efforts may be limited by organizational constraints. In some cases, mission conditions may also restrict comprehensive approaches. For example robust military engagement in conflict zones may compromise humanitarian access to vulnerable populations; or neutral administration of aid to factional groups might run counter to military actions against named threats. Despite these challenges, mission leaders agree that a comprehensive approach is vital to mission success. Multidimensional peacekeeping, campaigns to combat piracy, and energy security provide useful models for achieving better situational understanding and mission effectiveness via a comprehensive approach. Each of these examples demands political leadership, protection and advocacy for affected or underserved populations, enhanced development, and military intervention to guarantee security.

Chinese Familism and Leadership Formation

The display of the slogan ‘harmony’ in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing seems to signify that China is moving toward a new conception of Communism. However, the pursuit of a harmonious society is not new in Chinese history. It is actually rooted in the complex Chinese tradition, especially that of Confucianism. The idea ofren(benevolence) is often considered as the prime ideology of Confucianism, but through a closer look at Chinese traditions, one will find that Chinese familism is positioned at the core of Chinese culture. The harmony the Confucianist seeks is situated in the unequal relationship in propriety defined by familism which has profound impact on the Chinese leadership formation as shown in the Chinese imperial system. Since Confucianism is deeply rooted not only in Chinese culture but also in the cultures of its neighborhood, understanding leadership formation in the context of Confucianism can be crucial to the effectiveness for mission leaders involved in Asian leadership in the marketplace and in the ecclesial practices. It is my argument that harmony, as expressed in the unequal relationship of Chinese familism, which is the driving force of leadership formation for the Chinese over the last two millennia, can be revitalized through the expression of harmony as defined by Max De Pree in his conception of leadership formation: mutually edifying participation between persons who are stewarding God-given gifts. The first task of this paper is to define Chinese familism. This is followed by a comparative analysis of leadership formation within the Chinese cultural context, in light of the current leadership discoveries emanating from the West. The paper concludes with a presentation of potential ways in which familial ideals might be integrated with De Pree’s leadership principles.

Missional discipleship: Discerning spiritual-formation practices and goals within the missional movement

The missional church movement has emerged as a voice calling for a return to the church’s inherent missionary nature and identity. As a part of that call, “discipleship” has been identified as the key to success of the movement as well as the success of the Western church as a whole. However, “discipleship” and related terminology are devoid of conceptual clarity due to terminological imprecision. To this point, no single work has identified a tangible concept of “missional discipleship,” and this lack of precision leaves missional leaders with no clear goal of spiritual formation. Without a clear goal, a clear and intentional spiritual-formation plan and process is ever elusive. When missional literature on spiritual formation is observed as a whole, however, and common themes are identified, a tangible concept of missional discipleship materializes. The purpose of this article is to identify spiritual-formation practices and goals as found within missional literature, and develop a tangible concept of “missional discipleship.” Therefore, the results of this study bring forth the following proposal: Missional discipleship is the experiential process of identity formation which results in a disciple who exhibits tangible evidence of mission, community, and obedience in his or her life.

St. Francis in Soho: Emmeline Pethick, Mary Neal, the West London Wesleyan Mission, and the Allure of “Simple Living” in the 1890s

An 1894 biography of St. Francis of Assisi was a milestone in the lives of two young urban missionaries. They were “Sisters of the People” at the dynamic and progressive Wesleyan Methodist West London Mission in Soho, a poor and overcrowded central London district. Sister Mary Neal and Sister Emmeline Pethick would eventually distinguish themselves nationally, Emmeline as a militant suffragist in tandem with her husband Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, and later as a feminist and peace activist; Mary as a music educator and folklorist. French protestant clergyman Paul Sabatier's scholarly but lyrical biography of Francis enthralled the mission's leaders, including the superintendent, Hugh Price Hughes. Francis's rejection of his family's wealth, his insistence on absolute poverty for himself and his followers, and his devotion to the poor presented a compelling model of Christian service, one that the two young Sisters found especially exciting. They resigned the Sisterhood in 1895 to live cheaply in workers' housing just north of their old turf. This decision launched them into a national community of Franciscan-inspired settlers, philanthropists, “simple livers,” and collective farmers—offering us a new perspective on fin de siècle social activism.

Together Towards Life: Norwegian Reflections

The new Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) mission document has received widespread attention in Norway. Two mini-conferences were arranged last fall, with the CWME-secretary Jooseop Keum taking part in both. The conferences offered a platform for responses and comments from church and mission leaders. They were widely covered by the two Christian dailies in Norway (Dagen and Cart Land), which also opened their columns for the ensuing debate between ecumenicals and evangelicals. The backdrop to this debate goes back to New Delhi 1961 and the merger of the International Mission Council (IMC) with the WCC, resulting in the establishment of the CWME. The Norwegian Mission Council (NMC), as probably the only council, decided not to join the CWME. This decision has since then coloured the view of the conciliar movement among mission organizations, free churches, and evangelicals. At the same time, some of the Norwegian churches, and particularly the Church of Norway, have been active members of WCC and CWME while most of the organizations and churches have formed a Norwegian Council for Mission and Evangelism (NORME) with the Lausanne Covenant (1974) as their basis. This issue and the divergent views on the conciliar and evangelical movements have again come to the fore in the debate about the new mission document, and particularly so because Dr Keum in his lectures in Oslo and Stavanger called for a review of the 1961 decision: Dear sisters and brothers in the Norwegian Council for Mission and Evangelism, shall we journey together again? We shall in the following summarize and analyze the Norwegian reflections on Together Towards Life. Secondly, we shall look at the Norwegian context and situation in regard to engagement in the CWME. In the conclusion we shall run the risk of giving our response to Dr Keum's invitation. Even though this article aims at describing Norwegian reflections on the document, it is important to note that the authors and their views do not officially represent any of the Norwegian agencies or churches. Summary and analysis of reflections Here are some of the views expressed in the Norwegian conversation: Ecumenism and mission belong together The heartbeat of the church is mission. The church exists by mission, and if the church does not engage in mission, it ceases to be church. Mission must be ecumenical since the focus of both mission and ecumenism is to cross borders. Both of them are about meeting people with respect and tolerance. Ecumenism does not aim at making churches alike, but at making them belong together in diversity and respect. Both ecumenism and mission are about people meeting each other and about the church encountering people of different faiths, different ideologies, and different convictions. As we share the good news of Jesus Christ and invite people of other faiths to discipleship, we are challenged to learn dialogue and respect from ecumenism. Both ecumenism and mission are about listening to others and being challenged by others. The Holy Spirit and mission The emphasis on the Holy Spirit is what makes the new document exciting. This is a novel perspective among Protestants and Lutherans. But this emphasis implies by the same token a major challenge: How do we discern what the work of the Spirit is? The document says that the Spirit is at work in mysterious ways that we cannot comprehend or grasp. This opens the door for the Spirit being at work in other living faiths, in politics, and in economics; and also nature and creation, which await God's redemption and release, become arenas for the Spirit at work. What is God doing right now? Is the Spirit at work in our hospitals and our families? These questions are new in our context. Could the document play a role in two ways: first, by paving the way for impulses from charismatic congregations and Orthodox theology to churches that have an anaemic theology of the Holy Spirit; and, second, by connecting the Spirit with the wide cosmos and thus making individualism a false option. …

Conflict in Colonial Sonora: Indians, Priests, and Settlers

Conflict in Colonial Sonora: Indians, Priests, and Settlers

Does Donor Support Help or Hinder Business as Mission Practitioners? An Empirical Assessment

January 2014 Steven L. Rundle is professor of economics at Biola University. He is the author (with Tom Steffen) of Great Commission Companies: The Emerging Role of Business in Missions (InterVarsity Press, 2003) and editor of Economic Justice in a Flat World: Christian Perspectives on Globalization (InterVarsity Press, 2009). —steve.rundle@biola.edu M attention has been given in recent years to the role of business in missions. Often called “business as mission” (BAM), the integration of business and missions presents new opportunities and raises new questions for mission scholars. It represents an opportunity in that BAM is the only ministry or mission strategy that has the potential to create wealth and support itself. All other ministries in various ways must transfer wealth from one group (individual donors, governments, and so forth) to another to stay afloat. Yet this self-supporting aspect also raises some important theological, legal, and economic questions. Theologically, it requires Christians to develop an understanding of how business relates to missio Dei. Legally, those conducting BAM within the context of a government-approved charity must exercise great care to avoid violating the law. Economically, since BAM is essentially a for-profit ministry, it raises many questions about how to structure and manage such a ministry for maximum impact. This article focuses on the economic question, specifically the role—good or bad—of economic incentives within a BAM context. A concern held by many mission leaders is that economic incentives, if left unchecked, can cause practitioners to lose sight of their ministry goals. Indeed, this fear underlies the advice often given to missionary-practitioners that they should keep their businesses small and continue to draw donor support rather than become dependent on the business for their salaries. The findings of this study do not support this concern. Based on a survey of 119 BAM practitioners, it finds that donor-supported practitioners are no more effective in producing spiritual fruit than their business-supported peers. Furthermore, in terms of other kinds of “fruit,” business-supported practitioners report significantly better results. This difference may partially be a function of firm size—donor-supported BAM practitioners tend to have smaller businesses than business-supported practitioners and are therefore likely to have regular contact with fewer people. Conversely, a thriving, highly visible business has greater transformative potential than a struggling, low-profile business. The evidence presented in this article suggests that, for a BAM business to have a meaningful impact in a community, it should be structured and incentivized much like a “regular” business, which includes (1) an independent board of directors and (2) salaries that are based, at least in part, on the company’s performance. We consider first the definition and goals of a BAM business, followed by a review of previous empirical work in this area. Does Donor Support Help or Hinder Business as Mission Practitioners? An Empirical Assessment

In Gratitude for Emilio Castro's Ministry with the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME)

Thanks to God for having sent Emilio Castro to CWME as director. mourn Emilio's death but are comforted by his testimony and teaching that the kingdom of God, manifested in the crucified and resurrected Christ, will embrace all reality and realize our deepest hope that life overcomes death. three years I was privileged to work with Emilio (1) proved to be among the most influential on my own theological development. Only a few people I have known have had a really strong impact on my spirituality and vision: definitely, Emilio was one of these. I learnt from him not to divide what God unites and to hold in creative tension the most universal-the kingdom of God-and the most particular and personal. The topic of the kingdom invited us to take a look at the whole of creation, he wrote in his reflections at the end of the 1980 Melbourne conference. (2) Preaching during my ordination service in Geneva, he urged me and the congregation to consider the smallest relations in a local parish as key to God's reign: perspective of the kingdom and the concrete love for the neighbour whom God gives us-their union is necessary to make start the engine of any historical transformation. There is in the third age a power for the transformation of society that waits to be organised. In each parish event, be it a child's baptism, the announcement of the Gospel of eternal life during a funeral service, a marriage celebration, or a pastoral visit, there is always the potential, the power, to share the vision of the coming kingdom. (3) As a Methodist preacher, Emilio was able to raise enthusiasm for the gospel and speak quite convincingly--even when unprepared. There was at that time a story about him arriving on a Monday morning at the Ecumenical Centre, being met at the door by a worried colleague (the one responsible for worship that day) who said, Emilio, we have no preacher!--Give me a Bible?' was his answer. It is thanks to him that I was led to develop an appreciation of evangelism--sharing the good news and naming the Name (as he liked to say)--as a key element of global mission. Coming from the Swiss development scene, I had started my work with CWME with much scepticism as to the evangelistic task of the church--as many of my generation--and had told him this when we sat in his office reflecting about my future task. He just smiled. Emilio was a charismatic champion of the need to link evangelism and solidarity with the poor for justice and liberation. Nowhere else is this better formulated than in the 1982 ecumenical affirmation on mission and evangelism, Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation, which is one of Emilio's most important legacies to the ecumenical movement. This document owes its style and much of its content and inspiration to this exceptional mission leader. Of course, the text harvests insights of the theological debates of the 1970s, including many affirmations of Melbourne. But we must credit Emilio for formulating this in a way to distil the best of prophetic passion of liberation theology, evangelical concern for the unreached, and Roman Catholic and Orthodox missiological wisdom, and to draft quite a coherent text that was to have lasting influence. We cannot pray for the kingdom to come without announcing to the world the knowledge of the King whose kingdom we hope for ... without calling everybody, everywhere, to recognize this servant kingship of Jesus Christ. (4) That is the reason why mission in general and evangelism in particular must not fall into the trap of conquest and triumphalistic crusade, because the one to be named came to serve and give his life for all. …

The Half-life of Missiological Facts

An obscure field called scientometrics—the study of how rapidly academic research is produced and how quickly it becomes outdated—has recently been popularized by Stephen Arbesman’s (2012) book, The Half-life of Facts. This article employs the methods of scientometrics to measure the rate at which new missiological information is being published, and the rate at which this research is going out of date. Mission leaders can use this data to obtain a clearer picture of how the discipline of missiology is reacting to a changing world. This will allow us to concentrate on trends that matter, and on theories and strategies that will have maximum staying power.

SITUATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEADING PEOPLE IN THE FIRE SERVICES

Summary: Current knowledge about the management of people is a result of long-term observation of the proceedings and conduct of people in leadership as well as in subordinate positions. There are different views on the way and methods of on which are defined the different styles of leadership. The paper provides an analysis of leadership approaches, which shows that the leaders in the fire service is the most effective situational approach. This approach is strongly influenced by the leadership situation in which the manager operates. Therefore, its behavior has changed to satisfy the requirements of the situation. The mission leader should be to develop mature team members to be able to effectively achieve organizational goals. In connection with the need to apply situational leadership approach is necessary to provide primarily personal qualities leading to significantly contribute to the ability to influence others head. It is actually a set of subjective factors that make up a qualification leading to fire departments and other prerequisites for the implementation of the tasks.

The Art of Parabling: Leveraging the Narrative Parables of Jesus as Models of Missional Engagement

Narrative is widely accepted as effective practice in missional communication among youth. The narrative parables of Jesus are a distinct missional art form. Narrative parabling represents a heuristic model of imaginative engagement that reflects primal cognitive processes. The narrative parables of Jesus represent identifiable models by which missional leaders can redemptively engage youth in postmodern culture. Research indicates that narrative parables can be an effective means of missional communication among late adolescent, secondary oral, digital natives.

Improving job fit for mission workers by including expatriate and local job experts in job specification

PurposeInternational development policy proposes that reducing poverty depends on alignment of international aid projects with local priorities, which would imply a role for local as well as expatriate job experts in job selection processes. This paper aims to explore whether person‐job “fit” with both local and expatriate job specification relates to work performance indicators.Design/methodology/approachMission organizations and their individual workers play an influential role in poverty reduction projects. In Study I, N=70 host nation missionaries, i.e. local job experts (n=22), expatriate mission leaders (n=25) and expatriate mission workers (n=23) provided mean panel ratings of the importance of SHL's Universal Competencies, alongside religious values, for mission jobs. In Study II, N=130 individual expatriate mission workers also provided ratings of the same set of competencies for mission jobs and rated themselves on these competencies. Each individual worker's profile was assessed for “fit” with competencies identified by the panels in Study I. Individuals were also measured on the criteria of job satisfaction, work engagement and satisfaction with life.FindingsFrom Study I, we learned that local and expatriate ratings differed significantly, indicating different job criteria, as policy suggests. In Study II, degree of fit with local and expatriate priorities each predicted significant amounts of variance in job satisfaction, engagement and life satisfaction. Hence at an everyday behavioural level, alignment with local job experts' perspectives on required competencies played a role in aid worker motivation.Originality/valueWhilst recognising the limits of self‐report, this paper applies fit theory to poverty reduction projects. Discussed are the findings' relevance for psychological theory, methods and interventions in poverty reduction work.

NASA faces dearth of mission leaders

NASA faces dearth of mission leaders

A Tradition ofTraditional Medicine

“Mo, Hi, Ba … Yo! (1, 2, 3 … Go!).” My Vietnamese hosts were very enthusiastic and insistent about toasting with beer at the celebratory dinner for our medical mission to Vietnam. As the evening progressed and the toasting continued, I noted that my beer glass appeared to have no bottom, or at least my Vietnamese hosts were ensuring I never reached it. We had completed a week of training and everyone was pleased with the results during our visit to Central Hospital, ![Graphic][1] , in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. As the mission leader, I was contented with our performance and I matched my cheering Vietnamese colleagues beer for beer. In the morning, the previous evening cheer, the novel diet, and fatigue all conspired to create quite a headache. For the past 5 years, the Defense and Veterans Pain Management Initiative (http://www.DVPMI.org) has been bringing anesthesiology residents and acute pain medicine anesthesiology fellows to train in medically underserved environments. Our Vietnamese hosts are voracious in their desire to learn the latest allopathic medical techniques utilized by Western medicine. Our acute pain medicine team, demonstrating the latest technology and procedures for regional anesthesia and perioperative pain management, has been enthusiastically received throughout the country during our annual visits. Our military residents and fellows gain valuable insight into educational methods and anesthesia practice in less technology-driven environments. This experience is peerless in contemporary American medicine and tremendously valuable for new military anesthesiologists preparing for the medical realities of the modern battlefield. Headache notwithstanding, I still had a full day of teaching and ceremony to mark the end of another successful mission. I must have been looking rougher than usual as my Vietnamese counterpart noted my discomfort and suggested a quick visit with the hospital's “traditional medicine” provider would … [1]: /embed/inline-graphic-1.gif

NASA faces dearth of mission leaders

Experience gap looms large in next generation of principal investigators for Discovery programme.

<i>Miss�o Integral</i> [holistic mission or the �whole Gospel�] applied: Brazilian evangelical models of holistic mission in the Arab-Muslim world

In this article, I will first show the historical development of this theological approach within the Brazilian and Latin American evangelical spheres through the work of the Latin American Theological Fraternity � a movement founded in 1970 that maintained historic evangelical values (i.e. a high view of Scripture, the necessity of conversion) whilst also taking Latin America�s great social needs into account. Nurtured by thinkers such as Ren� Padilla (Ecuador), Orlando Costas (Puerto Rico), Samuel Escobar (Peru), and later Valdir Steuernagel (Brazil), the movement has not only responded to the concerns raised by Liberation theologians, but it has also influenced the direction of the Lausanne Movement � an expression of global evangelicalism. Secondly, I will discuss how miss�o integral has found its way into the missional �bloodstream� and become a central value for some Brazilian and Latin American missions organisations, including Miss�o Antioquia (1975) and PM International (1984). Finally, based on 55 interviews conducted in 2009�2010 with Brazilian workers and mission leaders focusing on the Arab world, I will show how Brazilian workers are demonstrating miss�o integral through their ministries and also why this approach is relevant in the Arab-Muslim world.