Appreciating Personality: Team Dynamics on the Field

Oct 03, 2020

There is plenty of talk about re-entry when a cross-cultural worker returns home for good. Unfortunately, many missionaries come home battered from team conflict and personality clashes that could not get resolved on the field.

 

Global Frontier Mission’s missionary training takes a week to allow students to discover their individual personality, learn about how they connect to God, and discuss how to engage with healthy team conflict while on the mission field. When we enter team life in cross-cultural missions, we bring personality, culture, theological leanings, conflict style, and a lot of things in between. 

 

Knowing about ourselves and those with whom we serve pays huge dividends as it assists in fostering a team culture that looks, acts, and believes like Jesus.

GFM is committed to allowing each person to express their individuality in discovering their missionary call. “You do you”, independence, and personal uniqueness are traits that drive western culture. We recognize these pieces of culture and want to know ourselves, but we also want to be sure that we never use our personality or giftedness as an excuse to treat one another less than the precious jewels we are in Christ.

There were lots of laughs during this semester's Personality and Team Dynamics week of our training as we realize how vastly different, we are. When there is an appreciation for the diversity we bring to our teams on the mission field, there can be an atmosphere that is sweet and powerful.

Team life and unity is fragile, and we want to train future missionaries to be ever so careful to guard relationship health while on the field. May we be the kind of people who thrive in our God-given personalities while being slow to anger, quick to forgive, and patient in bearing one another’s burdens.

Written by a GFM Staff Member

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