Why We're Leaving Missions...(Sept. 25)

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What We Will Say to Others:


“We feel that our work in here is done, and are seeking God for the next chapter of our lives. We will be returning to a retreat centre in Michigan for a month, then to our hometown for a season of sabbatical, until God makes it clear what the next chapter of our lives will be.

What We May Say to Close Friends: (Why We’re Leaving)


1. For a Career/Calling that is Satisfying

- This one has never really fit: it was a rebound from something else, a ministry that did fit
- I do not want to live my life “coasting” or cobbling things together: I can do better than that!
- I want to be able to tell people what I do for a living, and feel good about it. It’s silly, but *I want a job description!*
- I know that God has something out there for me that will really “fit” and feel awesome for me, and be awesome for the kingdom

2. To be off support

- I don’t want to have to ask people for money anymore. It started off hard, and it has gotten worse. It just hurts to do it! I hate it!
- I don’t want to have to be away from the family on support-raising trips anymore: I don’t want to take them and parade them in front of churches either. That is so much work!
- I don’t want my wife to have stress and anxiety about support levels, and keeping donors happy anymore
- I don’t want to live in such a financially precarious place anymore. The stress of that is taking a real toll on both of us.
- I don’t want to have to keep “telling a story” to 400+ people about our lives anymore. I just want to “be me,” and not care what people think.

3. To be away from this country

- I want to be away from the fear of the government taking our kids away
- I want to be away from the reality of the government meddling in their education
- I want to have our kids be able to interact with general society around them
- I want to take my kids out in public, without having people ask, “why aren’t they in school?” and “are you teaching them French?”

4. To find community

- We always knew we would never stay here: we will not be buried here: we would not stay, once the kids left. We do not want our family to be “homeless” and have no place to come back to, or call their own. We do not want to raise “third-culture-kids”
- We want to raise our kids, for the next ten years or so, in a place they can always call “home”
- We want them to have stability and friends in this crucial time
- We want them to learn to love the land and love the culture in one specific place: we want them to “belong” somewhere
- We want them to have a place they can come back to
- We want them to have a “home,”  a place where their parents are buried, and a hometown for generations

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