Workshops
2-day workshops tracks
The two-day workshops track function as a coherent whole, and to get the full benefit, both workshops (Tuesday & Wednesday) should be attended.
1. How to swim (and help people swim) upstream when they feel weak
In the demanding area of Christian ministry, moments of deep emotional and physical exhaustion are common. This workshop offers a practical exploration of how to navigate these challenging seasons, by finding in God renewed strength to “swim upstream”. We will also reflect on how good member care can dramatically change the outcome of crisis, suggesting ways to encourage the healing and recovery process.
Part 1: Through biblical wisdom and real-world experience, we will explore key causes of exhaustion, identify deeper factors that lead to vulnerability, encourage resilience through simple strategies and a deeper relationship with God, and cultivate self-compassion to sustain longevity in ministry.
Part 2: We will reflect on the nature of member care considering it from different perspectives, exploring ways to facilitate healing and recovery in times of crisis, fostering prevention and spiritual strength, as member care people, and at an organizational level.
These interactive sessions will provide a safe space for sharing, reflection, and equipping participants with actionable tools to thrive, or help others thrive, when the current feels overwhelming. Themes: exhaustion, stress, weakness, crisis, member care & mission orgs, renewal, longevity.
Francesco Abortivi is a counselor and board member of the ACC (Association of Christian Counselors). He served for more than 10 years as the vice president of Joni and Friends Italia (disabilities) and was a co-founder of Project Archippo (seminars for training Christians). He has been collaborating for more than 20 years with the Evangelici.net portal and leads a small church in the province of Parma, Italy. After 30 years of experience in the world of business communication he now works full time as the international mission director of Adventive Cross Cultural Initiatives (Canada/USA). He is passionate about church unity, evangelism, and teaches on the growth and spiritual healing of believers. He is married with two children grown.
2. Swimming upstream in crisis and risk
Part 1: Discernment and Decision Making in Times of Crisis and Risk. In this session, participants will be introduced to the three critical elements of a robust theology of risk, and practice one basic skill of risk assessment integrated with a theology of risk.
Part 2: Shrewd Yet Innocent in High Risk Environments. Based on Matthew 10:16, this session will discuss developing antifragility through the 12 Practical Components of Shrewdness. Participants will be equipped with a proven pathway to develop risk literacy and practical tool you can teach others for managing fear and displaying courage as they advance the Gospel in dangerous circumstances.
Anna & Neal Hampton have spent nearly thirty years serving and training global workers in some of the world’s most challenging and high‑risk regions. After marrying in 1999, they lived for a decade in Afghanistan, raising their family while serving in pastoral care, leadership development, and humanitarian work. Together they serve with Barnabas International, specializing in risk, resilience, and shepherd leadership. They co‑developed the global Risk Assessment and Management (RAM) Training, equipping teams across multiple continents to navigate high‑threat environments with wisdom and courage. Anna is the author of Facing Danger, Facing Fear, and the forthcoming Facing Persecution, drawing on her experiences in nearly seventy countries. Neal is the founder of RETHRIVAL and a widely respected trainer who mentors leaders across Central Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. Their teaching blends biblical insight, practical tools, and lived experience. They love spending time with their three adult children and their spouses.
3. Swimming upstream, when children want to swim the other way
As parents, it can be really difficult to balance the call to mission with the call to parenthood. And unfortunately, not all children thrive when sent to another country. Some adult children have experienced growing up as a strength that has given them many good memories, skills and, in many ways, shaped them positively, while others have found growing up challenging and need help to work through difficult challenges and to relate to their family in a new way.
Part 1 will focus on the difficult balance between the calling and the role as parents, attachment, and attachment breakdown between parents and adult children.
Part 2 will focus on how to enhance attachment and connections in future relations, and how we repair the breakdown between parents and adult children.
This track is for professionals who work to support and help families who find it difficult to balance their missionary calling and the experience of being sent out with their parental calling.
Maria Techow is a Clinical Psychologist in Denmark with a heart for mission. In her working life she is the head of department for Psychiatry & Existence, and Competence Unit for Expats at Center for Family Development. She has been working with mission organizations for more than 13 years, screening candidates for the mission field, offering crisis counselling and online therapy and helping families in their re-entry process, among other initiatives leading TCK groups for years. She is the co-author of the book: GO! My personal guide and diary before, during and after moving abroad, an interactive book for TCKs. The book is a a starting point for conversations between children and their parents, for children’s groups, in schools and across cultures and border. She is the mother of four, a writer and a speaker in various Christian settings. Maria is also a board member of Member Care Europe.
4. How to swim upstream while avoiding obstacles and challenges
What are the major obstacles workers are facing on the field? How can we prepare, sustain and care for them as they swim into, around and past these obstacles? These two workshops will address the upstream battles against Isolation, Loss and Fear. This will be interactive, focussing on how to identify where they are in facing these obstacles; how to walk with them before, during and after; and practical tools for workers and care providers to ensure they not only survive, but thrive on the field.
Alex & Amy Galloway serve with SentWell, a multidisciplinary member‑care community based in southern Spain that supports workers across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Alex is a Clinical Psychologist who provides counseling and training for cross‑cultural workers serving in high‑risk areas. He specializes in trauma, sexuality, and holistic care, and is passionate about equipping and strengthening those who minister on the front lines. Amy serves as a coach and trainer with SentWell, focusing on transitions, women in leadership, and vocation. She is committed to helping people discern their calling and cultivate the inner life that sustains long‑term ministry. She writes on transitions for ministry families at beautifulupheaval.com and is completing a book on resilience in motherhood. Married for 34 years, Alex and Amy raised their three daughters in Spain, where they continue to serve global workers with wisdom, compassion, and practical insight.
Workshops
These workshops are single topics and will be offered on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon. More information on this will follow in an email to all participants with a link to the online sign up form for the workshops on March 30th. Registrations will be accepted on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.
1. Swimming to shore: The essential art of the sabbatical break
As you swim through the complex currents, obstacles and storms of ministry, do you feel like you’re drowning? Well even if you don’t, God invites you to swim to shore. Why is sabbath rest essential? What is a sabbatical? What are its benefits? Should sabbatical breaks be an integral part of our best practice guidelines? As a member care practitioner, how do you facilitate a missionary’s sabbatical? Should you as a practitioner take a sabbatical? How should you plan for it? What will you do with it?
Jonathan Ward is involved in leading the member care network for French-speaking Europe (www.resam.fr), serves on the board of Member Care Europe, and directs a retreat centre in France dedicated to caring for pastors and cross-cultural workers (www.pierresvivantes.org). He and his wife Rachel were raised on the mission fields of France and Angola respectively. They have three adult children who regularly remind them to take sabbath breaks.
2. A new approach to member care for our complex world
In the world of missions the people we looked up to were those who made every minute count and ended up with the honourary badge of burn out. It’s time to do member care differently – but how? Who will be the new role models and how can member care take the lead in modelling a healthier, more sustainable way of service? This will be an interactive session.
Sandra Menges was born and raised in South Africa/Namibia and currently lives in Germany. She has always lived in intercultural/multi-cultural settings and gained a tremendous amount of practical first-hand experience. Over the last 36 years, she has worked in over 75 countries as project manager, mentor, trainer, speaker, coach and in crisis care – all within the context of missions. Currently, Sandra is working mainly doing trauma debriefing and crisis intervention in the context of member care and disaster response worldwide – as well as in her city of residence. Reflection, training and knowledge of people plus the ability to understand and empathise with people, makes her competent to train, consult and support. Sandra is a certified intercultural coach and trauma services specialist. She is married, has adult children and a grandchild.
3. Navigating the Call: Using MC tools to mobilize and resiliently prepare the next generation of workers
In a mission landscape defined by rapid transition and a generation deeply attuned to mental and emotional health, we must redefine our “sending” strategy. Member Care can no longer be merely a reactive hospital for the wounded; it must become a proactive fuel for mobilization. We will challenge the traditional “tough-it-out” missionary myth and replace it with a robust care-culture that actually attracts and retains the next generation. Join us as we discuss practical frameworks to bake resilience into the preparation process, ensuring that a short-term spark becomes a lifelong flame.
Rafael Nastase is a missionary who served with his wife Alice, for seven years in the Republic of Moldova, being involved with Operation Mobilisation (OM) in church planting, discipleship and mobilizing churches for missions. Returning to his home country, Romania, he stepped into the leadership position from 2007-2019 as National Director of OM. Now he coordinates the church relations department of OM in Romania and is the national member care facilitator. Rafael has a BA in Philosophy and Journalism and a Master’s in theology at Baptist faculty. Being born in a Romani (Gypsy) family, he got his doctorate in ecclesiology and ethnography at the University of Bucharest, researching on the role of the church in transforming Roma communities. Rafael is also the current chair of the Member Care Europe Board.
4. Helping children develop a vocabulary for processing trauma
Children are remarkably perceptive and often sense when something significant has happened, even when adults try to protect them by staying silent. When children notice changes in family dynamics, overhear concerning conversations, or experience something traumatic themselves, their minds work overtime trying to make sense of confusing situations. Without appropriate information and support, children often create their own explanations, which are frequently more frightening than the reality.
The goal of talking to children about trauma isn’t to burden them with adult problems or expose them to inappropriate details. Instead, it’s about providing age-appropriate information that helps them understand their world, validates their experiences, and reassures them of their safety and your support.
In this workshop we will examine models and techniques for helping children develop a healthy vocabulary to talk about and process trauma. We will examine both verbal and non-verbal methods, best practices and new paradigms and what it means to ask where God is in the trauma? Participants will interact with real case studies and have time for helpful dialogue.
Mihai Lundell served as country director for the mission One Challenge in Romania for over 20 years, where he helped to pioneer a national Member Care movement. In 2018, he and his wife Tammy accepted a new challenge in Genova, Italy caring for and coming alongside local pastors and Christian leaders. He is a member of both the European Member Care Board and the European representative to the Global Member Care Board. He has a doctorate in missions from Bethel Seminary in Minnesota and a master’s in child psychology and developmental disorders from the University of Minnesota, followed by a master’s degree in child trauma counseling from Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. Currently he collaborates with the Gaslini Institute in Genoa, Italy in child trauma counseling and works with UNICEF in crisis counseling for children living in war-torn countries.
5. Swimming Upstream: Navigating the currents with TCKs
In this workshop we will briefly look at who makes up this group we call TCKs, then we will look at some of the realities TCKs face in today’s world. We’ll consider three broad areas – culture, faith, and family – and discuss a few of the ways each can be challenging for those who are growing up or have grown up “between worlds”. As a group, we will share ideas for coming alongside TCKs and their families as they swim upstream through the everchanging currents of the world around us.
Matthew Wright is an MK/TCK that grew up in Australia. He and his wife, Cindy, (a PK – pastor’s kid – from the southeastern US) have served cross-culturally since 1999 in a variety of roles, both on the field and off (Albania – 9 years, Greece – 6 years, as well as world-wide), but since 2013, have focused their efforts on providing pastoral care for cross-cultural workers through their ministry, The 631 Solution. Matthew has also been part of the workgroup for EuroTCK since 2018. Matthew and Cindy have been married for 38 years and have 3 great ATCKs of their own that are now married and have collectively given them 4 beautiful grandchildren.
6. Why swim with weights?
Serving in challenging contexts brings with it the risk of accumulated stress. These stressors become weights which we carry around with us without us often being aware of it and, if not off loaded, pose long term risk to our health and resilience. Debriefing gives people the time, space and safety to unpack and process their story, so that they identify the weights they are carrying and lay them down at the cross of Jesus Christ. Come along to unpack more about debriefing.
Frank & Natalie* met and married while studying at Bible College. Following this time, Frank served as a Pastor in their home country. Natalie, after being a full time mum for a number of years, worked in Administration & Management in the education field. In 2007 they began their overseas service, pastoring an international church in Africa. After their expulsion, they returned to their passport country and trained in Member Care, aware that God was calling them to serve frontline workers in the Arab world. With their children now young adults, Frank & Natalie returned to the MENA region in 2022. They travel throughout the MENA region and also offer 5 day debriefs from their base.
Their heart is to see workers thriving as they serve in the places where God has called them. They are passionate about helping people to be healthy and resilient in all areas of their lives, whether they are single or married, young or old. Natalie has a deep passion to support parents as they nurture their children to grow strong and resilient in the challenging lives they lead as TCKs. They love Jesus, their family, serving Jesus together, hearing people’s stories, good coffee and discovering the flavours of new places they visit.
*not their real names for security reasons
7. Lament - talking to God in the darkness of swimming upstream
Swimming upstream is challenging and sometimes we will find ourselves confronted with injustice, grief, unbelief, doubts or anger. How do we handle these “negative” emotions? The Bible suggests a wonderful tool – the psalms of lament. Is it just whining? Or do they offer a new perspective? In this workshop we will discover the power of lament and the structure of how to do it. There will be the possibility to write your own psalm of lament or to experience one of the strong pictures that the Bible offers us to express these feelings. At the end this tool helps us to notice a little light of hope, like the morning dawn.
Uta Widmer was born in Germany but has now lived in Switzerland for more than half her life. She originally trained as a certified social worker. She was on a mission trip with her family in Costa Rica and invested in the education of the indigenous population in Latin America. The trip had to be cut short due to her husband’s health issues. In 2010, she began working for Latin Link, where she developed the MC department and provided intensive support to long-term missionaries. She has completed various further training courses: Intercultural Coach (AWM), Intercultural Leadership (CAS/Columbia International University) and Spiritual director (VBG: United Bible Groups). Uta has been part of the leadership team for the Family Debriefing Week for many years, and is recently joined the team for Debriefing Week for Adults in Switzerland. In 2023, Uta started working within SMG (Swiss Mission Community). She is currently responsible for Member Care within the AEM Switzerland (Evangelical Alliance), heads the Member Care Network Switzerland and works independently in Member Care and Coaching (utawidmer.ch). Since 2024, she has been responsible for Member Care training at the Academy for World Mission (AWM), where she also teaches various topics.
8. What does this mean? (Acts 2v12) - The miracle of cross-cultural communication
Details to follow soon.
Andrea dos Santos is from Argentina, and served for 20 years with YWAM Argentina. Since 2023, living in Germany with her husband Harry Hoffmann, she has been providing Member Care for Latino workers around the world. Andrea produces Spanish resources for member care, visits workers on the field, and serves with Global Member Care Network.