When a missionary or missionary family has been in the field for several years they sometimes begin to experience challenges — struggling marriages, a problematic ministry area, children facing difficulties. Missionaries, just like anyone else, have coping mechanisms that usually work in their own cultures. These same coping mechanisms may not work in another culture due to the situation the missionary finds him/herself, or the mechanisms may not be culturally appropriate.

Not all missionaries have problems that will bring them to point of needing counseling, but when problems do arise, there isn't always someone available to help. The problems can get bigger and more intense because they are not in an atmosphere where they feel comfortable sharing. This can lead them to leave the field, come back home and take a respite. But to support their families during these times, they often take jobs, their children enter new schools and it becomes increasingly difficult to go back out to their ministry country.

Many never return. The work God began through them in the field begins to unravel. In fact, about 50 percent of missionaries in the field for four years don’t go back, said Irene Lange, a Blue Ridge missionary who was back in Virginia for a visit before Thanksgiving. That’s why she and One Another Ministries International provide caregiving in a safe, confidential manner through their ministry center in Cannock, England and also in the field through workshops in locations like Romania and France.

“Our mission is to give them the tools to do their ministry to the glory of God,” Irene said on her visit to Blue Ridge. “Our team loves missionaries!”

Among the five-person team in Cannock, there is more than 100 years of missionary experience. Irene, a nurse who has been a missionary since 1978, has faithfully served in direct evangelism, rural development, and health care in some of the most difficult areas of the world including Haiti, the Sudan, and rural Kenya.

Two years ago, she began work with One Another Ministries just as it was moving its ministry center from France to England. Her husband Rick, who died in 2010, was on the organization’s first board and the Langes shared a long association with the ministry. Over the years, One Another’s work has become increasingly proactive.

“In the medical world, it’s always better to give tools to stay well than to try to fix them,” Irene said.

So missionaries come to the peaceful forest and trails of the Cannock Ministry Center for quiet, reflection, healing and encouragement. One of Irene’s favorite parts of her work is Paraklesis, which she calls a “week of being loved on.” These seminars provide refreshment and encouragement to missionaries.

"It’s a blessing for us, too,” said Irene. “You see people come in so stressed out and they leave rested."

You can pray for Irene’s current needs as she spends the next two months in the United States:

  • For knee replacement surgery, which she needs to improve her mobility.
  • For funding for the ministry, which is very expensive with the current dollar-to-pound exchange rate.
  • For the work of the ministry and the missionaries it serves.