Missionary Support Activities
- Training objective
- Increase understanding, teamwork, productivity, and quality.
- Decrease frustration and resignation in the field caused by conflict with other missionaries.
- Benefits
- Interpersonal skills training can reduce tensions and increase satisfaction and effectiveness among missionaries and support team members.
- Married couples will additionally gain in their relationship the same benefits as those who complete the Couple Communications workshops.
- Individuals who attend will learn to apply effective communication skills to change an interaction with people who are not trained in these skills.
- Content
- This training teaches fundamental talking and listening skills, a conflict/problem resolution process, and effective use of communication styles. The same content is effective for training individuals, couples, or missionary support teams.
- Training formats
- The Missionary workshops follow the format of "Core Communication" while adding elements from the Couple Communication and Collaborative Team Skills programs, all three of which were developed by Interpersonal Communication Programs, Inc.
- The training is most effective with small groups of about 12-24 people. Workshops generally include 9-12 hours of interaction.
- Workshops can have mixes of intact teams, married couples, and individual attendees.
- Core Communication
- This program equips individuals with the same interpersonal communications skills as "Couple Communication" or "Collaborative Team Skills" while focusing on how that individual can positively impact interactions with others who may not have the same skills.
- It is generally the most effective format for missionary teams that are comprised of subteams with married partners and single members.
- Couple Communication
- This program generally applies to married or engaged couples and is useful for those in missionary capacities. It provides couples with greater understanding and power for collaborative decision making.
- More detail about training for couples is at ICP. (At this link, click through to "Couple Communication I").
- Collaborative Team Skills
- This training, also administered by ICP, works with in-place work units in which the team members share in a common mission.
- Training content and format is very similar to training for couples while targeting intact work teams such as missionary teams in the field, missionary executive agencies, or various support groups.
- Agency sponsorship
- Jim and Sue Keller were accepted by Christar as emissaries (part-time missionaries) in June, 2004.
- In harmony with Christar's vision, we are available to lead workshops with other missionary organizations with similar Biblical doctrine.
- Training costs
- As retirees we are currently in a position of minimum financial needs.
- We expect our local Church and other supporters to provide sufficient support for transportation and per diem expenses.
- Workshop materials, normally funded by the missionary teams, generally run about $40 per person.
- Preliminary planning
