by Dr. David Shepherd

Who’s Responsible?

Facing cross-cultural stresses Missionaries face stressful situations by virtue of the fact that they live and work cross-culturally. Some researchers have insisted that cross-cultural workers are under no more stress than anyone else, and yet studies are showing that many [...]
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Thriving or Surviving?

Back in May I posted a few articles on culture fatigue. More recently, I posted some of my research on stress in missions. I’m still editing a coming post on mutual care, which was the core of my dissertation research [...]
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Compelling Research on “the goo...

Came across this video, which pretty much confirms the assertions and conclusions of my dissertation. The implications are rather staggering when thinking about the large number of cross-cultural workers that report feeling lonely and disconnected from community. This TED Talk speaks to [...]
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A Vulnerable Jesus

So why all the fuss about a world that doesn't like our baby Jesus? Is the church really surprised as much as it seems appalled? I honestly don't get it. [...]
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Cross-cultural worker PTSD

Why talk about missionary stress? (Especially when others are talking about it) Good question. While stress is a factor in missionary longevity and resilience, I often wonder if we haven’t over emphasized an inevitable fact of life? Granted, on [...]
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