~By Sharon Czerwien
In the last post, Kim Platt, was a guest blogger for Grace Through the Bumps. In this blog post, I will be writing more about her ministry to fellow missionaries. I will also highlight Kim’s friend and fellow missionary partner, Elizabeth Musser.
In case you did not get a chance to see Kim’s blog post, you can view it here.
Member Care Teams
Both the Platts and Mussers are Care Team missionaries for One Collective. Kim and Elizabeth (and their husbands) specifically work with other missionaries and church workers to help them work through difficult life situations that arise. They provide debriefing, and they are a Biblical sounding-board to those in cross-cultural ministry.
These Member Care teams can either travel to the ministry workers or can communicate in a variety of other technological ways to help meet the spiritual needs of these fellow partners.
For 30+ years, Elizabeth Musser and her husband, Paul, have been missionaries. They started as church planters in France. Here is what Elizabeth states on her website about what then followed, “In the spring of 2010, our missionary lives took an unexpected turn. Paul and I were asked by the president of our mission to become ‘Pastors to Workers’ (PTWs), that is, to give pastoral care, to the missionaries living in Europe. That role has continued to expand…” Her husband is now the leader of their Global Member Care Team.
(See more at: https://elizabethmusser.wordpress.com/about-elizabeth/)
Spiritual Support
I (Sharon) really enjoyed hearing about the concept of the Member Care Teams. The concept ties in well with this blog, Grace Through the Bumps.
Just because a person is in full time ministry does not mean that he or she is free from pain and trials! I personally view missionaries as brave and sacrificial to the highest degree! Yet, they are never promised a life free of bumps!
This is precisely why I love the idea of people (like Kim and Elizabeth and their husbands) being devoted to ministering to those in full-time ministry in an overseas context. What a creative way to be a blessing! I like Kim’s quote to me, “We want to help workers thrive, not just survive.”
I appreciate the sold-out-to-the-service-of-God Global Partners that many of our churches in America support! I also really appreciate the opportunity that arose for Kim and Elizabeth and their husbands…and that they accepted the calling to come alongside and encourage fellow cross-cultural partners!
It’s a “Novel” Thing…
I want to give a shout-out to Elizabeth Musser, as she is an award-winning Christian author. She writes historical fiction books. She utilizes recent historical events to mix in with her fiction novels.
She has been able to incorporate French history into some of her novels. Since she lives in France, this has given her neat inroads to minister to those in France. On her website, Elizabeth states that there are not many Christian novels available to the Christians living in France. There have been opportunities, though, for people to use her books to have “open doors” for witness.
Neatly enough, all of her novels have been translated into several languages. You can further check out her novels at: https://elizabethmusser.wordpress.com/novels/.
Here is Kim’s blogging website: https://plattmom.blogspot.com/.
I will leave you with one last thought.
The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38, NKJV).
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