Understanding Resilience: Lessons for Member Care Workers
By Duncan Watts
()
About this ebook
Related to Understanding Resilience
Related ebooks
Human Being Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe True Self and False Self: A Christian Perspective Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Be the Change: Acting with Intention Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden Threads: Questioning Our Beliefs, Desires and Systems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Faith Link: Scientific Proof That Your Belief Determines Your Health Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Fragile Hope: Cultivating a Hermitage of the Heart Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuilding Self-esteem: A Five-Point Plan For Valuing Yourself More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen, Identity and Religion in Wales: Theology, Poetry, Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat Can I Do?: Making a Global Difference Right Where You Are Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of Daily Resilience: How to develop a durable spirit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christian’S Guide to Mate Selection and Marital Preparation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus and Well Being: A Spiritual and Psychological Good News Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarry The Bully Blocker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuilding Conflict Competent Teams Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cultural Sensitivity Training: Developing the Basis for Effective Intercultural Communication Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRelationship: The Heart of Helping People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Charitable Orthopathy: Christian Perspectives on Emotions in Multifaith Engagement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lazarus Life: Spiritual Transformation for Ordinary People Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making Peace with Conflict: Using Neuroscience to Ease Difficult Relationships Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmotional Logic: Harnessing your emotions into inner strength Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThere are no Right Answers to Wrong Questions: 15 Ways Our Questions Influence Our Choices to Live a Christian Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTri-level Identity Crisis: Children of First-Generation Immigrants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOne World or Many: The Impact of Globalisation on Mission Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeveloping Healthy Emotions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Control Your Emotions: Practical Handbook for Understanding Your Trig-gers, Turn Off Negative Spirals and Regain your Balance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPredictive Factors for Transformative Learning within ACTEA-Related Theological Institutions in Ethiopia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIdentity Crisis: Reclaim the True You! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTransformational Learning Experiences: A Conversation with Counselors about Their Personal and Professional Developmental Journeys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGENARRATIVE: Future Forming Practices for Building Better Legacies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConversion and Transformation: Children and Youth in Mission Contexts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Christianity For You
Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries with Kids: How Healthy Choices Grow Healthy Children Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better (updated with two new chapters) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Imagine Heaven: Near-Death Experiences, God's Promises, and the Exhilarating Future That Awaits You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Grief Observed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Understanding Resilience
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Understanding Resilience - Duncan Watts
UNDERSTANDING
RESILIENCE
Regnum Series Preface
While we delight to serve the academic community, our mission is to enable the global church to engage more readily in God’s mission in its very diverse contexts. To do this we seek to bring practitioners and academics together. Our desire is that this series will bridge the gap that sometimes exists between, on the one hand, Christian leaders and mission practitioners and, on the other, Christian researchers. Regnum is delighted to co-publish this volume with Redcliffe College.
Redcliffe College
Redcliffe College exists to enable Christians engaged in God’s mission to deepen their knowledge and develop their practice. Part of our commitment to serve the mission community is to encourage the publication of valuable pieces of research carried out through our MA programmes. I had the privilege of supervising Duncan’s work on resilience and Redcliffe is delighted to be co-publishing his book on such a vital Member Care theme. We pray it will bear fruit for God’s mission all over the world.
For more information about our MA programmes in Member Care, Leadership in a Complex World, and Contemporary Missiology please visit www.redcliffe.ac.uk
Dr Tim Davy, Research Fellow, Redcliffe College
About the Author
After several years living in Central Asia with his wife and children, working alongside organisations with a focus in animal health, Duncan Watts now lives in Oxford where he combines his work as a member care worker with Interserve Great Britain and Ireland with work in a local veterinary practice. When he’s not working he enjoys spending time with his family, walking and running in the local countryside and making music.
UNDERSTANDING
RESILIENCE
LESSONS FOR MEMBER
CARE WORKERS
Duncan Watts
Copyright © Duncan Watts 2018
First published 2018 by Regnum Books International
in association with Redcliffe College
Regnum is an imprint of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies St. Philip and St. James Church, Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6HR, UK www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The right of Duncan Watts to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a license permitting restricted copying. In the UK such licenses are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-912343-74-4 Print
ISBN: 978-1-912343-85-0 epub
ISBN: 978-1-912343-86-7 mobi
Typeset in Palatino by WORDS BY DESIGN
Cover design by WORDS BY DESIGN
DEDICATION
For my wife and children.
You are a constant source of encouragement to me.
Thank you.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART ONE
Understanding Resilience
1.A Review of Literature on Resilience
2.Resilience in Context
PART TWO
The Implications of a Deeper Understanding of Resilience on Its Assessment and Enhancement in Cross-Cultural Mission Workers
3.Assessing Resilience in Those Applying for Cross-Cultural Mission Work
4.Enhancing Resilience in Cross-Cultural Mission Workers
Concluding Remarks
Appendix: Definitions of Resilience
Bibliography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am one of a small but significant number of people working in the member care field with no formal training in the area. My understanding of member care has developed through my own experiences as a cross-cultural mission worker with two different mission organisations and going through the joining, serving and reentry process – twice.
When I finally returned to the UK in 2010 after several years in Central Asia, I heard the term ‘resilience’ with increasing frequency. It was a term that intrigued me. I wanted to know what it was, and whether it was possible to assess it or enhance it.
I had initially anticipated that my search for the answers to these questions would involve conducting some fieldwork amongst the cross-cultural mission community I worked with. However, as I started reviewing the literature, I quickly realised that, although resilience was a new subject to me (and apparently many others member care workers), much research had already been conducted on the subject. Consequently, I decided that a thorough review of the literature was necessary in order to provide a foundation for any future fieldwork I or any other member care workers might undertake. The book you are now reading is the result of my research and is based on the text of the dissertation I submitted to Redcliffe College for my Master’s degree in member care.
There are many people I need to thank for their assistance in this project but, first of all, I would like to thank Helen, my wife, for her constant encouragement and for freeing up the time for me to study. I would also like to thank my children for their patience with a frequently preoccupied father.
Thanks are also due to Marion Knell and Colin Bulley for their enthusiasm in getting me started on my research. I am also indebted to Tim Davy for his support and encouragement – and for saving my sanity on several occasions. I also thank Mark Snelling for the provision of the Resilience Briefing background paper which has proved to be a very rich resource. And, finally, I want to thank the management team at Interserve Great Britain and Ireland for their support of my studies
A great sword must be made out of the very best steel. But what truly makes the sword great is what happens to the sword after it is made.
We call this the ‘testing’ of the sword.
The sword is hammered and hollered into shape by the bright hammer. It is thrust into the fierce heat of the fire where it softens, and then it is quickly quenched in water where it hardens again. The higher the temperature and the fiercer the fire, the tougher and stronger the sword eventually becomes.
The whole testing process can make a sword or break it.
The same could be said for the Making of a Hero (Cowell, 2013, p. 30).
… and perhaps the making of a cross-cultural mission worker.
INTRODUCTION
In my role as a personnel co-ordinator for an international mission organisation, I meet many people from the UK wanting to serve God in Asia and the Arab World. These people are full of enthusiasm for the task God is calling them to and intend to fulfil this calling with every ounce of zeal they possess. Zeal and enthusiasm are not enough, however, and after leaving our ‘green and pleasant land’, many find themselves in situations they have never dreamed of. During my seven years in this role, the people I work with have experienced armed robbery, road accidents, the murder of colleagues, civil unrest, natural disasters and much more. These events have taken place alongside life’s more ‘normal’ challenges such as family bereavements, marital conflict and personal illness.
As I worked with these remarkable people, I started to consider what it was that enabled the majority of them to be ‘made’, rather than being ‘broken’, by their experiences. Discussions with others repeatedly led me to a specific word: resilience. I wanted to understand what resilience was; whether it was possible to assess it in those applying for cross-cultural mission work; and whether it was possible to enhance it, both in those hoping to engage in cross-cultural mission work and those already doing it. The book you are now reading is my attempt to answer these questions.
The book is in two main parts:
Part One explores how resilience is understood.
•Chapter One is a comprehensive review of over forty years of resilience research, and forms the foundation for the subsequent chapters. It is the longest and most detailed chapter of the book, but is essential reading for anyone wanting to have a more