Skip to content
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
The Baptist Paper
The Baptist Paper
  • SBC 2025
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds
  • SBC 2025
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds

IMB taking steps to prioritize mental, emotional health of MKs

  • July 3, 2023
  • International Mission Board
  • International Mission Board, Latest News
Missionary kids hang out with a student volunteer team from Texas A&M University. The IMB is focused on the mental health of its MKs and is taking steps to let children, preteens and teens know that they have an advocate.
(IMB Photo)

IMB taking steps to prioritize mental, emotional health of MKs

The International Mission Board is taking steps to let children, pre-teens and teens on the mission field know that they have an advocate by providing member care consultants specifically for them. Member care consultants for the IMB provide pastoral care, counseling and counseling referrals to best care for missionaries and their families.

“Our charge — our mission — is to keep missionaries healthy and on the field so that they can thrive in their places of assignment,” Chris Martin, the IMB’s director of member care, said. “That includes the children who reside with them.”

Martin continued, “We want to take care of the whole family and bless the missionaries in that way. Everybody in the family has given up a lot to be there. The missionaries are blessed, but the whole family is highly challenged as well.”

Emotional disorders and teens

Emotional disorders are rampant among teens and pre-teens today. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 3.6% of 10–14 year-olds and 4.6% of 15–19 year-olds experience anxiety. WHO also reports that 1.1% of 10–14 year-olds and 2.8% of 15–19 year-olds experience depression. Children on the mission field are not excluded from these challenges.

In addition to the typical pressures that children and teenagers face, third culture kids (TCKs) — also known as missionary kids (MKs) — often experience cultural challenges and added grief from leaving family and friends behind in the United States. Overseas, some have been abruptly relocated due to conflict in the areas their families live and serve. Frequent transitions often lead to increased anxiety and challenges in daily life.

Somewhere to turn

The IMB recently established TCK member care consultant roles to alleviate some of these pressures and give TCKs somewhere to turn in addition to their parents.

While TCK member care doesn’t end with the consultants, they have a unique role of being able to connect with the missionary kids and hear about their struggles.

From there, they can point them to ongoing counseling and care services. Sometimes it’s enough for consultants to listen or to offer coping skills for anxiety or depression.

Rose Elliott is a TCK member care consultant in Sub-Saharan Africa. She understands that adverse childhood experiences have a significant impact on kids. She wants to build relationships with the families she serves to help alleviate the pressures they face.

“We’re all about building up all the positive to combat any of the negative the kids may experience,” Elliott explained. “In the long run, I see huge differences in them as they enter the adult world, as they transition back to the States.”

Elliott understands that, just like any teen or pre-teen, a TCK just wants to know where they belong.

“God teaches throughout Scripture that His presence is where we belong,” she said. One of the delights of her job is telling TCKs that they belong in God’s presence. She prays this gives them the stability they need as they become young adults.

Preparing for changes ahead

TCKs also need someone to help them debrief all the changes they go through or simply help them prepare for more changes up ahead.

These consultants are uniquely poised to support them through those changes. Some of the TCK member care consultants are adult TCKs themselves, so they uniquely understand some of the challenges these kids face.

Elliott grew up in Sub-Saharan Africa. She especially enjoys spending time with students who go to her former boarding school. There, they just have fun with the kids, building that relationship of trust that is so vital to this role. As she becomes another trusted adult for the TCKs, they begin to turn to her, and in conjunction with their parents, she and her team can offer them support.

The IMB is constantly seeking other ways to support TCKs, Martin shared.

All TCKs go through age-appropriate security training like their parents do to ensure their safety, even as they go to the edge of lostness right alongside their parents. Both parents and kids are given personalized educational support to ensure that they receive the same caliber education on the field as they would back in the U.S.

And when they do finally leave the field and return to the U.S. as a young adult to enter the workforce or attend college, they’re given emotional, financial and practical support to do so.

Pray more member care consultants are called to serve the needs of the 3,511 missionaries on the field and their 2,850 children. TCK member care consultants are specifically trained and focused on meeting the needs of the children of missionaries.

For more information on the role, contact info@imb.org.

Some names may have been changed for security reasons.


EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Myriah Snyder and originally published by the International Mission Board.

Share with others:

Facebook
X/Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Latest News

  • Miss Georgia contest winner says following Christ ‘best decision I could have ever made’
    Miss Georgia contest winner says following Christ ‘best decision I could have ever made’
    June 21, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • ‘High-five Fridays’ among efforts to build relationships with inner-city school
    ‘High-five Fridays’ among efforts to build relationships with inner-city school
    June 20, 2025/
    0 Comments
  • Honoring retired pastors, their widows on Mission:Dignity Sunday
    Honoring retired pastors, their widows on Mission:Dignity Sunday
    June 20, 2025/
    0 Comments

Sign up for the Highlights

Get all latest content delivered to your email a few times a month.
Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

Related Posts

Miss Georgia contest winner says following Christ ‘best decision I could have ever made’

Audrey Kittila was crowned the 80th winner of the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition on June 14, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Her victory gives her an expanded public platform to share her Christian faith and serve others in Jesus’ name.

‘High-five Fridays’ among efforts to build relationships with inner-city school

For the past six years, Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, has built a powerful connection with Hobgood Elementary, an inner-city school facing numerous low-income challenges.

Honoring retired pastors, their widows on Mission:Dignity Sunday

Mission: Dignity Sunday to be observed on June 22.

First person: 9 things I want my grandsons to learn

Here are nine things that my father’s example taught me about manhood that I’ve tried to pass down to his grandsons.

Want to receive news highlights throughout the week? Sign up here!

Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

About

  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us
  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us

Explore

  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos

Submissions

  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy
  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
The Baptist Paper
Address:
3310 Independence Dr.
Birmingham, AL 35209
Copyright © 2025 TAB Media Group
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ

Email:
news@thebaptistpaper.org

About

  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church
  • Our Team
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Donate
  • Photo Galleries
  • Contact us
  • Hosted Church

Explore

  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your State News
  • Persecuted Church
  • Editorials
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Archive
  • Submit your news

Subscribe

  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate

Log Out?

Lost your password?

Log In

Lost your password?

Log in

Become a part of our community!
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy/Terms of Use

Reset password

Recover your password
A password reset link will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy/Terms of Use
Back to
Login
×
Close Panel