Prayer Letter Archive

July 2007

Attrition

Father, son & grandson. Three generations of Malaumandans. Which generation will not be in existence when the teaching, leadership training and translation are finally completed? As we fight a battle of time against attrition pray for steady laborers to remain in position to accomplish the tasks necessary for providing basis for a strong healthy church.

It’s the word hated by missionary organizations. It’s a word that fuels us as part of the motivation to help train new missionaries. It’s a word that is inevitable in tribal missionary endeavors because of the nature of the work. Attrition is the fact that not every missionary who goes to the field will be there for 25 years and we will lose numbers in time. Some, for understandable reasons; death, illness, health issues or family needs back in the home country. Some, less acceptable; loss of desire, marital strife and co-worker disunity. Nonetheless, ministries suffer losses and the work of the Lord is impeded because of lack in the personnel at hand to do the necessary duties required.

Attrition is hindering the work in Malaumanda. We started that work in 1992. At one point we had a total of four other families working in that tribe. Health issues forced us to leave the tribe. Now, at this time Eric and Judith Hedeen are the only family remaining in there to carry on the work. Tons of Bible teaching still needs to occur. Church leadership needs more training and most of the New Testament remains untranslated into the tribal language. Pray for new missionaries to join that tribal team enabling the work to move forward.

Attrition is also the reason we are helping to train a new generation of missionaries. With attrition stealing the workforce, how will we ever finish the works that have been started. Or, how will we pioneer into the many tribal areas still waiting to hear the Gospel if we do not train more to go?

Prayer Needs

• As tribal works get further established it is difficult to get new people to join a team when the personnel gets depleted. New tribal missionaries often prefer going into unreached areas. Pray for a new family or two to join ranks with Eric & Judith Hedeen to help finish the necessary duties to provide a strong healthy church body.
• Pray as Jeff & Joy prepare others for field service.

FAQ

New Tribes Mission works in difficult geographic and logistical areas and the job from start to finish is very complicated. How is NTM’s attrition rate compared to other mission agencies?

NTM ranks better than most mission agencies even though some aspects of the work are very difficult. This is probably due to the thorough training that NTM provides (2-4 years depending on when candidates enter the training). However, NTM’s attrition rate is still much higher than desired and the mission is constantly reevaluating how the attrition rate can be decreased.