WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

148 WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES
CHAPTER NINETEEN
EMOTIONAL FATIGUE
When stress is prolonged, our faculties can suffer an overload. Emotional
fatigue overcomes us. It is essential for workers to recognise the
symptoms of overload. Certain symptoms may be peculiar to some and not to
others. However, as often is the case with conscientious Christian workers,
blind spots are common and the signs of overload are either unrecognised or
neglected. As a result, workers have to be laid aside for lengthy periods of
time in order to recuperate.
Emotional fatigue does not happen only in cross-cultural situations.
Christian workers and leaders in general, who are driven by the ministry, usually
experience some degree of fatigue some time during their careers. Dawson
Trotman, founder of The Navigators experienced this fatigue. His wife Lila
often had to bear his burdens too.
Case Histories of Two Mission Leaders
DAWSON TROTMAN
When Daws finally recognised he was tired, he was impatient with the
fact. He noticed he could not face some of his daily work or go through his
mail. The aversion seemed temporary yet deep down was a gnawing realisation
he would have to relinquish personal control of some things and delegate
them. What taxed him most was counselling and building in the lives of those
at the Glen, helping them hurdle major hindrances in becoming fruitful servants
of Christ. Alone with Lila in their room one Friday, he fell across the bed
sobbing, clear evidence of emotional fatigue. His doctor told him he had
narrowly missed nervous collapse and must give up all responsibility for at
least a month. 1
J OSWALD SANDERS
When J Oswald Sanders was General Director of the Overseas
Missionary Fellowship, he and his wife Edith experienced fatigue. In 1964,
both of them faced a period of increased difficulty. 2 For ten years, Oswald
Sanders had been driving himself hard, and Edith had tried to keep pace.
Both experienced
1 Betty Lee Skinner (1974), Daws: The Story of Dawson Trotman, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, page 361.
2 Ron and Gwen Roberts (1989), To Fight Better, Great Britain: Highland Books and OMF, pages 136-139.