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Questions about: Apologetics and Theology
Debra: (06/26/07) Jack, do you have any statistics on the number of missionaries who have to leave the field for reasons other than retirement or end of commitment, ie. can't get along with coworkers, loneliness, etc? My husband and I do membercare and are looking for stats for churches to understand the problems. Thank you for your help. Debra Schottelkorb

Jack: Debra Statistics on preventable missionary attrition June 07 Debra, are you familiar with Willliam Taylor (ed) Too Valuable to Lose Exploring the Causes and Cures of Missionary Attrition (Pasadena: William Carey, 1997)? It's 10 years old, but still the best source I have.

Here's a relevant quote: In terms of the global missions force, it is estimated that 1 career missionary in 20 (5.2% of the mission force) leaves the mission field to return home every year. Of those who leave, 71% leave for preventable reasons. Whatt might these numbers mean? If we estimate the current long-term, international, cross-cultural missionary force at 150,000 strong--a very conservative number--an annual loss of 5.1% would be 7,650 missionaries leaving the field each year.

Over a four-year term, this figure jumps to 30,600. This is the total loss figure for all reasons. The preventable percentage is 71% of 30,600, or 21,726. (William Taylor. "Introduction: Examining the Icebedrg Called Attrition." pp 13, 14 in (see above). The causes are exceedingly complicated, but the whole issue is discussed in Taylor's book, 375 pages long.

I trust this is helpful.

Jack

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