In Minute for Mission today we are focussing on TCK's. You may well ask: what is a TCK? A TCK is a Third Culture Kid - a child who spends their developmental years in a culture different from their parents' own culture. The child may live in Thailand with their Australian parents and this mix produces a third culture which is an amalgam of both. Missionary families are all in this situation. And such children have very unique lives and very real needs.They have distinct characteristics. Because they are living in another culture, they have good cross-cultural skills and become sensitive to the different ways that people do things. They tend to have a broad world view because they see themselves as belonging to the whole world. They are used to travelling as their parents go on home assignment in different countries. But that very mobility often produces a rootlessness in teenage years as they struggle to feel that they belong anywhere. But they tend to be flexible and adaptable because they live with change all the time. They are usually bilingual or multi-lingual and develop very strong friendships with their TCK mates. Parents struggle with the unresolved gried of parting with their children for shorter or longer periods of time and this sometimes impacts on the children. But in all of this they are high achievers.
OMF is just one of the missionary groups which take very seriously the welfare of children. They see the need for families to model Christian family values in the target culture, but also the need to prepare these precious children for their adult lives back in their parents' culture. OMF seeks to work with the parents to find the best possible option for schooling.
Sometimes the children attend the local school and are educated in the local language. But sometimes the parents opt to send children to Christian boarding schools where they are cared for by those who see this as their missionary calling. Other children go to International Schools as day students. Some families opt for home schooling and the NSW Dept of Distance Education provides all the teaching materials that are needed. Then occasionally all the children get together for a Home Schooling Week where they meet other children from other missionary families. Where children go away to Boarding Schools, as for example in Chiang Mai, a full programme of social and recreational activities are all part of the mix.
If missionaries are at peace about their children, they will be more effective in the work they are doing. Usually the kids have a ball, but there are times of tears and loss. We need to pray for families and TCK's as they make their own sacrifices to make the Gospel known in places where Jesus is not known. Pray for 300 missionaries working all over China with OMF who will be travelling with their 150 children in the next week to attend a Conference of all China workers in Chiang Mai Thailand in the first week of October. The kids are on the move again!
Pray for TCK's
Blodwyn
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