The Importance of Psychology for Missions

By: Elba Isabel Duson

Anxiety, fear, sadness, joy, anger, loneliness, hope, despair…these are some of the feelings we experience on the mission field.

We are “emotional coactivators”: during our day we activate certain emotions in other people and they in turn activate emotions in us. This is the product of our daily relationship. In addition, emotions can be provoked in us by events that happen to us in our new country or by memories of our home or native country.

There are more than 107 emotions that we go through every day, among them: fear, anger, sadness, joy, tenderness, eroticism and all their possible combinations.

This means that I can start my day feeling worry and anxiety about an important meeting, and as the day progresses, I can feel high levels of annoyance from culture shock while I am trying to connect with people in the community. Or I may feel frustrated that months have passed, and I am not seeing the results of what was assigned to me. I feel that I am not a good imitator of Paul as a missionary. All these emotions can accompany us in less than 2-3 minutes and manifest themselves as physiological reactions with different degrees of intensity.

Psychology helps us understand what is happening with our emotions and how to channel them.

The missionary on the field goes through a number of situations that she often feels and cannot control; sadly, many have left the field because of this.

The work of the missionary is by nature social. We are sent to bring salvation and hope to a society that has forgotten its God and needs to reconcile with Him. Our humanity makes us increasingly weaker, but God in his great mercy has endowed us with intelligence and wisdom to help others.

God is the one who gives freedom and healing, and the purpose of psychology is to contribute to the improvement of mental health, helping each individual find balance with themselves and within the environment in which they develop. This does not diminish God’s authority and power over his humanity; He enables us to contribute and help his children to have a more stable life while we wait for the coming of Christ.

In short, psychology is important because it:

1. Improves our emotional abilities and assists us in facing obstacles.

2. Improves social and civic skills and helps us coexist amongst different ideologies and cultures.

3. Improves our abilities to establish healthy interpersonal relationships.

If you are a missionary, I invite you to make a list of the emotions you are experiencing on the field. Identify the most complicated ones and share them with a professional in the area. This will bring healing to your life and ministry.

*Article consulted: “What are the contributions of psychology to society?”; https://www.soycest.mx/blog/aportes-de-la-psicologia-a-la-sociedad

**Lic. Elba Duson is a psychologist and missionary. She currently serves as a School Psychologist in Higüey, Dominican Republic and as Missions Mobilization Coordinator in the Mesoamerica Central Field.