Lausanne World Pulse – World Pulse Archives – World Pulse Archives

International explorers have found a disease you won’t find in medical texts. Called “expedition fever,” it’s the most insidi-ous danger on any expedition, according to the late Thor Heyerdahl, whose voyages inspired millions. Its symptoms include irritability, anger, desperation and fault finding—even among the calmest men on the team. What causes it? Rubbing shoulders in close quarters for weeks on end.

You don’t have to trek to the South Pole to catch this disease. We’ve seen it on the “Survivors” TV show. We’ve seen it in our families, churches, work places and neighborhoods. Expedition fever causes serious breakdowns in the international missions community, too. Some veterans claim that it is the major cause of missionary ineffectiveness and attrition. Did it break out among Barnabas, Paul and Mark on their first missionary journey? For some reason Mark found it impossible to stay with the team and Paul refused to take him on his second trip.

Expedition fever isn’t discussed much when our missionaries come home. How many of us would openly confess that we couldn’t hack it with our own teammates? We’re supposed to be able to overlook shortcomings in others and take it on the chin when we are criticized. But that is harsh medicine for even the most stalwart Christians.

Perhaps one reason short mission trips are more popular now is that members feel they can put up with anything and anyone for at least two weeks. But even on these short tours there’s a high risk for contention and hard feelings. But the greatest dangers occur among missionaries from different national, racial and cultural backgrounds who increasingly are put together in long-term situations. “Internationalizing” missions sounds like a great idea, but like many other theories it is booby-trapped with serious problems every bit as dangerous as close confinement on one of Heyerdahl’s ships.

Even within the strictly American missionary community vast differences of temperaments and personalities often cause expedition fever. Problems arise not so much from theological differences, but from lack of experience in working and living closely with people whose approaches and experiences vary widely. Social customs within the US are not the same in Seattle as they are in Savannah.

Role expectations are different. “I wasn’t called to do that” is a frequent complaint that tries to put the blame on God. Versatility is not often acquired in the early years of life today. Yet missionaries are often required to do more and different jobs than they expected to do. Not much can be done to prepare for and defend against expedition fever among missionaries. Explorers found that knowing it would break out helped them to exercise strong, visionary leadership. Their best workers pushed on because they felt their goal was worth all the infighting.

We see something like that in Paul’s letters. How often he expressed dismay at the failures of his fellow workers. He himself often despaired, yet never abandoned his goals. His vision of the goal of being approved by Jesus drove Paul unerringly to total commitment to his task. He would go it alone, even if all others forsook him.

The antidote to expedition fever seems to be a daily infusion of resurrection power from Jesus. Of course, it helps to have wise, bold, understanding leaders, people who can help their workers to understand positive and destructive team dynamics. Balancing mature, experienced people with younger ones also helps. In the early stages of any career, we all need wise heads who can help us see through the thickets of criticism and misunderstandings.

Team building needs all the divine and human wisdom we can muster. When international missionary teams land in alien territory, they must expend their energies on reaching their goals, not on attacking each other.