Missional Preparation and Implementation Joining the global mission movement means investing in people, seeking their well-being, and challenging them to grow. People are central to God's mission, and we must not exploit them for personal gain. Yet, if we're not careful, we can neglect the needs of the missionaries who serve around the world. It's easy to forget that missionaries are people too. High rates of attrition often signal that we've overlooked this point, that something is out of balance, and we need to look for better practices of missionary retention. Worth Keeping is a comprehensive resource on attrition, retention, and best practices in sending missions teams. It presents research findings from a two-year project conducted in 22 nations and offers a comparison between older and newer sending countries. The book includes case studies, addressing a range of mission challenges, and is designed to be a working tool for church and mission leaders, missionaries, and those involved in member care and mobilization. When we do not identify and promote best practices, we settle for second best and that may mean that people are lost unnecessarily! Worth Keeping examines the best strategies to ensure missionary retention. We not only want to discern between bad and good; we also need the courage to choose to go for the best rather than simply do what is mere customary. Worth Keeping is the most extensive and profound international study to date on the issue engaged of retention of missionaries. Th e comprehensive analysis is an invaluable tool for everyone in missionary work, whether sending, training or being sent. Missionaries are not "chess pieces" of lower value that can be discarded in the global mission enterprise. Mission organizations know that they are worth keeping and that, in general, long term missionaries are the most effective. - Bertil Ekstrom , Executive Director, World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission, Brazil Worth Keeping marks a significant milestone in the crucial work of the WEA Missions Commission. Th is seminal work should be read and re-read by all of us who are engaged in this exciting epoch of evangelical missions. - Rob Martin , Executive Director, First Fruit, Inc., USA Worth Keeping represents the outstanding efforts of a widespread, global group of scholars and practitioners who came together to prepare, research, analyze and report a strategic study on missionary retention. What sets this resource apart from anything else is its clarity, breadth, and utility. It is a must read and applies equally to both church and mission leaders, and anyone who resources mission activities globally. - Brent Lindquist , PhD, President, Link Care Center, EFMA Board of Directors, USA All too often research is just left on the shelf to gather dust and doesn't produce the results its conclusions commend. Th is research has the potential to be different. It contains hard truths alongside many practical recommendations, and we ignore its message at our peril. Study it, see what changes need to be made, but above all don't let it gather dust. - Martin Lee , Executive Director, Global Connections, UK As the undercurrent continues to pull the Church into deeper water in the sea of short-term missions, Worth Keeping compels us to swim hard against it toward the shore of appropriate longer-term engagement. "Appropriate" can be a vague user-defined word. This study and analysis helps to bring clarity to missional preparation and implementation--for the sake of the senders, the sent ones, and the receivers. - Keith Sparzak , Director/Pastor of Global Outreach, Mars Hill Bible Church, USA As usual the WEA MC has produced a very significant book. Worth Keeping is a must read for any missionary as well as church and missions leaders anywhere who long to see retention and success in mission fields. Our thanks to the WEA MC and the team behind this work. This book should be made available in many languages as soon as possible. - Younoussa Djao , Coordinator, Francophone Africa Regional Consultation (CRAF)/New Generations Intl, Cote d'Ivoire If we long for a harvest of "fruit that will last" around the world, then we will implement the recommendations contained in this book. It is easier to keep things the way they are. But we will honour God by taking seriously the formidable research described in these pages. - Dr. Debbie Lovell-Hawker , Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Researcher, InterHealth, UK The global missionary community is once again greatly indebted to the writers who are a part of the WEA Mission Commission. There is no doubt that this key book on missionary retention and best practices will challenge and change not only the mode of our member care, but also training as well as the entire process of sending of our missionaries. - Dr. David Tai-Woong Lee , Global Missionary Training Centre, Korea The Latin American Mission Movement is transitioning forwa