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Burn Up or Splash Down: Surviving the Culture Shock of Re-Entry
Just like a space shuttle struggles and strains to reenter the earth's atmosphere, so those returning from living overseas can find themselves confused and in a state of panic at coming â??home.â?
- GenresNonfiction
184 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 5, 2024
Having recently returned to my country of origin after living overseas for 11 years, this book gave very language to what expats often experience and feel upon moving back “home.” The book is full of helpful tips and points about how to re-enter and what to expect. The book is broken up into three parts: the first is written for expats returning to their “passport” country, the second is for third culture kids who are teenagers, and the third part is written for people who receive expats upon their return home to explain what many expats are feeling beneath the surface.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone moving back to their country, or is planning to do so in the near future.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone moving back to their country, or is planning to do so in the near future.
September 2, 2018
Excellent read for missionaries as well as for pastors leaving churches.
November 12, 2014
Burn Up or Splash Down (Colorado Springs: Biblica, 2007) appears to be the most recent edited volume available on missionary reentry. The subtitle suggest a broad scope that creates the expectation of a fairly comprehensive treatment of reentry. The book comprises three sections: one for missionaries reentering, one for TCKs reentering, and one for "the receiving end"—those serving reentering missionaries. This organization was unfortunate in a couple of ways. One, the book seems to have been written with the expectation that readers would only be interested in one section or another, so there is significant redundancy. Two, it is more disjointed than necessary, even for a book trying to take into account the multiple perspectives involved in the reentry process. It could have been more well integrated.
As a missionary preparing for reentry, I found some of the many quotes from returned missionaries and some the author's own insights to be poignant, but overall I was unimpressed with the counsel offered. This volume has some interesting biases that future books on reentry should try to avoid.
First, it seems weighted toward missionaries who have worked in really isolated places for long periods of time, resulting in disorientation about things like opening a bank account or using a cell phone. These examples come from the author's experience and should not be discounted, but much of the book is about dealing with this kind of extreme cultural ignorance and adjustment. In the globalized world, though, there is increasing need for a more nuanced approach to the dynamics of reentry that doesn't rely on the caricature of the bush missionary with kids who have never used Facebook. There are significant reentry issues to deal with that have nothing to do with such isolation—or with the failure to abide best practices while on the field, such as keeping up with financial and professional realities in one's passport culture.
Second, the TCK section seems weighted toward older TCKs and is in fact written to them, thereby assuming a certain reading level. This effectively sidelines advice about younger TCKs. Most of the examples deal with adolescents or recent high school graduates. These need to be addressed, and other books dedicated to TCK issues are available, but it should be noted that the promise of a relatively comprehensive treatment of TCK reentry went unfulfilled.
An additional problem marked the whole book in my view. A great deal of the advice seems to be essentially about basic life skills rather than issues specific to missionary reentry. Granted, the author would probably find the distinction pointless in the course of counseling, and maybe the lesson to learn is that missionaries are often people who lack basic life skills! But that is an implication I would have liked spelled out. A substantial portion of the TCK section, for example, was advice that any parent should give their kids as they go to college and that many college students struggle to do without, TCK or not. Is the author pointing out that a result of reentry is often poor parenting? That would be an important discussion. Instead, we get a litany of relatively common-sense advice. To suggest that it is not common sense to TCKs misses the point that it is not common sense to any new college student unless they have been taught. Similar advice marks the first section: for example, reentering missionaries will need good interview skills to secure a job. Who doesn't? Or, missionaries returning to a minority world context need realistic expectations about increased cost of living. Are there really returning missionaries who don't know the world economy isn't uniform? Ultimately, this approach undermines the basic premise of the book, which is that missionary reentry occasions unique concerns that deserve special attention.
Finally, the section for supporters receiving returning missionaries could have included more process specifics. Furthermore, the chapter on debriefing, which was for some reason placed in the first section even though it is addressed primarily to supporters, should have been in the final section and included more procedurally as well.
The volume is not without virtues. The first section in particular summarizes important ideas in an easy-to-read fashion. Yet, there is ultimately much to be desired in terms of substance.
As a missionary preparing for reentry, I found some of the many quotes from returned missionaries and some the author's own insights to be poignant, but overall I was unimpressed with the counsel offered. This volume has some interesting biases that future books on reentry should try to avoid.
First, it seems weighted toward missionaries who have worked in really isolated places for long periods of time, resulting in disorientation about things like opening a bank account or using a cell phone. These examples come from the author's experience and should not be discounted, but much of the book is about dealing with this kind of extreme cultural ignorance and adjustment. In the globalized world, though, there is increasing need for a more nuanced approach to the dynamics of reentry that doesn't rely on the caricature of the bush missionary with kids who have never used Facebook. There are significant reentry issues to deal with that have nothing to do with such isolation—or with the failure to abide best practices while on the field, such as keeping up with financial and professional realities in one's passport culture.
Second, the TCK section seems weighted toward older TCKs and is in fact written to them, thereby assuming a certain reading level. This effectively sidelines advice about younger TCKs. Most of the examples deal with adolescents or recent high school graduates. These need to be addressed, and other books dedicated to TCK issues are available, but it should be noted that the promise of a relatively comprehensive treatment of TCK reentry went unfulfilled.
An additional problem marked the whole book in my view. A great deal of the advice seems to be essentially about basic life skills rather than issues specific to missionary reentry. Granted, the author would probably find the distinction pointless in the course of counseling, and maybe the lesson to learn is that missionaries are often people who lack basic life skills! But that is an implication I would have liked spelled out. A substantial portion of the TCK section, for example, was advice that any parent should give their kids as they go to college and that many college students struggle to do without, TCK or not. Is the author pointing out that a result of reentry is often poor parenting? That would be an important discussion. Instead, we get a litany of relatively common-sense advice. To suggest that it is not common sense to TCKs misses the point that it is not common sense to any new college student unless they have been taught. Similar advice marks the first section: for example, reentering missionaries will need good interview skills to secure a job. Who doesn't? Or, missionaries returning to a minority world context need realistic expectations about increased cost of living. Are there really returning missionaries who don't know the world economy isn't uniform? Ultimately, this approach undermines the basic premise of the book, which is that missionary reentry occasions unique concerns that deserve special attention.
Finally, the section for supporters receiving returning missionaries could have included more process specifics. Furthermore, the chapter on debriefing, which was for some reason placed in the first section even though it is addressed primarily to supporters, should have been in the final section and included more procedurally as well.
The volume is not without virtues. The first section in particular summarizes important ideas in an easy-to-read fashion. Yet, there is ultimately much to be desired in terms of substance.
May 28, 2024
Chapter 11 “The Pilgrim Community” pages 164 to 166 were my favorites of the book. While most of the book talks about the challenges of readapting to a country and culture once familiar, this section of chapter eleven showcases what the words disciple and pilgrim can mean based on stories throughout the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and Marion Knell highlights Eugene Peterson’s book A Long Obedience for those two words. While the book as a whole was helpful in having a framework to think about the challenges and grief associated with moving between countries, it was encouraging to read in this chapter about stories of people in the Bible, and stories of people outside of the Bible and in different times of history, that went through transitions between countries. The few pages mentioned above and pages 175 through 178 helped me to see beauty in transitions from moving and examples in the Bible of goodbyes when moving between places.
August 29, 2024
I think I managed to splash down, but still in a fiery inferno. Good overview of re-entry, but appreciate that 1/3 of the book is dedicated to TCK's and there wasn't much out there in this area when the book was published.
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May 17, 2020The may not be the best book on the subject of re-entry, but it is still a helpful one to read. It is written in three parts: one to missionaries, one to their children, and one to churches/welcoming groups. I feel like the format is a bit confusing and clunky (it's no reference book), but I will probably come back to it when we face our own transition. I think its strength is in stimulating discussion within families and between missionaries and their churches on the many topics addressed throughout.
May 9, 2016
This is a practical and encouraging book for people who are preparing for "re-entry" into their home country after living abroad for some time. Relevant and wise words for those who are going through cross-cultural transition. One of the newer books on this topic and well-worth the read.
September 29, 2015
Very helpful! We would read a chapter out loud and discuss the issues it brought up. Great preparation for our return "home".
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews