Known. Chosen. Redeemed. Favored. Loved. Secure. Beautiful. Image-Bearer.

Evocative words. What stirs in you when you read them? Can you own them? Do they describe your life experience? I don’t mean your cognitive experience; I’m talking about your gut. Deep down have these words come to the place of defining you?

Like all humans, third culture kids (TCKs)1 wrestle with these realities. I remember about ten years ago the International Director of my mission agency saying at a bi-annual gathering, “When God called you to cross- cultural ministry, he called your family. He has a plan for your children as well.” This was meant to comfort and strengthen the parents sitting in the audience. Regardless of the truth of his statement, TCKs will have mixed feelings about his sentiments, as this issue will reveal. Some have come to the place of deeply owning those truths, while others are still very much on the journey.

As the father of seven TCKs, one of whom wrote the article on page 18, this issue is dear to my heart. In it you will hear the stories of adult TCKs ranging in ages from 24 to 84 who grew up in countries in South America, Asia, and Africa. We asked them to tell their stories, and they didn’t hold back. Some are uplifting and hopeful, some are painful and uncomfortable, and all are authentic. I need to warn you, one or two of the stories may trigger strong emotions. We allowed each TCK to tell their story without judgment.

We wanted to give wide-ranging perspectives, hoping to capture the full breadth of TCK experiences. We did not quite achieve that, but we do have a good mix of stories. Our hope is that reading these narratives will give you a fuller view of mission work—the costs and blessings that may be misunderstood by the average observer.

Also, one bonus in this issue is that we received more articles than we could print. This means you can go to

missionfrontiers.org to find more articles not included in the print edition.

Note: The authors use TCK (third culture kid) and MK (missionary kid) throughout this issue. To clarify, MKs are a subset of TCKs. Many families live in foreign cultures working for multinational corporations or the military.

Their children are TCKs as well.

Letter to the Editor

On page 4 of this issue, you will find a letter to the editor in response to our January issue on migration. We welcome letters to the editor and would love to print some in each issue. If you want to respond to anything you have read, please write to: [email protected].

Final Reflection

On page 39, you will see the Final Reflection, which we introduced in our last issue. This poem uniquely captures the TCK experience. The online issue includes more works be TCKs (art and poems) for your enjoyment.

Lastly, I want to give a plug for building our MF team. Perhaps you know a college student interested in a future in publishing who would want to intern with us. If so, please have them write me (see email address above) so we can set up a conversation.

In July, we will focus on “The Impact of AI on Missions,” so be sure to subscribe and not miss an issue. May you experience God’s pleasure as you walk more and more in who he made you to be.

Duke Dillard