Sacred Siblings

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Sacred Siblings

Valuing One Another for the Great Commission

Sue Eenigenburg and Suzy Grumelot

We're in This Together

In Sacred Siblings: Valuing One Another for the Great Commissionwe learn about how teams come together with varying expectations of what team life should be. The authors offer ideas and positive practices of valuing one another based on a survey from 289 missionaries, representing 12 mission agencies. These practices not only build unity and understanding of each other, but enable greater effectiveness in ministry.

Read this and have your agency make moves to be better prepared for the increasingly single next generation of field workers and take action for team effectiveness now.

This book:

• Highlights 16 differences between the perspectives of married and single people.
• Offers helpful tools to address the challenges and enhance strengths.
• Asks applicational questions that would initiate dialogue among invested parties.
• Addresses the necessity of releasing physical family members to follow God’s leading.
• Points out differences in organizational policies and practices based upon marital status.

Endorsements

We are moving toward a world in which the majority of people will be single. In many cultures that time has already come. Yet, our mission environment is most often oriented around married couples. This book surfaces many of the issues that teams will face when members come from these two distinct life situations. As the authors point out in the book, it is easy for us to consider ourselves experts in understanding these challenges. Yet, there is little teaching and writing about this topic. This is a unique resource that readers will find to be relevant in our modern missions era.

TED ESLER
Sacred Siblings: Valuing One Another for the Great Commission is one of those rare books that tackles an important subject with quantifiable research, together with captivating stories that illustrate key findings in the research. And what a great title—that we all view each other as “sacred siblings”—regardless of marital status. Eenigenburg and Grumelot are not content to just explain the challenges of sacred sibling relationships, of which there are many. They raise the bar and offer the reader much more by sharing practical and actionable suggestions to make these relationships all that God intends for them to be. If you’re looking for a very readable and thought-provoking book, this one is for you.

JOHN CERTALIC Executive Director, Caring for Others
Sacred Siblings provides us with a compilation of information that goes beyond the anecdotal stories of singles and marrieds serving side-by-side on ministry teams. Through illustrations, not only from Sue and Suzy, but those who participated in the surveys, we get a sense of the challenges, the joys, the disappointments, and the unmet expectations in life together. There are constructive suggestions of ways to serve one another in these sacred extended ministry family relationships. This will be helpful for those who prepare people pre-field, for those who are leading teams along with the couples and singles serving on the teams, and for those who have a ministry of care and consultation for overseas workers. I recommend that after reading it, opportunity is made for dialogue at team retreats and conferences.

FAITH DE LA COUR Vice President and Chief People Officer, SIM, USA
If you are looking for a book that will help you discover for the first time, or go more in-depth into relationships between singles and marrieds in ministry, Sacred Siblings needs to be on your reading list. Sue Eenigenburg and Suzy Grumelot use their years of experience, coupled with survey results, to give the reader a better understanding of the issues, as well as provide practical tools that will help members thrive and be successful in the ministry to which God has called them.

BRETT SHIDELER VP, Ministry and Care Resources | People Services, Wycliffe Bible Translators USA
Sue and Suzy focus on a particular but critical kind of diversity which exists among those serving in our churches and missions organizations: married couples and singles (and secondarily, men and women). Their research has enabled them to identify areas of life in ministry in which the surveyed marrieds and singles see things differently. In addition to encouraging ministry leaders to be more aware of and consider how to respond to such differences, the authors provide numerous practical suggestions and additional resources to help cultivate better relationships on teams with both married and single members and to increase their effectiveness in the mission.

ERIC SCHLOTTMANLeadership Development and Human Resources team, Cru- Latin America and the Caribbean
Suzy and Sue show us our divergent perspectives as single and married team members and ask us to carefully reflect on several powerful questions as we serve together. We are truly sent to be ambassadors for Christ and to bring transformation; as we do, our Savior needs to be supremely evident in our relationships with one another. I’m grateful for their work in providing tangible steps for each of us to grow more in the image of Christ.

BRENT MCHUGH International Director, Christar International