Photo by aussiegall

By Priscilla Chen

I am currently on a sabbatical and have been spending a lot of time with family as a result.  I’m realizing that the people I thought I knew best and loved the most have all changed and grown since I left home several years ago.  This sudden myopic distance has caused me to magnify their faults and I’m realizing that I need to return to the most basic lesson: how to love God and others.

I am a conflict-avoider, but living at home again has forced me to confront our personality differences. I am slowly realizing that in order to do better ministry, I need to change as a minister.  What I need is not the latest strategy, outreach material or language lesson (although those all help).  I need to grow in my capacity to love others, and that needs to begin in my most intimate relationships, with my family.  I’ve been coming to realize that if don’t face my issues with my family, there will be glaring blind spots in my other relationships.  On the other hand, a practiced deeper level of love and acceptance will hopefully spill over into my other relationships, resulting in a greater ability to convey Christ’s love to all those around me, including the students I hope to serve.

Priscilla Chen is a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ to college students in Asia, currently on sabbatical after seven years in ministry.  Her favorite food is Quaker oatmeal squares, and her hobbies include tennis and cooking (or to be more precise, eating other people’s cooking!). Priscilla is Chinese American, born and raised in New Jersey, with a BA in Music from Cornell University.