There is already a plethora of information and advice online for the general public about COVID-19 and its effects, like for protecting yourself from infection, keeping in touch with family and friends, home working and conducting meetings (including church!). For the purposes of this article we have collected together a range of resources and advice specifically of use to mission workers during this crisis and grouped them under subject heading. We hope that some of this will be helpful to you.
Health
If you are in a place where support and advice is lacking when you get sick, there are, along with all the official health advice online from the UK, a number of health services online which can supplement your support.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/resources/health
Thrive Worldwide has been providing covid-19 health related resources geared for mission workers.
See https://www.thrive-worldwide.org/covid-resources
For remote health support, HealthLink360 have a range of remote services operating.
See https://www.healthlink360.org
Dr Ted Lankester is answering questions via the Arukah Network blog for anyone with concerns about COVID-19 related issues.
See https://www.arukahnetwork.org/post/060420
The NHS will provide free COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment for any mission workers back in the UK.
Travel
If you are still trying to return to the UK from overseas or travel regionally, keep in touch with official information from the FCO about any flights and advice.
See https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice
For any other international travel issues, Key Travel's COVID-19 hub is providing support.
See https://covid19.keytravel.com
If, as the lockdown eases, you need a car temporarily in the UK, Ichthus Motor Services or Syzygy may be able to help.
Quarantine
The general advice seems to be that if you have returned from outside the UK you should quarantine (self-isolate) yourself for 14 days. If you start to show any coronavirus symptoms, you should quarantine yourself at least 14 days from that point.
See https://oscaractive.ning.com/forum/topics/new-coronavirus-challenges-in-mission
UK Accommodation
If you find yourself unexpectedly back in the UK and in need of temporary accommodation, check out OSCAR's directory.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/resources/practical/accommodation/uk-accommodation
Alternatively, add a request for accommodation to our MessageBoard in OSCARactive
Crisis Management
OSCAR's Crisis Management section has links to advice and resources for handling any kind of crisis, including around the topics of risk, health and safety.
Finance
For those on personal support who are registered as self-employed in the UK, the Self-employment Income Support Scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of your trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 per month for 3 months. This may be extended if needed. Also tax payments due on the 31 July 2020 may be deferred until 31 January 2021.
See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/covid-19-support-for-businesses#support-for-self-employed-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme
For those employed by a UK organisation (including charities) with a PAYE scheme, the Job Retention Scheme is available for those employers to access support to continue paying part of their employees’ salary for those that would otherwise have been laid off during this crisis.
For info on all government finance help during the COVID-19 crisis, see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19
We would also advise those on personal support to communicate with your supporters to keep them informed of your situation so they can continue to support you in different ways through this time. Some churches are setting up 'covid-19' related financial support schemes so if you are adversely affected financially this may be worth exploring.
Insurance
Check your health/travel insurance cover for specifics.
SALT Insurance issued some FAQs for its clients that might also prove useful for others.
See https://www.saltinsurance.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Salt-FAQs-Corona-virus-31-March-2020.pdf
Talent Trust Consultants are providing full medical COVID-19 insurance cover and support for its members.
See https://talent-trust.com/documents/News2020.03/covid.htm
Access Insurance has been providing advice for charities about their insurance, plus they have collated a useful list of financial information and resources for charities.
See https://www.accessinsurance.co.uk/news
Note, as before, that the NHS provides free emergency treatment including COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment for any mission workers back in the UK.
Home Schooling
A big challenge for families is the continuation of schooling for children whilst in isolation. The mission and expat community have been using homeschool resources for years, so you can tap into all of these resources.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/resources/children/childrens-education
Training & Events
If you are isolated at home, now might be a good time to consider an online course to improve your skills and knowledge.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/resources/training-development
Many mission events and training courses are going online too. OSCAR's events section has an increasing number of them listed.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/events
Here are some useful debriefing resources: https://www.returningwell.com/resources.html
Job Hunting
If you are out of work, want to offer temporary help or if this crisis causes you to change your focus and decide to work in a different area, keep an eye on the various Christian job/opportunity sites for current and emerging roles.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/resources/exploring-vocation/vacancy-agents
Pastoral Support
There are many member care, pastoral and counselling services provided online, so don’t suffer in isolation if you need outside support.
See https://www.oscar.org.uk/resources/pastoral-spiritual
This special COVID-19 edition of the Spiritual First Aid Manual is FREE: https://www.spiritualfirstaidhub.com
OSCARactive: A Community of Mission Workers
You can interact with over 700 people through OSCAR’s newly updated online community, OSCARactive, so you should never feel alone or without advice about your particular mission-related challenges.
See https://oscaractive.ning.com
Pray
Operation World are adding urgent COVID-related prayers to their website so all can intercess for the nations on this issue.
See http://covid-19.operationworld.org
Global Connections World Prayer News includes prayer requests from mission organisations, many of which in recent days have been about the coronavirus.
See https://www.globalconnections.org.uk/prayer
CMF have produced a 7 day guide to help pray for healthcare workers.
See http://admin.cmf.org.uk/pdf/CMF-healthcare_worker_prayer_guidef.pdf
Keep Serving
This helpful article gives some pointers about how we can continue to serve in a pandemic.
See https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/chinasource-blog-posts/serving-effectively-in-the-face-of-a-pandemic
Revised and expanded 29/04/20
