By Ken Guenther, SEND U — Is stress, even cross-cultural stress, always a bad thing?

Too much stress for too long a period is unhelpful and destructive. In his book, " Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, " Dr. Richard Swenson argues for the need for margin, “the space between our load and our limits. It is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed.”

So much of missionary life and ministry is not scheduled, particularly in cultures that are not as structured and time-oriented as the West. Cross-cultural living itself is stressful and often exhausting. Therefore, it is essential for long-term fruitful service that missionaries set realistic expectations and keep a reserve of their emotional, physical, financial, and time resources.

Those of us who firmly believe in the value of margins are learning to say “no” to ministry opportunities that we feel we cannot add to our already busy schedules. We have emphasized the importance of Sabbaths and vacation time and family times. We make sure that there is “white space” in our weekly calendars. We have even given ourselves permission to occasionally take naps in the middle of the day!

But upon further reflection, I have come to believe that holding these margins too rigidly can actually negatively impact our growth and development—and in the long run prevent our capacity from expanding. For our own good, it seems to me that we need to plan to push ourselves to use that reserve every once in a while.

Please don’t misunderstand me here. I still believe it is wise and important to make sure we have time for rest, Sabbath, and our families. But we must not avoid all stress at all costs. I am afraid that far too often I say “no” to an opportunity simply because it will stretch me beyond my comfort zone. I need to be stretched if I am to grow.

Just like running …

I see many parallels to physical training. When I started running (again) in 2009 after knee surgery, I was not able to run more than a kilometer before being totally exhausted. Over the period of a couple of months, I was able to extend that to almost 5 kilometers. I felt quite satisfied with that. After all, I was not a serious runner and I already was in my late 40s. This was already further than the distances that I had run in college. So for four years I plateaued, running the same distance three times a week, just to keep in shape.

But then a few years ago, a good friend of mine challenged me to run a half-marathon. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually I started training for longer distances. In 2012, I ran my first 10K. The following spring, I made it to 15 kilometers a few times. On a trip to Minneapolis, I reached a distance of 17.7 kilometers (11 miles) one morning, totally beat, but exhilarated. Finally, the day came when I was able to run 21.1 kilometers, the distance of a half-marathon. Each time, I was totally exhausted and could not imagine running any further. But after a day of rest, I went out running again, as the training plan stipulated. Every few weeks that long run would be extended by a kilometer or two as my capacity grew.

Capacity increases over time as we push ourselves to higher goals. In my physical training, I discovered what has been called the principle of progressive overload, which says that results come when our body is worked harder than it is used to. As the body adapts to each new level, the training should progressively increase.

You only realize results when you push yourself to work at a greater level (faster, longer, heavier) than your body is normally accustomed to working. You only see development in your physical capacity if you go beyond your point of discomfort on a regular basis.

But this process of extending ourselves needs to be balanced with regular times of rest and restoration. Too much stress, and you injure yourself. You need to return to the “comfort zone” after a period of stress so that strength can be restored. In fact, these rest periods are the times when the body rebuilds those tissues with greater capacity than they had before.

Stress in Scripture

Is this not also true in our spiritual lives and in our ministries? Unless we step beyond that which we can do comfortably and easily, we will not grow and develop in our faith. Isn’t this the story of Hebrews 11?

Each of these verses points to a story that was very stressful for the person being tested. But as these heroes of faith stepped beyond their point of discomfort in obedience to God, they discovered that God was faithful and had given them the capacity to do that which they could not have done before.

So I would argue that we regularly need to step into our “margin zone,” while being careful not to stay there too long. Too much stress for too long a period is unhelpful and destructive, just as in physical training. But if we never step out of the comfort zone, we will plateau and never see our capacity develop to the levels of which we are capable.

There is great value in regularly stepping outside of our comfort zones and doing that which is slightly beyond what we can do in our own strength, then stepping back for rest and rebuilding. Fortunately, in cross-cultural ministry, where we function in another language and culture, opportunities abound for us to step outside of our comfort zones. We just need to make sure that we don’t say “no” to all these growth opportunities.

What are you doing these days that pushes you out of your comfort zone?

Originally posted on the SEND U blog. SEND U is SEND International’s department dedicated to lifelong learning.