I often hear people complain that short term missions are useless. I wonder if they’ve ever been on any, and if so, why they have the opinion they do. My thinking is that if they didn’t see results on their short term mission then the problem might not have been with the length of the mission at all, but rather with them. A girl from my church is set to leave for Russia in a few days with a ministry that goes on short term missions, and after hearing the testimonies of miraculous healings and people giving their lives to Christ from the director this afternoon, I’m convinced that short term missions can be and are in fact productive.
B”H
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I’ve been on two. I think they can be very impactful for those who go. As for those being served, it depends largely on the type of ministry (construction, medical, etc). I’d love to go somewhere for a couple of months though…
mapoulos: I’ve yet to go on any although I suspect at some point in the future I’ll go on at least one. You raise a good point about the type of ministry as well.
Nick,
My experience has been that it depends on your goal. If you are trying to help the missionaries in field, send them the money instead of spending it on the trip. However, the trips can have a huge impact on those who go, so if that’s the goal, then its worth it.
Daniel: What if the goal is to go and minister?
Gone are the days when missionaries went to the field taking along a casket and going off to where they hadn’t been previously.
Most long term missionaries today are on the field now because of a short term trip or two they went on previously.
I have been on three trips of up to 6-8 weeks in duration: Thailand (Phang Nga Province just north of Phuket inthe South) (h is silent) with YWAM DTS -8 weeks in 1994-95; The Apache Indian Rez in AZ with a Chi-Alpha group in college, 6 weeks, (summer 1997); Baguio City, Philippines, 8 weeks for a practicum in Seminary, summer 2005).
you can go for up to two years and still be a short-termer.
You may go to minister but in reality you are ministered to.
Lots of different reasons for short term trips – though some do decry them as simply Christian tourist trips/vacations – but really it can be to help the missionaries in building relationships with the nationals, to building stuff to whatever they need.
The biggest thing is never just get up and go – always consult with the missionary first to see if they want you to come or are able to set aside time to be with you when you come – it can be a bit of a burden to them if you are there unplanned or unwanted, unexpected, etc – and as I hinted at, always try to work directly with a specific missionary and do what they tell you too – it can only take a few seconds or minutes to destroy years of there work doing otherwise.
just some thoughts.
I think the problem with short-term is that if that is the only emphasis then you lose out on relationships being formed and truly understanding the culture. But, that doesn’t take away from the usefulness of short projects. It opens the eyes of many who go and shows Christianity beyond one’s own world.
Brian- it’s cool come across a fellow chi alphan. I’m pretty active in the NC State group, and I’m about go to my first SALT in a few days.
I’ll disagree with Daniel on this one (though I suspect if we flesh out what you mean, we probably don’t disagree as much as I might think). Since I work for the missions arm of a local church, I go on short term trips every summer for the specific purpose of helping long term missionaries. It is always a huge benefit for them.
The fact is that a team of 15 people can meet more locals and share the gospel with more people in a 2-week period of time than a smaller long term team can (since they actually live there and have to do things like take care of their families, run a business, etc).
Nick,
In my experience, if you are going to do a very specific job to provide resources, like putting up a building or something similar, then it can be helpful for the missionaries, but other than that most of the time it ends up being more a burden on the missionary than a help.
Danny,
I think our difference is not in missions, but in evangelism. I find the cold call “share the gospel” evangelism to usually do more harm than good, especially in cross cultural situations.
Brian:
Amen. That seems the be the general consensus from everyone I know who’s gone to the mission field.
Will: I don’t know that you’d lose out on relationships being formed on a short mission but I do suspect that truly understanding the culture takes a lot longer than building genuine relationships. And I totally agree with you on the benefits.
Mapoulos: Pardon my ignorance, but what is SALT?
Danny: I imagine it would be of great benefit to them.
Daniel: You keep talking about ‘the missionaries’ and ‘the missionary’ in terms of a long term missionary that’s already there. What if one isn’t there already and the short termers are it?
And from the testimonies I’ve heard I’m going to have to disagree with your estimation of “the cold call [to] ‘share the gospel.” I’d ask the question that I asked in the post, do you think the problem was with the sharing of the Gospel or with the people sharing it?
Nick: I am pretty sure SALT is an acronym of some sort but maybe not. Here is more info: http://www.chialpha.com/events/salt/
Daniel: Interesting. I’d be interested to know what cross-cultural situations you’ve been in that you’ve found “cold call” to be unhelpful. In my experience, talking about religion/faith with complete strangers is actually a fairly common aspect of some cultures. In fact, I’ve been in numerous situations where others were the ones to bring their religion up to me in effort to “evangelize” me (though they wouldn’t use that term).
Brian: Thanks for the link. Your comment just got caught in the spam filter. Probably because of the link.
Danny: That’s interesting and not all that surprising. I’ve not discussed religion with people in other countries, but I have discussed it with people from other countries, and many times they’ve initiated the conversations.
Well, in some places, it is dangerous to tell people you are a missionary – either it gets you killed or it shuts the door the possibility of building friendships with people.
In Asia for example, Christianity is seen as the white man’s or foreigner’s gospel so you have to tackle it from different angles. For example if you went to Thailand and told people you were religious teacher that would be the end of your trip – but if you say you are an English teacher you get invited to their house for dinner and the rest is a matter of time.
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People accuse them of going to sight see and al sorts of other things. I’ve known many who went on these trips and none were for any illegitimate reasons at all. There was a need the locals couldn’t meet so they went and met that need and spread the gospel or helped build and/or strengthen a church. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
Jeff
One short term I did was Wycliffe’s Discovery Program. In terms of showing those who went what Africa is like and what Wycliffe is all about, it was very valuable. In terms of serving the missionaries, not so much. I believe Wycliffe provided funds for them hosting us, for the food and such. I don’t think they did a good job making us understand the burden we could be on our hosts, though — or maybe that was our own fault for not getting that.
Another one I did twice was a group in the Czech Republic that did English camps for high school and college students. Looking back on this one I regret that the evangelistic aspect was hidden — if I’d been one of those kids, or their parent, I would deeply resent that — I don’t mind so much if you want to persuade me that you know something I should know — but I DO mind if you try to trick me into attending that lecture. The old bait and switch.
Steve Saint’s excellent Missions Dilemma DVD discussion series provides great insight into the problems and benefits of Short Term Missions. It is compulsory viewing for our missions mobilisers and short-term team leaders.
Like Brian, many of the long term missionaries I’ve met started with a short term project.
I’ve seen youth go on trips and come back radically changed. I’ve seen others that meerly enjoyed the experience.
I’ve heard missionaries speak to the ways they were helped by short term folks rotating in and out through building programs, outreach events, conferences. I don’t ever think we can sell short how God might use us even if we don’t want to be used.
Brian: No doubt it’s dangerous in some places to say you’re a missionary, but I imagine that people going into those areas know ahead of time who to talk to about it and who not to. If not then God help them!
Jeff: I’m with you!
Marcy: Very interesting. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Eddie: Thanks for the DVD recommendation. Do you have a link to where it can be purchased?
Bitsy: Amen. My line of thinking is that if God can save 3,000+ people in one day from a single sermon that Peter preached, then he can do some miraculous stuff on a short term mission.
Wow…lots to talk about…
I’m on the mission field because I went on a short-term trip to Russia in 1998 and Taiwan in 2000. I ended up going on a new one every year and finally my wife and I decided to put off our studies and answer God’s calling to the mission field. So in this regard, short term mission trips are great for people if it leads them to a life of service.
They are also extremely helpful in some other regards. I’ve got a few other families meeting together right now, but there are lots of projects we would like to do for our community that we can’t do on our own. Having a group of 10 extra hands for a week would help greatly toward that end.
Now, how do they go bad? Whenever people are coming not to serve but to be served. Whenever people view their trips as vacation. I know a guy up in Penang (very Western city in Malaysia) who had a group come who would literally refuse to eat any food that was prepared or offered to them by locals (except for one guy); who visciously refused to even try Durian; who claimed it was too hot to work during the days; and spent every evening eating at Chili’s and Friday’s. I can’t tell you how frustrating this attitude is not only to the missionary, but to the local believers.
This is actually a negative of living in Malaysia/Singapore (and this includes major cities like Bangkok, Jakarta or any major city in China). Western things are so available that shorttermers tend to go to the Western stuff where there are far less locals (usually due to prices).
Brian,
“For example if you went to Thailand and told people you were religious teacher that would be the end of your trip”
Actually just about everyone I know serving in Thailand is on a missionary visa. The country is very open to missionaries, especially in the south. If you live in the north among some of the hill tribes or with the Laotian/Northern Thai, then you shouldn’t proclaim that you’re a missionary…although being a white person teaching English in the north kinda gives it away, haha.
It’s in Myanmar, Laos, North Vietnam (not as much in the south), parts of Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia that people need to have a good platform for their ministry. Thailand (for the most part), Singapore, parts of Malaysia and the Philippines (obviously) are extremely open.
Brian,
Also I actually know some missionaries in Thailand who have been able to access monasteries and even setup weekly teaching sessions because the monks were interested in hearing a new teaching from a religious teacher…so sometimes its better to just say you’re a missionary. This has been very effective in Chiang Mai where there are lots of missionaries due to it being an easy access location.
Ranger, I stand corrected. My experience and impression had been that generally in buddhist countries they are open to foriengers but not always the foreigners God – but I was in Thailand last in 1995 so thing could have changed a lot since then.
I am glad you have been obedient to the call! May others follow!
Ranger: Thanks for the testimony. It always help to hear from someone presently in the field. And I think you summed it up perfectly (as did Brian much earlier) when you say that things go wrong when you go to be served rather than to serve.
On the durian fruit though I can understand the protestation. It’s a vile and wicked creation that I’m not sure was ever meant for consumption! ;-)
Great to see so much discussion here.
Some thoughts:
Partnership – If the local church and missionaries want you to go, then go. If they don’t then you are just pushing your own agenda. It’s important to remember you are SERVING.
Vision casting – Hopefully one outcome to a short term trip, will be a greater vision for missions. It happened to me. I went on 2 short term trips and I am hooked. I’ve been with OM full time for 10 years. I now mobilize others to join the great adventure (aka Great Commission). Even if they never go again, if they are open to God’s leading, they will at least be more compassionate and be praying and giving to world missions.
OM Founder, George Verwer wrote this short article 10 Short Termers We Don’t Want
If you don’t fit these 10 then check out these short term mission trips.
OM USA: Thanks for your thoughts and the links.