Short-Term Missions #1
Various explanations abound about why to go on a short-term mission trip. Some reasons are emotionally charged. Others stem from a basic desire to help people.
I am a proponent of short-term missions, but I think churches need to carefully consider the purpose of these trips. Churches need to be good stewards, and the cost of some short-term work necessitates a thoughtful evaluation of goals, needs and resources. Also, poorly identified goals cause a church to miss opportunities for the deep transformation of lives both at home and abroad.
For example, let's say that a church group wants wants to build a house in Mexico. The folks who help raise and administer missions funding need to ask what the #1 priority is. If the goal is only to build a house, then can we say that the best and most effective approach is to send a team of 25 teens with chaperones to build that house? My answer is "no." If house-building is the primary goal, then more houses could be built more effectively and efficiently by local builders rather than by a team of amateur hammer-swingers from the US. Plus, this would give work to local construction crews. Money should simply be sent to some local organization that will build the house, perhaps delivered by a team of two or three who create and report on a sense of partnership with those who will conduct the charitable work of house-building.
But I doubt this is what most folks have in mind. Why? Because in truth, house-building is not the main goal of their short-term trips. When viewed through the lens of effectiveness and efficiency, folks might begin to admit that the purpose of a house-building trip is about more than building houses. A mission group's leadership might hone its goals and recognize that the primary work of the trip is something else. Instead, the spiritual transformation of American Christians is likely the main goal--even though this may often be unspoken and unrecognized. As American Christians go and do manual labor in a cross-cultural setting, they learn about God and the world. And when properly fostered and guided by church leaders, this trip possibly enriches their Christian walk back in the States.
I'll say more about this later.
I am a proponent of short-term missions, but I think churches need to carefully consider the purpose of these trips. Churches need to be good stewards, and the cost of some short-term work necessitates a thoughtful evaluation of goals, needs and resources. Also, poorly identified goals cause a church to miss opportunities for the deep transformation of lives both at home and abroad.
For example, let's say that a church group wants wants to build a house in Mexico. The folks who help raise and administer missions funding need to ask what the #1 priority is. If the goal is only to build a house, then can we say that the best and most effective approach is to send a team of 25 teens with chaperones to build that house? My answer is "no." If house-building is the primary goal, then more houses could be built more effectively and efficiently by local builders rather than by a team of amateur hammer-swingers from the US. Plus, this would give work to local construction crews. Money should simply be sent to some local organization that will build the house, perhaps delivered by a team of two or three who create and report on a sense of partnership with those who will conduct the charitable work of house-building.
But I doubt this is what most folks have in mind. Why? Because in truth, house-building is not the main goal of their short-term trips. When viewed through the lens of effectiveness and efficiency, folks might begin to admit that the purpose of a house-building trip is about more than building houses. A mission group's leadership might hone its goals and recognize that the primary work of the trip is something else. Instead, the spiritual transformation of American Christians is likely the main goal--even though this may often be unspoken and unrecognized. As American Christians go and do manual labor in a cross-cultural setting, they learn about God and the world. And when properly fostered and guided by church leaders, this trip possibly enriches their Christian walk back in the States.
I'll say more about this later.
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