Doing Missions the Right Way - Part 7

Doing short-term missions is like an art. There are good and bad ways to do it. In the last six posts, I have discussed various issues relating to short-term missions. There are a lot of trips that can be poorly planned and executed. But of course, there are so many great things that happen as a result of short-term missions.

I believe one of the best ways to solve some of the problems with short-term missions is proper training. Teams should have many meetings before and after the trip. Big issues with short-term missions should be discussed, so people go into it and out of it with the right mindset. With this training, people still may miss the big picture, but they will be more likely to miss it without any of this training.

It is not a bad thing to require people to research, read some books, study the Bible, and pray before they decide to go on a short-term missions trip. So many people approach short-term missions now as tourism. This isn't a trip to just shop and take pretty pictures for your Instagram. Sure, some of that may take place, but that isn't what the trip is about. "Voluntourism," or so they call it, isn't what short-term missions should be.

Big picture discussions should take place, so that your trip provides a sustainable solution to someone facing poverty. A great short-term missions trip partners with the local people, so you can provide support, but not tell them the way to do everything. Creating a partnership between your church and a local church is a great way to minister to another country. In this way, you can support a church who can reach out to more people within the community that you may not be able to connect with.

We should make sure to pick projects that aren't taking jobs away from local people. Listen to the long-term missions organization on what they need, as they usually know how to face the situation best. Many people approach missions thinking they might know how they can best help. However, people who have been in the community for longer periods of time will know the best solutions.

The title of these trips, short-term missions, should also be put into consideration. Should we call them missions? We can't do a missionary's job in a week. We can't even do it in months. I think it takes away from the great work of missionaries, when we start to call these one- to two-week trips "missions." I don't consider myself a missionary, because doing what an effective missionary does takes years. Maybe we should start titling these trips something different, like "help trips" or "personal awakenings." Because in reality, that's what these trips are. We often help for a short time with a small project, and personally, our eyes are opened to the problems people face around the world. Missions just doesn't happen with a snap of a finger (or in a week). It takes time.

There are a lot of great missions organizations out there. Most of them understand the issues and problems facing short-term trips. But these are problems that take a lot of work and thought to solve. A lot of people within the church don't want to have these conversations. It hurts to hear that we might not actually be helping the community as much as we think we are. It hurts to hear that we don't always make a big difference in the lives of others. We like the satisfaction of feeling like there was progress made and lives changed. But when you don't see the after-effects of these trips, you really don't know what impact you made, whether good or bad. So yes, this topic hurts. But it is oh so important. If we want to really make a difference and have effective missions, we must talk about this.