Re-Thinking Short Term Missions

Good news. Through the recent emphasis on short-term missions more people are aware of missions by actually going and experiencing for themselves what it means to minister cross-culturally. Now that has to be good.

Bad news. While I am thrilled to see greater numbers involved in missions, I know of some short-termers doing more harm than they do good. In my 27 years as a missionary I have many accounts where more good would have been done if they had sent the money and stayed home, simply because they lacked a valid strategy. So as I see it, we have fixed one problem of anemic involvement and created another – a lack of strategic involvement.

A few years ago the G-8 Leaders of the world met in Scotland and hordes of young adults descended on London (and other cities of the world) to make a statement against poverty. They said they wanted the G-8 leaders to “make poverty history in Africa.” They sponsored the world’s largest rock concert where they were entertained by their best bands and then marched in the streets demanding the G-8 commit more money to relief in Africa. I imagine that most returned back to their homes feeling good about their participation and that they had done something useful on behalf of Africa’s suffering.

Did any of them actually go to Africa and work among the impoverished? Did they take some of their own money and sponsor self-help ventures that would assist the poor to feed themselves? No, they entertained themselves and patted themselves on the back for doing something against poverty in the world.

In our short-term missions ventures we take similar tactics. While it is good to see more people active in missions I wonder if a major part of our efforts are spent in things that entertain us in our going more than contribute to the needs of those we go to for ministry. What seems to be happening is that our churches are cutting back their funding of long-term missions so as to provide for more involvement in short-term missions. Teams are being sent for usually one or two week ventures, some longer, but at the cost of tens of thousands of dollars. And what do they do? I’ve seen teams help with a VBS program in Bolivia – they poured soft drinks while the Bolivians taught the lessons. Others have worked hard at laying bricks and pouring cement -- at about ten times the cost of hiring local help to do the same job.

In a church I attended a group of about 20 high school students returned from a short-term missions trip to Russia. As they gave their report to the congregation we mainly heard how bad was the flight and how they disliked the food once they got there. $40,000 spent and that was the return on our investment.

Am I against sending teams to other countries for a missions experience? No, I want to see more people experience the challenge of living and ministering in another culture. It is the best way to recruit prayer support for the Great Commission and studies show that the vast majority of long-term missionaries have had some form of short-term missions experience. I recognize the value that it can have. And sometimes the best option for achieving that is to send teams to lay bricks and pour lemonade.

But there may be a better way to do short-term missions. For me there are three principles that should guide our activities:

1. Do what they can’t do for themselves.

I speak of the ideal, recognizing that it is not always possible, but we still need to push for the ideal. For short-term missions our assignment needs to be doing what nationals in the host country cannot do because of lack of training or experience, or will not do because of lack of vision.

For example, in Africa the Fulanis are herdsmen and have often been mistreated by the ruling people group. So when their government veterinarians come to vaccinate their cattle they do not trust them. But when a foreign veterinarian comes to assist them they respect them and listen to what they have to say. In this case a Christian foreigner will have more acceptability than a Christian national.

In the Philippines I learned of one ministry to street children had to be started by foreigners because national Christians lacked the vision for reaching these kinds of children. However, once it was started then nationals picked up the vision.

What are some of the activities short-term missions could do? Conduct specialized help ministries or create impact by focusing on a particular need such as street children which can be carried on by long-term workers or the national church after the short-termers leave.

A very strategic ministry is teaching English. The world of young adults is clamoring to learn English and they prefer to learn it from a North American. One of my missionary assignments was in Ethiopia. This country has three official languages – Amharic, Oromo, and English. All upper level education is done in English yet their English teachers struggle with pronunciation. When we brought in a team of college students to run an English camp we had no trouble filling it with non-believers because of the great desire to learn English from a North American speaker. There are many similar opportunities around the world today and it gives us a tremendous door opener for the gospel.

What could short-termers do? Visit the universities to talk to students, conduct an English conversation camp where your small group conversations discuss values for life. The list could go on with possibilities that are unique to you as an outsider.

2. Do what contributes to a larger strategy.

Over my years I have seen many groups come and leave – heard the reports that make it sound like they have revolutionized the country. The fact is, most are forgotten within a month. We all want to believe that the masses will come to Christ, that we will have made their lives better, etc. etc. And we should desire that because that is God’s desire, but we often get caught believing our own publicity.

A dose of reality is that much of what we do in our short-term ventures have short-term results. Does that make it worthless? No! It only points to the need to relate whatever we do to a long-term strategy. Usually that means seeing our short-term missions as impact teams that support ministries that will go the long haul (whether missionary or national church). That is where real value comes.

That means if we cannot relate our venture to a bigger strategy – either something that is already in place or the initiation of a strategy that has a way of continuing – then we should not do it. Just to serve our needs or to ‘experience missions’ is a sub-standard motivation.

But if we come with a mentality of serving the church in a particular region of the world and trying to fit their agenda, then we will have learned the true heart of a missionary.

3. Do what gives the most empathy for their situation.

I recognize that every group cannot live under the same hardship or face the same environments. But I think that sometimes our short-term missions ventures resemble vacation packages rather than sacrificial challenges. For some I think the promotion could almost be – “See the world! Experience exotic foods and people! Leave behind that boring summer job while having someone else pay your way! Go on our missions trip!”

Now doing a missions venture in another culture will do all of those things, but I fear that some, in trying to find new recruits, have made things too easy. The fact is that when you commit to living in a difficult part of the world ‘It ain’t easy.’ Culture shock is a reality. However, feeling one’s weaknesses and lack of abilities is a necessary part of learning to be used by God.

So I say, short-term teams need to experience some hardship – they need a boot camp more than luxury vacation. Don’t be afraid to let them sleep on the floor or eat national foods. Yes, there are American hotels and foods in most places of the world but one should not go to another country to experience American culture or to constantly be on the phone to parents or friends back home. That is the great benefit of short-term missions. The couple weeks is like being in a simulation bubble – so one should try to experience as much of the reality as possible.

Do I sound negative about short-term missions? I hope not. I think there are many good things being accomplished by churches’ efforts in this area. But I also think that many areas of our missions effort are broken and need fixing. Most of the issues revolve around one word – ‘strategic.’ How can we be more strategic in using short-term teams? When I see churches cutting their long-term commitments to fund short-term ventures I wonder if their motivation is to be strategic in ministry – where it will do more good – or if it is the desire of getting more people into their church program – make themselves feel good. Maybe that’s unfair, but we need to ask the hard questions if we are going to be effective in our overall venture of fulfilling the Great Commission.

Arnell Motz

Bio:

Arnell Motz served as executive director of SIM Canada, then senior pastor of the International Evangelical Church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and church planting pastor of the Cochabamba International Church in Bolivia.

© Arnell Motz, 2012