Featured Short Term Mission Trips

I do not know how effective they are. I do know that sometimes they cause the local church and leaders problems. When I was working in Moscow, Russia in 2007 a Russian Baptist minister said that his church had just about recovered from the problems a group had caused in his church. He said they insisted on solving problems that they, the Russian church, did not have and this caused problems. I have not been particularly impressed by the groups I saw come through Prague the last 8 years. The most effective ones were those who worked on construction projects and in painting buildings.

I liked Ann's last comment on not trying to "reach locals as there are no long term "making disciples" in that". This is wise.

 

Sorry but don't get that whole statement...locals where? Please advise

 

I think you have to look at short term missions as both a ministry among church members and to the missionaries already there.

It's not a mission strategy for reaching the world. That requires boots on the ground missionaries who serve in the locale full time over the long haul.

 

or thessalonica? :smilewinkgrin:

 

Paul was not very successful in Athens ... in other places, yes, but not in Athens.

 

I guess it would depend on how you define success. For the people that heard about Jesus and responded, it was very successful.

 

Some wise comments so far. Kudos to those who have posted so far.

I think short term mission trips can be very effective or very disruptive. I would ask the following questions before okaying a short term trip to my field:

1. What is your purpose in visiting the mission field? (Vacation, tourism any other non-service answers are unacceptable.)
2. Are you willing to follow the missionaries' leadership?
3. Are you willing to submit to the missionaries' judgment regarding culture, language, methodology and perceived needs?
4. Are you willing to serve and not be served?

 

Glad a missionary jumped in on this! Good stuff!

 

Having been on a number myself, this is what I have come to grips with:

1. For the person who goes on the trips, it can be life-changing.

2. Depending on the task expected, it can be beneficial for the ministry receiving the attention.

3. I had come to a realization that many times the impact I personally want to make requires more of an investment than a short term project makes. It may require a year or longer...or life time investment.

4. Sometimes, the trips can cause more problems than the help they give. Sometimes not.

 

I have been on many short term trips, Never plan, always expect change, When I go I go to work for the local church and try to do all I can to support them.

 

Tom, I agree with your comment. I may be mistaken, but I do not believe that anyone responded to the message in Athens.

 

"Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them" (Acts 17:34).

 

To be honest, I think many if not most are nothing but glorified sight seeing vacations from my experience. Send a team of 10 people to assist an out of state vbs for a few hours, paint a couple of porches, and then check out the local scenery. I always wondered why a week wasn't chosen, a team assembled, funds in place, and then pray about where God would lead when the time came...or have a team that is able to leave on short notice when something happens.

 

That may be able to happen with local or state wide trips. It also happens with Disaster Relief teams. But if a team of people are going outside of the USA, there is plenty of lead time that is necessary to purchase tickets and accomodations.

I am not certain how you came up with "most" being glorified sight seeing, but the trips I have taken have not been that at all. Certainly there was a day given to see local attractions, but in my experience of taking 8-10 mission trips in the last 10 years has been that we hit the ground running. We flew into Zimbabwe expecting to have a day to get over the jet lag, but as soon as we arrived where we were staying after 20 hours of travel, we starting working in schools and then preaching at night in revivals.

Admittedly I have only my experience, maybe yours has been different.