Missions & Outreach
The Impact of Short Term Missions
Whereas opinions vary as to the purpose and effectiveness of short-term missions, our ministry has found short-term missions to be a highly effective tool for building the Kingdom of God. Rather than employing a hit-and-run style of short-term missions, our goal is to build ongoing relationships with long-term missionaries. By doing this, the long-term missionaries are able to use our short-term missionaries as a resource for accomplishing their goals in their respective locales. If used rightly, short-term missionaries can produce long-lasting fruit for God's Kingdom.
Take this particular case-study for example. Currently, our church has a long-term relationship with a missions organization in Cote d'Ivoire. We send short-term missionaries to that country every summer for a brief 2.5 weeks to work along with the long-term missionaries and local native pastors. The long-term missionaries have told me that short-term missionaries are extremely valuable, and without them, their ministry would be crippled. Here are the list of benefits he enumerated. (1) Long-term missionaries tend to burn-out. They need periodic partners to revive them and to give them new ideas and energy. (2) Oftentimes, it is through short-term missionaries that long-term missionaries are found. (3) Short-term missionaries give them resources to do large events on a yearly basis. During our summer trips, short-term missionaries (about 50-100 at a time) visit several different local villages holding revivals, medical clinics, VBS, street evangelism, and so on. He says not only do the locals look forward to these large-scale events, but these events produce a 30% jump in converts in the local churches. This jump lasts through the year. (4) Also, the money raised by the short-term missionaries is used to plant churches and community centers and seminaries. Currently, that organization has planted one seminary and 40+ churches in that country, some of them through the efforts of short-term missionaries. Through these churches and seminaries, native Ivorians are trained as pastors. These pastors then go plant their own village churches. Further, the seminary has trained people from various other African countries. It seems that the entirety of West Africa could very well be effected by this organization and their partnership with short-term missionaries. (5) Short-term missionaries are extremely effective at raising awareness on behalf of long-term missionaries and their causes.
Of course, short-term mission work is not always the most efficient use of money or resources. But, this alone should not be the basis of throwing them out altogether. There is always a more efficient way to do something. But biblically speaking it seems that God is not really all about efficiency. In fact, in the Bible, God seems quite lavish and oftentimes "foolish" about the way He goes about using resources and people for His Kingdom. If we understand God to love His lost sheep and if we understand the nature of love, I think it's reasonable to say that sometimes God throws efficiency out the window. Stewardship is important, but stewardship can also become idolatrous and hinder God's plans of love. (i.e. What would we say to the shepherd who left the 99 other sheep?)
We firmly believe that a sizable portion of the funding should come from the short-term missionaries. But we do believe there is significant value in asking people to partner with us in prayer and financially. If done right, this is a way for people here who cannot go on missions to be a part of this work - we are partnering with them.
Our ministry understands that short-term missions have been abused and are used as a badge of accomplishment by many. And it is true short-term mission trips can be used by Christians as a glorified vacation or an antidepressant. (Though, sometimes God seems to condone this in Isaiah 58.) But if done right, and by the reasons listed above, we firmly believe and we have seen first-hand that short-term missions are extremely valuable.
We also aim to send long-term missionaries to various countries spanning the globe. By raising disciples through short-term missions, some of them will be trained and sent for longer term ministries. This calling will be evaluated carefully. Once a calling is confirmed, rigorous training would ensue and they would eventually be sent (and supported). Such missionaries will be supervised carefully by our missions board, and their work will be reported regularly to the sending organizations and congregations.