Short Term Mission Trips: Why You Should Go

"I can talk until I'm blue in the face about setting our sights on the nations, but until someone actually goes and see the nations in person, he or she is likely to underestimate the urgency of God's global purpose in their lives." ~David Platt 

Amen! Recently, I've seen several articles bashing short-term mission trips.  I thought maybe I was just not seeing the positive ones because I hadn't looked for them, so I did a quick Google search: "short-term mission trips." Of the first five links, three were negative posts.  Two actually discouraged anyone from going on short-term mission trips in their titles:  "If you're signed up for a short-term mission trip this summer, please just don't go." And the other, "Why you should consider cancelling your short-term mission trip." Honestly, I was floored at this perspective of short-term mission trips.  I've gone on them as a young student; I've led them as a youth leader; we've served as a family; and we'll be hosting our first team as missionaries later this year.  So, I began reading.  I began asking some questions:

• What is wrong with short-term missions?
• What is right with short-term missions?
• Are they helpful for the missionaries or do they hinder missions?
• Do they do more harm than good for the people whom they are serving?

Thankfully, I received some positive feedback from these questions.  And, I've seen some great blogs on how to do short-term missions well.  I'll provide those links, but my purpose isn't to tell you how to do it better or why it's not working--there are MANY authors who've researched a lot more than I have that can and have already done that.  I want to share how short-term missions impacted my life and led me to where I am today: a full-time missionary in Mexico.

Samara, Russia.  My first mission trip.

It was 1994; only three years after the "Iron Curtain" fell.  I was 16 years old, and my parents trusted Score International and Encounter Revival Ministries enough to put me on a plane to Russia for my first mission trip.  My first-ever flight.  We flew from NC to NYC then on to Moscow, Russia.  We explored Moscow, then took a 20-hour train trip south to Samara. I had to raise my own support: I wasn't part of a church group going and we didn't have fundraisers.  I had to wear dresses every day.  I learned a few cultural faux pas.  I ate some things (even to do this day, I'm not sure what they were.)  I learned a few Russian phrases and I bought a few souvenirs to bring back home.  I was expecting most of those things; but I wasn't expecting the life-changing moments God used to change my worldview.

Partnership in Ministry.  My church got behind me and sent me off on this mission trip.  They funded this trip, and when I returned, my pastor allowed me to share.  I was scared to death: a 16-year-old "kid" who had never spoken in front of the church like that before.  It was my first experience understanding how missionaries were able to do their work and the importance of reporting back to their church.

The surreal experience.  I was able to tour Moscow.  Moscow, Russia.  At 16 years old. I took a boat ride on the Volga River.  How awesome is that?  I saw the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral.  And, yes, I took pictures.  You know what else I saw?  People in a village waiting for us to arrive because they heard we were bringing Bibles.  Children playing with toothbrushes still in the packets like swords because they didn't even know what they were.  People hungry for God's Word.  People hungry for the Gospel.  A church building that didn't even look like a "typical church building" because they couldn't.

Want to know what I remember most?  Cold showers.  No ice.  (Luxuries I take for granted.)  But, two moments are still in my memory as vividly as it was yesterday:  a woman who gave me a piece of chocolate after I gave my testimony and the Sunday morning church service.  That piece of chocolate was one of the sweetest and greatest gifts I've ever received, because it was an expression of sacrificial love.  And that Sunday morning gave me my first glimpse of Heaven:  singing hymns in different languages.  The same song.  The same praise. In different tongues.  Thank God for this short-term mission opportunity.

The United States and Lisbon, Portugal.

That's my 18-year-old self on the bottom right.  And I married that handsome guy on the top left.
Photo Credit: Encounter Revival Ministries
https://www.facebook.com/encounterrevival/

Between high school and college, I traveled with a ministry team around the US.  We were in a different church/school each week.  I got to see as much of the US as I could (I probably slept a lot!)  I had to fit all of my belongings in a suitcase or two and a small "closet" on the bus.  I had to eat what was prepared for me, sleep wherever a bed was provided, and participate in ministries that stretched me as an individual (and I didn't always get that right!) But, you know what I also got to do?  Take another short-term mission trip to Lisbon, Portugal.  Make family around the states.  See host families grow in Christ as we would return different times throughout the year.  Learn to rely on God for my support.  Realize what purpose God intended for me when I did pursue college. Meet my future husband.  Thank God for this short-term mission opportunity.

Michigan, Florida, New York.
Now, I'm the one helping and chaperoning mission trips for the youth groups for which my husband and I served at our local church.  And, no, they weren't always easy.  There were many frustrating times and moments. But, there were some great memories made and teenagers impacted to live for Christ.  And, if nothing else, a teenager chose to serve for a week as opposed to taking a vacation or sleeping or watching TV.  For at least one week, they put others before themselves.  And God worked in their lives.  Thank God for these short-term mission opportunities and the teenagers who chose to serve.

Partnerships.
Being exposed and participating in mission trips at an early age gave me a vision and desire to partner with missionaries. Since early on in our marriage, my husband and I have supported missionaries. As missionaries, we prayed God would continue to allow us to support those we've been supporting for years.  He not only allowed that to happen, but He's also allowed us to support even more missionaries here on the field.

Mexico.

Then...

After serving the Lord in our local churches and secular jobs for almost 20 years, God moved in the heart of my husband.  He felt called to serve with a missionary we knew in Mexico.  A missionary for whom my father had served on a short-term team from our church and our church had supported for many years. We first came as a family in 2014.  We spent a week and simply went with the missionary everywhere they went to see what they did.   My husband preached and I took pictures and video.  The purpose was to create a video presentation for the missionary's sending and supporting churches about his ministry here in Mexico.  I was very nervous that week and really wasn't sure if I could do this.  I even told God the first two days we were here: "I cannot do this.  Please do not send us here."  But, then, day three came.  We visited a little mountain town and saw where my dad built that church 14 years prior.  My heart turned.  I thought: "This is where we're going to serve one day." Fast forward four years later...we're serving in that town, among others here in Mexico.  We're helping a national pastor with two different churches in that same area I knew God had pulled me to four earlier.  In just a few months, we'll be hosting our first short-term mission team.  They plan to help us visit the people in those two communities where we are praying God would grow the local church congregations.  The missionaries and the pastor can't visit everyone in two towns by themselves, as well as serve the 25 other churches with which God has charged us.  We are thankful this team feels led to serve here and can't wait to have them be a part of what God is doing.  Thank God for these short-term mission opportunities.

Now.

So, if you have an opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip, GO! Go and soak in every bit of your time.  Soak in time with the missionary and glean from what they can teach you.  Soak in time with the people and learn "stuff" isn't what makes one blessed.  Soak in the time serving others.  Soak in the God who gave you the opportunity to serve Him in this way. Soak in the sights and sounds of another beautiful place with beautiful people.  Soak in how you have changed.  Meditate on that.  Meditate on how you can develop a greater partnership with your long-term missionary.  Please, just Go.

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Being well-prepared, intentional, and humble are three main themes I've read concerning successful short-term mission trips.  Here are a few resources to help navigate short-term missions.

Seven Keys to Successful Short-term mission trips: https://www.rightnowmedia.org/Training/Post/Preview/63334

David Platt on Making Short-term missions more effective. https://tifwe.org/interview-david-platt-on-making-short-term-mission-trips-more-effective/

Short term missions: redefining success.  https://www.challies.com/sponsored/short-term-missions-redefining-success/

Short-term mission trips that yield long-term success.  https://www.macucc.org/blogdetail/short-term-mission-trips-that-yield-long-term-success-9043164

In Defense of the Short-term missions trip. https://reachgloballatinamerica.org/2018/06/30/in-defense-of-the-short-term-missions-trip-part-1/