This set of posts was inspired by two only minimally connected things: One was my encouragement of the ONE Campaign and the various opinions that I read in comments emails, and other posts. The second is the set of articles based on Calvin College Professor Kurt Ver Beek’s research and then subsequent email conversation with Robert Priest of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School about the relative ineffectiveness of most Short Term Missions Programs to bring about Christian transformation for either the STMers or the recipients of the ministry.
In a response to an email posted at CT.com, Ver Beek describes both the good that mission trips accomplish and the almost inevitable result of returning home to our “consumerist cultures”:
Students come down to Honduras for four months and we do our best, with God's help, to share our passion for creating a Honduras and a world more pleasing to God—more just, less poor, and filled with more people truly knowing and serving him. We have seen many students change their majors and careers goals based on their experience. I think the time here is very powerful for all of them.
But then they return to the United States, to their busy life with friends, family, studies, a consumerist culture, and churches that do not often emphasize these issues. Their experiences have lent support to my belief that we all need encouragement and accountability if we're to turn powerful experiences into lasting change.
Two students may leave Honduras equally motivated and "changed," but the one who returns to their old group of friends without staying in touch with their Honduras friends or joining a group with similar interests is unlikely to seem much difference after a few months. The one who stays in touch and gets involved in a social justice or mission group on campus will often end up making even more radical changes than they talked about in Honduras. So I think the young person who does a STM trip for only one or two weeks would need even more support in making sure those weaker impulses translate into action.
In many ways, Kurt Ver Beek says all we need to know, but I’ll wrap up these posts with my own short list of suggestions for those who are considering being part of a Short Term Mission and especially for pastors and mission committees who are responsible for structuring and funding these trips.
1. Focus first on relationships before results. Americans are “doers” and what often motivates us is “doing some good.” But much of the pain and disappointment in the world today has been, in the words of my friend, Steve Haas, a Vice President at World Vision, “well-intentioned people who really didn’t know what good to do.” The key for avoiding this kind of painful outcome is to think more about “who I want to be in a mission with” before thinking “what do I want my mission to accomplish.”
The “Who” Questions: Who will be my partners? Who will go on the trip with me? Who will be learning from? Who are the CAREER MISSIONARIES in the 3rd world country that we will connect with? Who are the Christians that we will get to know and form relationships with are far more important at the beginning than figuring out what you will do (I.e. evangelism, feeding the hungry, building project, vision trip, etc.). In many ways, this is the real genius of the Y-Malawi Partnership and the reason that we are connected to it. While so many people are doing good in Africa, we really wanted to be in relationship with these folks.
2. Go as a church and connect with career missionaries and local church leaders. Yes, this is a subset of number 1, but it should be stated even more clearly. I am not a big fan of mission organizations that recruit individuals from around the country, but them together for a one week or two week experience and then go do something and leave. Often times the only experience any one ever has on a mission trip is with an American STM organization that is really little better than a travel company for disparate people to come together to have an experience. Far better is to start with the relationships that you’ll have when you return and connect to people who will have long relationships in country after you leave.
3. Every mission experience should last at least a year. Now I don’t mean that the actual trip should be a year long (most people cannot do that), what I mean is that when planning trips, asking for commitments from participants and prayer partners, funding and scheduling expectations, the mission trip should “start” 6 months before the travel date and not “end” until 6 months after returning home (minimally!). Not only should there be ample preparation, cultural sensitivity training, trip preparation meetings (including getting shots, equipment, etc.) and involvement with the church in sending the team, but there needs to be an equal commitment to the post trip follow-up, study, integration of experiences and support after returning. I would like to see every person who commits to a STM to understand that it is a twice-monthly meeting commitment for one year with a two-week trip in the middle of that year.
4. Get involved at home in anything that reinforces the commitments you made abroad. This brings me back to the ONE Campaign and why I want people to take small steps to raise awareness and involvement. Mostly it is for me. I need to be reminded of what I learned and felt by speaking up, by getting involved, by having more discussions, and yes, sometimes, by wearing a little white bracelet.
5. STMs should be seen as nothing more and nothing less than a lab-class for a lifetime of discipleship. Ultimately, the best good that we North Americans can do in the world is to be more deeply devoted disciples of Jesus Christ. STMs are intense hands-on, life-immersing experiences in the work of Jesus in the world. And some of us may only have a chance to do this once or twice in life. But the goal isn’t to become an “experience junkie” or to “go on a mission”, but to become a person who is personally, passionately and permanently committed to the church’s shared mission of “being Jesus for the whole world” (to use Tom Wright’s phrase.) If STM is not about discipleship, then it is nothing more than an adventure trip sprinkled with holy water.
Learning to be more like Jesus is first, last and always the true transformation that is our mission.
Recent Comments