When it comes to short-term mission trips, often it is the lives of the missionaries that are impacted the most. The Barna Group recently published research that explores how short-term mission trips affect those who take them. Here are some highlights:
Who takes short term mission trips?
- 9% of American adults
>> only 3.5% of American adults went in the last 5 years - 11% of churchgoers
- 23% evangelical Christians
- 12% of Mosaics (ages 18-24)
- 9% of Busters (ages 25-43)
- 7% of Boomers (ages 44-62)
- 9% of Elders (ages 63+)
How do short-term mission trips affect those who go?
- 75% say the experience changed their life in some way
- 25% say it helped them become more aware of other people’s struggles
- 16% say it taught them more about poverty, justice, or the world
- 11% say it increased their compassion
- 9% say it enriched their faith
- 9% say it broadened their spiritual understanding
- 5% say it boosted their financial generosity
For Discussion:
- How have short-term mission trips (local, national, or international) affected your congregation?
At my church, the majority of short-term missions trips are to the country of Kenya, because our Pastor grew up a missionary there. The problem is that the church supports congregants who travel to Kenya multiple times, yet if someone has a burden for another area of the world they have a tough time receiving support. Additionally, leadership refuses to work with AIM or partner with any other group, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the ministry. I am a believer in short-term missions, IF it’s done well. Too often, short-term missions are a vacation. And, we need to acknowledge that short-term missions are for the growth of those serving, not those being served. I find it sad that we need to pay thousands of dollars and ship people oversees to show them the poverty in the world to enhance their spiritual growth. It’s especially sad when we do it many times and see essentially no difference in the way someone lives their life. The tens of thousands of dollars that were spent could have supported a long term missionary in need, or provided for the needs of multiple familes in 3rd world countries for years.
@Jon
Growing up as a missionary’s kid in Peru and having taken several short-term trips myself, I have to agree with your opinion that it is more efficient to give the money to a full-time missionary.
I know that short-term mission trips do reach people and produce spiritual results, but overall, I see short-term mission trips more as tools to impact those who go rather than tools to impact those who are reached.
Our congregation has been in short-term missions for some time now. Our student ministry (which I lead) has been doing trips 2 out of every 3 years since 1993. I love them for a number of reasons, but agree that you have to “do it right” for them to have long-term impact.
We’ve found a number of great benefits include:
1. We’ve formed a long-term partnership with the orphanage we support in Les Cayes, Haiti. Our people are invested in it and support our missionaries and the long-term missionary there generously. Our level of support would not be what it is if we weren’t regularly sending teams down. It keeps the ministry fresh in our minds.
2. People and youth tend to come back more fired up about serving in our own community.
3. Youth who go on mission trips are more likely to enter church professional careers or volunteer extensively at their churches as adults in my experience.
I wouldn’t give up the short-term missions experience for anything, but I feel this is a both/and relationship. In addition to our short-term missions, we also support long-term missionaries in the Dominican Republic, Kyrgyzstan and India.
[...] Posted on October 9, 2008 by Jason Christ Kent Shaffer has a nice summary of the Barna Group’s recent research on short-term missions. He wrote: How do short-term [...]
I’m glad that short-term missions can help in certain areas, but in our full-time mission field they can be disastrous if the short-term team are not sensitive to the cultural differences. I can appreciate the change that might happen in the short-term participant, but some of the long-termers have lost entire ministry situations when short-termers barrel in and do ministry their way.
[...] Church Relevance post lists some interesting statistics on the [...]
I agree with everyone that has posted before me. If short term missions is done right it can be effective. In most cases its the lives of the participants that are changed. We are trying to find ways to even out the life changing scale so both sides benefit.
We take 5 or 6 trips a year to help one church. Instead of 5 or 6 trips all over the world. Each trip has a different purpose for going, from evangelical to decipleship to leadership each trip builds on each other. We found if we focus all our resources into one area we can make a lasting difference. So far its worked. We have seen the local church grow.
In order for short term missions to be more effective we have to keep reevaluating our methods, just like we do here in the local church.
This is one of those 50/50 questions. There is plenty of good in “going” and “sending”. If I would have never went on a short-term mission trip, I would have never expierenced the call God put on my life. My second short-term trip was to Peru and God again spoke to me, saying this is where He would have me serve. Now I am almost completing ten years on the field.
I have worked with and hosted numerous teams, yes I’ve seen the good and the bad, BUT the good always comes out on top.
I know missions isn’t for everyone, but I feel all should participate in at least one cross-cultural trip in their lifetime.
And if anyone is interested in coming to Peru, we would love to have you.
Be Blessed! We serve a Risen King!
[...] Kent Shaeffer at Church Relevance condenses stats from a Barna Group report this October item, The Truth About Short Term Missions Trips. [...]
Right now I am working with many sending organizations on an orphanage outreach project. It is actually for therapy which is one of the specific skill sets the local population does not have. After talking to these organizations, I realized someone needed to raise awareness about the issues surrounding STMs. If there were endless resources and no harm came from the actions of STMs, then I would not care as much as I do.
I do think there is good in STMs. I think the good is mostly for the go’er-but I don’t think that is a bad thing! Growing in your walk with God, seeing His heart for the poor and for justice, expanding your worldview- these are all good reasons for STMs and not the same as taking a vacation (as others have stated about STMs.) I think we just need to be honest about that so when we are making decisions about STMs we are not basing them on false ideas. I also think it will help STMs and LTMs be on the same page about expectations/puposes/roles and in turn will create a more effective relationship and better results for the goal at hand.
Being a long term missionary and having many teams of short term missionaries come through, I am going to speak from another perspective. I felt like many of those that commented after going on short term trips. However, when I was the missionary in the field, I started to see things with new eyes.
I do agree with some of the pros mentioned here to doing STMs and I think STMs are fine to do but we do need to be honest with ourselves about them. Short term mission trips are about YOU. The purpose behind them is to expand your understanding of other cultures, build in you God’s heart for the poor, soul search about a possible future in missions, give you an opportunity to evangelize, ect. It really irritates me to hear STM talk about how they “made a difference” in 2 weeks! You didn’t- at least not a difference that someone local could not have done for much, much cheaper and could have done far more good with the money you spent to come make that “difference.” And really, isn’t that, even those with the BEST intentions, want from the trip- to feel like they did something good- they helped those less fortunate. This is not a selfless act that we are trying to portray it to be. I am not saying that I agree with the extreme portrayal as “vacationism” – I don’t think are motives are puposefully selfish or self-centered but when we are not transparent, people can feel it and start to question.
I just took a course on ethics and it talks about weighing the good against the harm. STMs don’t see the harm they create- because they don’t understand the language or culture so they really don’t understand what the locals think/feel (When I read the Poisonwood Bible, I cringed at how accurate it can still be today), they leave and never see the long term effects, etc. I think leaders have an ETHICAL OBLIGATION to talk to the missionaries in the field and really examine what the pros and cons are not just for those going, but also being a good stewards of our gifts, and what my heart really bleeds for is for the locals we are going to help. You are not there to “serve” them, they are serving you- helping your faith walk, showing you grace with your culture blunders, hosting you in their country. If you walk away feeling you gave more than you took, I would seriously suggest examining yourself and the experience much closer.
The local people benefit in only 3 ways I have identified: 1) If you go back and become an ambassador for those you worked with by talking to others and raising funds 2) bring supplies to the mission or encouragement/spiritual support to the missionaries. 3)bring some kind of skill/service that is not available (I caution that I have seen even good things like Operation smile that does surgical repairs of cleft lip and palate be a harmful thing because the doctors leave and there is no follow care so the repairs open up again and parents don’t have the means to get proper medical care for their child.)
Here is my advice for what it is worth:
1) Short term mission trips are NOTHING like full time missionary work and can give a very skewed perspective if you are using that experience as the basis for going into full time ministry. If God is truely calling you to the mission field, he can do that with or without short term missions. You know that the number of career missionaries has gone down despite the large increase in the number of STM. I wouldn’t spend 3,000 to decide if I wanted a future career as a nurse, so why would I do that about missions? I went to a conference on missions during college and this had a far greater impact on my decision to do LTM than my college STM trip. Read biographies of missionaries, email/call and talk to those in the field, and only if seriously interested, visit- and visit for no less than 3 months to get a real feel.
2) Why allow the same church members to return year after year on short term missions? You go once and give someone else a turn. If you really “have a heart for missions” and want to go every year (and some people twice a year), then maybe you should “count the cost” and go into the field full time.
3) Make those that go accountable when they return. Follow up and see if they are being ambassadors for those that are still there- are they financially giving to the missionaries/organization, raising awareness or funds for the organization, being a leader for the next group that goes, ect. I think you all would be surprised by the number of people that serve at our orphanage on STMs that DO NOT become child sponsors after they return home. (30/month – a cup of coffee a day- and they can’t sacrafice that for the kids they have personally seen and held and “made a difference in their lives”)
4) Leaders of the STMs- You and the whole team need to understand the potential harm you could do to the locals and the missionaries work. Your ONLY agenda should be the one that the local missionary gives you. I have seen many, many STM teams come through and each member has an assignment to give away a Bible (or 3) and share the gospel with a local so they can go home with a story to tell and a number of how many they converted on thier trip to validate them going. Meanwhile, we have newly converted “Christians” walking around proclaiming themselves as Christians but have no discipleship or clear understanding of it and that can negatively impact the work of spreading the gospel- although the intentions were good.
5) If you provide a service/skill that is not available – TEACH that skill to the locals so they can be self sufficient and their is follow up after you leave. If you can’t teach that skill in 2 weeks sufficiently, then consider the harm that can occur if questions/problems arise after you leave.
6) Not everyone is called to missions. Like Paul talked about the body as an analogy for the church, we all have different roles. However, I think we are all called to support missions. I listened to a speaker at a mission conference once who was a lawyer. He said God did not call him to the mission field but what God did call him to do was make 150,000/year and financially support long term missionaries. I want to tell you I think people like him are the real saints- they write that check every month without the acknowledgment that LTMs get and without the great experience to tell everyone about or the tangible result to think “I made a difference” about that STMs get. They do however get the good feeling of knowing they are being faithful servants and affording the opportunity for God’s children to be cared for and the Gospel to be spread.
Lastly, I want to pose a question that I am not even sure what I think the answer is: Are these short term trips actually preventing Christians from taking the leap into a more full time committment? Are they taking away from those that are in the field? For example, the thinking “I support missions- I go on a 2 week trip with my church every year.”
I think one thing that really struck me, and gave me pause to feel somewhat ashamed, was how many Morman missionaries I came in contact with that have given not just 2 weeks- but 2 years of their lives- for short term missions. Think about it- 2 years with the locals to build relationships, spread their “gospel,” and disciple believers. They are willing to give 2 years of their lives for something that isn’t even the Truth.