What Is The Efficacy Of Short-Term Mission Trips?

The Scripture is quite clear about the significance of missionary work. Our Lord Jesus, before ascending into heaven, even gave us the Great Commission:

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

For this reason, it should be no surprise that even modern-day Christians make mission trips a goal for their church members. But as well-meaning as these missionary pursuits are, they often tend towards short-term mission trips- be it two weeks or one year- followed by a return back home and a new camera roll of photos from the mission trips. More often than not, these short-term mission trips are extended vacations; those going on these "mission tourism/vacation" trips are identified as "vacation areas."

Some Christians are traveling to help locals in matters of food and housing, but they can spend more time simply enjoying the warm weather and beautiful sights of their "tropical missionary" work. Other short-term mission trips are extremely effective pursuits, showing multiple houses or hospitals built for those who didn't have such resources beforehand.

In all of this, short-term mission trips are smaller periods of service by Christians toward communities usually stricken by poverty, natural disaster, sickness, or violence. They are meant to allow people with smaller availability to serve (often those who are not able to give more time to the missions field than a few weeks), and it is often a way of temporarily supplying aid to at-risk communities.

What Are Short-Term Mission Trips?

Short-term mission trips are any such missional efforts in which individuals join a mission organization to offer aid to some at-risk or impoverished community for shorter periods of time. Of course, it would be wise to identify what is intended by "shorter period of time" since that is what distinguishes these missions from their "long-term" counterparts.

Some, like those of the Global Connections Code of Best Practice in Short-Term Mission, assert that a short-term mission trip would be anything under two years of missionary work. However, other agencies and churches would hold that anything under six months would count as a "short-term" mission trip. While the notion of "short term" may be somewhat subjective, it would seem to be the common denominator that they are mission trips for which only a small amount of time is spent away from one's home country/nation; be it two years or six months, your return home would still be a fairly simple task.

The Pros of Short-Term Mission Trips

There are a variety of writers and researchers who have found errors in the modern short-term mission method. However, it should be noted that this is not the complete story. A great deal of research and study has gone into the positive impact of short-term mission trips on Christian community inclusion and financial support! What follows are but a few of the benefits found from shorter missional pursuits.

• Short-Term Missionaries Better Understand the Ministry and Purpose of Missions. For those of us living in the comfortable simplicity of Western indulgence and affluence, the struggle and deep need for mission work is not so well known to us. However, for those that have actually participated in a mission trip, they have a far better understanding of what is needed and how to help. Furthermore, by being short-term missionaries, they are able to return to their home church sooner to speak about the dark and difficult realities which other people face constantly.
• Short-Term Missionaries Become More Sacrificial Supporters of Long-Term Missionaries. As a continuation of the prior point, it is also known that those who have participated in short-term missionary work are more likely to more generously and consistently give to long-term missionary efforts. This is because they have been exposed to the real challenges and dangers associated with the missionary field; knowledge otherwise unbeknownst to them had they not gone on the short-term mission trip.
• Short-Term Missions Develop Passion for Knowing Christ and Making Christ Known.Even on a short-term mission trip, one very important fact becomes clear to the individual missionary- even the "vacation-ary"- and that is their dependence on God. One does not need to be on a mission trip for multiple years just to experience how much one lacks during their missionary experience. Being in a nation with limited food and water supply causes one to realize how weak and lost they are without a true and full dependence on God for provision.

The Cons of Short-Term Mission Trips

However, despite what pros may exist for short-term mission trips, there are a variety of cons associated with these shorter-term trips that greatly outweigh their positive effects.

• Short-Term Missions Are Expensive. These short-term mission trips, as a result of being only for a few weeks or months at a time, have included in them a greater expense of transportation. While a long-term mission trip may only require the missionary to leave their mission field once every five or ten years to see family or their home church, the short-term mission trips will need to pay for multiple plane (or boat) tickets each and every year to transport their missionaries. The more frequent back-and-forth results in greater costs to the church members, and there is still more. Often, there is a larger number of individuals in these "short-term missionary groups. These means that many of these people, often young teenagers who just wish to "help out" in some way, must have their transport costs covered. Contrast this with the far lesser expense of one or two long-term missionaries who will rarely need the cost of their transport to be considered.
• Short-Term Missions May Not Require "Counting the Cost." Furthermore, because the short-term mission trips are not very significant of a sacrifice for the individual, they will likely struggle with actually understanding the deep sacrifices of an effective mission trip. The notion of leaving everything behind for multiple years, putting all of your major life plans on hold, and learning how to incorporate oneself into a new culture: these are all realities which the short-term missionary would not truly understand.
• Short-Term Missions May Not Have a Lasting Impact. While short-term mission trips can be positive and effective mission trips for some suffering population who is in desperate need of immediate aid, it is also very likely that they will only have a temporary impact. In fact, it is more likely that any short-term mission trips with lasting impacts will be those trips that are going to help an already well-established long-term missionary. If there is already someone who is dedicated to this long-term mission work, then the aid of some short-term missionaries can be well-directed and efficiently used. Otherwise, short-term missions by themselves will likely have short-term impacts.

Why Long-Term Mission Trips Are More Effective

All of the pros and cons of short-term mission trips being considered, there should be no question that short-term work often results in short-term effects. The other option to consider would be long-term mission trips. While these longer-term projects may have their cons (more difficult to find someone who is willing to commit to such a long project), they are in nearly every single way more effective than what would be seen with their short-term counterparts.

A Real Commitment to Change

These longer mission trips will bring about longer effects. Specifically, this gives those missionaries more time to:

• Raise funds for their ministry
• Get acquainted with the local culture and its various plights throughout the year. Knowing the daily lives of individuals is a key component to effectively caring for the spiritual needs of a community.
• Form multi-year phases to their mission trip that can address and more fundamentally change the life practices of these individuals (rather than simply trying to help by reactionary "generosity" measures). Simply put, it is better to teach someone how to fish than to periodically give them fish.
• See entire projects through until the end.

Strengthen Relationships and Build Trust

Furthermore, a missionary who has committed to long-term service will become a true member of the community who is in need. They will form stronger connections with local people and businesses and will be seen by others as a trustworthy source of aid and ministry rather than a tourist passing out mild aid.

Without the consistent, day-to-day labor of a long-term mission trip, it is difficult to strengthen one's connections with the members of one's mission field. The daily presence of a missionary throughout the years allows the individual to become acquainted with the many networking opportunities possible in other nations.

Changes Your Outlook and Encourages Personal Growth

Given the personal and emotional growth one experiences in short-term mission trips, it is no surprise that even more can be said about a long-term mission! People can change a great deal in just one year. But to move oneself out of the warm comforts and abundance of our lives and to root oneself in a new environment of simplicity and service, the individual surely experiences a sanctification that would be difficult to experience otherwise.

Are Short-Term Mission Trips Worth It?

While they can be of some value, short-term mission trips are rarely worth it. In fact, some research finds that the possible "pros" of these short-term efforts may be very unlikely:

• They rarely bring about significant life change
• They don't usually motivate individuals to pursue long-term missionary work
• They often harm local economies and local church efforts.
• They rarely result in any greater donation to mission trips; even when they do, such increases could have also been done by hearing from the long-term and dedicated missionaries themselves.

While there is some value that God can bring about by the otherwise ineffective efforts of short-term mission trip projects, that is in no way a justification for us to continue on in ineffective works for our broken, sinful world. Let us be wise with our time.

Conclusion

While short-term mission teams are a mainstay of many modern evangelical churches, we should prayerfully consider whether the short-term mission movement has actually been helpful for at-risk communities. Mission organizations are important and powerful forces against a world wrought with poverty, destruction, and famine.

As such, we ought not do away with these wonderful workers for the kingdom of God. But we should consider altering their focuses so that they incentivize long-term mission teams over short-term trips. This does not mean that there is no place for short-term teams dedicated to emergency response or disaster situations. But even these teams would fare far better if they had a team leader who was already a long-term missionary for the disaster area.

They would be more aware of the local workers, local churches, local church leaders, and other local missionaries who could be of benefit during such disastrous situations. While many have seen short-term teams as beneficial to the efforts of international missions, the truth is that these missionaries often fall for the effects of "spiritual tourism" and rarely grow in the kind of cultural awareness that would be needed for better outcomes.

In fact, these short-term teams comprised of "vacation-aries" often bring about more harm than good by the end of their efforts. Young people have a zeal for missionary work, and that is a beautiful thing. However, if we are to make international missions and medical missions more effective, we must consider training people for long-term efforts. Let us desire to be missionaries in the most effective way.

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