Short Term Missions
Living in Thailand has given me the chance to see what life is like on the receiving end of short term missions.
There is apparently a lot of controversy surrounding short term missions. In the discussion following the last post, John talked about long term missionaries that outright rejected the help of his short term team. Is there a place for the short term team? Or are short term missionaries merely making themselves feel good while hardly making a difference to the local culture?
I won’t go into a detailed analysis of the problem - that’s been done. I’ll just give you my perspective from working at Im Jai. The simple fact is, after spending time with these kids, they are more likely to bless you than you are to bless them. That’s not to say that they are not blessed by the volunteers that come. They meet new friends, get to do fun things, and sometimes receive new clothes or toys. But their lives are rarely changed in the ways that we hope.
On the other hand, for the missionaries that come, they go away with a different view on the world and the satisfaction that, this time at least, they said “yes” to God. I don’t mean a disproportionate feeling of having done good (though some certainly will have that), but the knowledge that they are capable of obeying God’s will, even when it’s scary, and that knowledge will help them to say “yes” more easily the next time.
So should we even do short term missions? Are they inherently selfish and a waste of resources? From a worldly point of view, probably, but we don’t live in a wordly point of view. In Sean’s comment, he mentions the blessings that God has poured out because he went on a short-term trip. My story is the same. If I hadn’t gone on the short-term trips that I’ve been on, I wouldn’t be here.
In general, missionaries want to change the world, but the truth is that none of us have any idea how to go about doing that. There is only One who knows how to change the world, and it’s not nearly as quick or direct as we would like it to be. It may very well take a selfish, ineffective trip to orphans who see a hundred other missionaries a year to change the heart of one of those missionaries and get them to turn their lives around for the Creator of the world and our Savior.
Missions boards will not change the world. Strategies, models, “financial stewardship”… short term, long term, or permanent missionaries… even helping indigenous churches, raising orphans, or raising our own children to love the Lord… none of these will change the world. There is One who is changing the world already - has been for as long as anybody knows. And the only human thing that will help him is men and women that have dropped everything to follow.
Since I was number 13 on the previous posting my comment was probably not read. Let me repeat it.
“I think its time I weigh in on this conversation. There is a very simple answer to all of this. In serving God we either operate in a self-centric manner or God-Centric. Whether we are serving at home, as short-term missionaries overseas or as career missionaries, we are not immune from the trap of self-centeredness. When we come to the point of being totally God-centric, God WILL complete the good work He has begun - He promised it. Simple answer - difficult implementation because of our sin nature.”
This is the point Adam is making. God is changing people that in effect changes the world. I went on one short term missions project and learned what it meant to be involved in God’s work. My changed heart even slopped over to mom and now God has challenged us both with a church plant locally and then on to Mexico for even bigger and better things. When you allow God to do what He wants - look out, He is the world changer!!