Short-Term Mission Trips: Are They Worth It?

If Jesus' command to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" were viewed as launching a business, the industry would be booming -- at least when it comes to short-term mission trips.
But is the spiritual profit worth the investment of time and money?

Consider: The number of U.S. Christians taking part in trips of a year or less leaped from 540 in 1965 to an estimated more than 1.5 million annually, with an estimated $2 billion spent yearly, according to Dr. Robert Priest, a missiology professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, in a 2008 article in Missiology journal.

Some who have studied the issue say the money might be better spent giving directly to a country's Christian partners to spread the Gospel, or to offer medical aid or construction assistance. Some long-term missionaries even have complained that culturally insensitive short-term mission participants do more harm than good by damaging relationships that took years to build.

But having led a study on the effects short-term mission trips have on team members, I say a qualified "Yes" to whether the trips are worthwhile.

Two-thirds of short-term trips last two weeks or less, with purposes ranging from evangelism to digging wells to teaching English as a second language. We appreciate the zeal of students on mission teams. They want to be on the streets evangelizing. Some missionaries say, "Wait a minute." In many countries, the most effective way to reach others is through friendships built over time rather than quick Gospel presentations that can endanger the work -- and lives -- of long-term missionaries and local Christians.

The good news is that our study showed that students who have taken part in short-term mission trips are less materialistic, appreciate other cultures more and better understand missions as a lifestyle.

About 600 students, most from Texas universities, and 48 short-term mission trip leaders participated in a study I conducted with the help of four Baylor University undergraduate research assistants. The first portion of the study consisted of 578 completed surveys, and the student responses consistently reflect a positive impact of participating in short-term mission trips. In comparison to those with little or no short-term mission experience, students who participated in two or more international trips had significantly greater appreciation of other cultures and were less materialistic.

Of the 32 students interviewed after their trips, 29 said the experience had changed the way they see other cultures, with 17 mentioning increased respect and concern. Almost half said they were less likely to see their culture as inherently superior. Most who had been exposed to poverty on their trips said they had greater appreciation for what they have -- or even disgust for American greed -- but only a few mentioned concrete steps they had taken to lessen their materialism.

While the study showed the mission leaders are doing many things well in pre-trip training and on-site mentoring, they fall short when it comes to aiding team members take what they learn from their trips into a missions lifestyle. What is needed is follow-up by team leaders, usually from churches, schools or mission agencies, with a more extensive effort than online contact or periodic reunions. Long-term involvement, whether global or local, is where you see transformation taking place. Short-term mission experiences must be more than spiritual tourism in which participants travel to an exotic place, take a myriad of photos and return to their relatively isolated home environments, as well as their pre-trip behavior and routines.
Many people make a commitment at Christian youth camps to become missionaries, but some find out a little bit more and say: "Oh, that isn't for me. I can do this for a few weeks, but I like my technology, my comforts." Others opt against career mission work when they see its challenges. In some countries, there are immediate responses to the Gospel, with hundreds of people becoming Christians. But in other countries, a missionary could work for years and have only one or two convert to Christianity. Students hoping to see instant results on a two-week trip may become discouraged.

But deciding not to become a vocational missionary does not mean a loss of interest in missions or ministry. Chelsea Nuttall, a Baylor University sophomore English major from Sugar Land, said a short-term trip made her realize that "Missions can be anywhere. It's not just going global."

For some, a trip strengthens commitment. That was the case with Matt Lewis, a Baylor University sophomore communications major from Jacksonville. He worked with youth on volunteer student mission trips to the Czech Republic in 2007 and 2008.

Matt wrote this about his experience: "Between trips, I spent a lot of time in prayer and really tried to meditate and listen to what God was trying to say to me. ... I got to reconnect with some of the youth there from the previous summer. It was great to see that the decisions they made the last year were still apparent in their lives. Seeing this really reinforces my belief that God is calling me into the ministry."

Dr. Horton is associate director of ministry guidance at Baylor University. He is a former pastor of a church in Hong Kong and taught biblical courses, theology and English in the 1990s at universities in Hong Kong and Thailand.

 

Comments

[Ashleigh Allen]

05:54 PM on 06/03/2011

Dr. Horton, thanks for such an interesting article. I completely agree that trip leaders should focus more on intentional follow up, especially with team members that were particularly impacted. What do you think this impact should look like? Does it come back down to our call to discipleship?

Thanks again for the helpful info. I used it to write a blog post for a non-profit I am working with. Love fore you to check it out: http://blog.managedministries.com/2011/06/does-your-home-ministry-secretly-need-short-term-missions/

[Packattack]

10:36 AM on 05/28/2011

Rather than putting this money back into the US economy they put it into these trips.

[Hillbilly49]

10:05 AM on 05/28/2011

I spent over a year working with Lutheran Bible Translators in Guatemala. Baptists groups would send people down for a week or two; they looked down on Guatemalans as people, who needed to be evangelized rather than trying to find out what they needed or wanted. Guatemalans have been hearing about Jesus for over four hundred years; they know all about Jesus. However, over half of all Guatemalans don't know where their next meal is coming from.

[DougSmith]

06:41 AM on 05/28/2011

"Some who have studied the issue say the money might be better spent giving directly to a country's Christian partners to spread the Gospel, or to offer medical aid or construction assistance."

But then they wouldn't be able to go on a really cool trip to an exotic place...

[gdldave]

05:47 PM on 05/27/2011

Dr. Horton, sadly, as a person who spends much of my life working and serving in Mexico, all good intentions aside, the majority of people I encounter doing mission work there fall into the category that NotEve references.

I believe your article would have been better received if you had first shared your findings as to how much positive change we see on the field, rather than on those who go.

Our American inclination to understand the benefits of mission from our perspective is one of the biggest drawbacks I see in the STM industry, and i say that as a life long supporter and participant.

In a sense, I expanded my response on my blog at www.ailministry.blogspot.com.

[Dennis Horton]

03:54 PM on 05/31/2011

Thanks for the good insights, Dave. I had decided to focus first on the goer-guests and then follow up with the study related to the host partners/communities for several reasons. The most immediate impact seems to be on the mission team participant. Hopefully there are some positive effects on the host partners/community, but as you mention in your blog these effects can be limited especially if the participant is only there for a week or two and the team is not working in close cooperation with the host partner. Thus, if there are no positive effects on the goer-guests, then the whole short-term ministry model may need to be scrapped in favor of a different approach. If, however, these trips can help the participants gain a greater appreciation of other cultures, lower their level of materialism, and clarify vocational understanding, then there is at least some value even in the shorter trips.

Given that there is some value for the participants, the next question is how to make these trips more valuable to the host partners and their communities. What are the best ways that these short-term workers can facilitate the ministry of those who are there for the long term? What size of group, what types of projects, etc. are going to provide the greatest benefit to the host community? The answer to these and other questions should offer instructive guidance for the future.

[Indigo1941]

03:44 PM on 05/27/2011

Mixed feelings. The Protestants I know who have gone on such trips have uniformly enjoyed themselves and had a good time and feel good about having done good. Self-esteem is a good thing. I notice that they also put much of their time into talking about how grateful to them the poor local people are for the kindness they have done to the poor local people and how important it is to the poor local people to help them not loose faith in decent public works and other things that make America great and how important it is to give the poor local people a chance to see how wonderful Americans are.

It's a mixed bag at best. My advice? Go on tour of cultural sites, shut up about the poor local people, and come home with a nice souvenir for me.

[TheyDidntListentoNoah]

03:07 PM on 05/26/2011

Interesting article. I think Americans in general could benefit from greater cultural sensitivity and a short term missions trip is is a good venue to develop a better perspective. Point taken on the inflated and grandiose expectations.

[Shaswata Panja]

09:31 PM on 05/25/2011

The problem of foreign missions is becoming an endemic problem in India...They regularly come in India to insult Hinduism and dish out a few services so that they can feel good about themselves about helping out those poor little Indians who are unablt to take care of themselves.....You know people should do charity the way Gandhi suggested..If you feel like doing charity just do it and dont do it with the hope of stealing people from other religions...But good thing is there is a huge Hindu chairty movement being undertaken by the likes of RSS,ISKON and the likes to counteract the Christian influences..Yearly US gives India low marks in the Religous Freedom Report so that they can shame India into letting in more foreign missionaries year after year..It is common knowledge Western Evangelical Churches are funding violent militancies in the north-east as well as Maoist violences ..Yes so-called Christians are funding people who behead and dismember Indian policemen and security forces..yeah right talk about the non-violent religion!!!

[Dennis Horton]

02:47 PM on 05/27/2011

I don't know of any Christian churches that would knowingly send money to support such violence by Maoist or others. If they were to do so, they would certainly be going against the basic teachings of Jesus to love God and neighbor.

[scottyknows]

06:58 PM on 05/25/2011

Jesus fed 5,000 one time, 4,000 another, in a miraculous show of compassion.

But the day after they all needed to eat again, and Jesus wasn't there to do it. God wasn't directing him to be their traveling McMessiah. Jesus was to feed them Today.

We are to do Today what we believe God is calling us to do, and if we are convinced the calling is for longer, then we stay longer. But in that personal call we should let no one dissuade us.

[MagicManDoneIt]

05:58 AM on 05/25/2011

I have to give credit to anyone who selflessly travels to another country to assist in any way they can, as long as they don't become a drain or drastically disrupt the society they are helping. What I would take issue with is having the purpose of proselytizing to the local populace. If you are there doing good work and the locals are curious and ask about your beliefs it's OK to share that info. Actively preaching these beliefs can come to be seen as a condition for the assistance being given. I know if my village needed a well and someone offered to make it happen but was insistent on preaching at me part of the day, I would put up with it to make sure they continued to help me. Another issue might be the fact that expertise in one area (agriculture, medicine, etc.) might indirectly give credence to other forms of information (religious claims), causing the recipients to give more weight to claims that don't deserve it. The point is, if you want to do good work, do good work, but don't put conditions on it. Otherwise, you are fostering a not so subtle form of extortion on a desperate populace. I could be wrong, but I'd like to think it is something worth considering.

[NotEve]

04:38 PM on 05/25/2011

You're not wrong at all, your post is right on point. faved.

[JohnyTL]

04:17 AM on 05/25/2011

It's just another way for rich white Christians to feel better about themselves. Like praying.

[George Medley]

03:53 AM on 05/25/2011

Has anyone read the books by Duane Elmer on the same subject. Similar conclusions, though much more cautious. What Elmer found is that while in the short term these may be neutral (the harm they do is easily balanced out), in the long term they have the potential to be positive in that those who have done a short term mission trip (STMT) are more likely to give both to mission work and general foreign aid. Additionally the majority of the younger long term missionaries have previously done STMT. However, often times the effects of STMT are short-lived and students (or whomever) are back to their old materialistic ways within a few months. Elmer found that regular follow-ups and/or debriefs helped to mitigate some of this, but by no means all of it. Thus it seems care must be taken with STMT. Elmer also found the type of STMT was important. Some types actually harm the local economy (certain building projects in certain areas that can have a detrimental effect on construction workers, for instance) so study must be done ahead of time to find the appropriate type of STMT. [See Elmer Cross Cultural Conflict; and Cross Cultural Connections]

[crparke]

09:25 PM on 05/24/2011

Short term mission trips are worth it if people are hearing the good news of Jesus Christ through them. The Good Shepherd is willing to leave the flock behind to find one lost sheep.

An engineering student who I went to college with recently went to India to be a missionary. He used his background to help build them a fresh water well and plumbing system in a small rural village. He taught them how to purify the water and how to make repairs to the system. They used to have to walk nearly two miles to get fresh water. He and his church also taught them about Jesus and how He died for their sins and how he wants a relationship with them. Several of them came to Christ through his service. Nothing is more practical.

[Science11]

10:10 AM on 05/26/2011

He and his church also taught them about Jesus and how He died for their sins and how he wants a relationsh­ip with them. Several of them came to Christ through his service. Nothing is more practical
------------------------------
Nothing is more practical and nothing is more despicable. I have a very
negative opinion of so called missionary work. The bottom line is that this
is nothing more than a avenue and excuse to prostelize.

How many cultures has Christianity via missionary work destroyed?
Ah yes - but getting the word out that Jesus died for you sins, is much
more important.?

[TheyDidntListentoNoah]

03:05 PM on 05/26/2011

I contribute to some missionaries because there may be someone in their country like me. The gospel of Jesus Christ literally saved my life. I shudder to think what my life would be like if I hadn't found my church.

[thebigbike]

08:02 PM on 05/24/2011

did I miss something here ? what about the results of the missionees? the folks to whom the "mission" was sent? What very little there is in the article does not indicate that there is anything positive discovered about the results of the "missions" as regards those who were the subjects of the "missions" the whole study sounds like a sales job for a new and patented recruitment technique for new sales personnel.

[Dennis Horton]

03:13 PM on 05/25/2011

Not a recruitment tactic at all. This is simply the first component of a three part study. I will also be doing a study of the impact on local communities where the short-termers are working to see what projects and approaches are most appreciated/needed. My preliminary observations indicate that some are definitely better than others. The best STM projects seem to be those in which the host country's partners along with those in the host community are determining the size of the group and taking a major leadership role in what these short-term visitors will be doing. The groups that have a long-term respectful relationship with those in the host country seem to have the greatest benefit for those in the host country.

[John Camp]

05:59 PM on 05/24/2011

I think the key to useful short term mission trips is they cannot be sanctified vacations, which most regrettably are. They need to be purposeful and under the authority of a missionary on the field or a local church. If a missionary expresses a need, and the church can meet it, we send a team. We never assemble a team and then ask the missionary on the field what he wants us to do.