A Word Cloud

Here's a fun little gizmo I found over at a friends site.  You plug your web address in and it analyzes your blog and gives you a word cloud.

This is what I got from mine...

You can see what's important here!

Supporting the Mission... a radical approach to a growing problem

I have often felt that short-term missions held the key to funding long-term missionary work around the globe.

Thinking about this, I struggled to discover a way to connect the dots.  

No more!

Dr. Larry Hovis of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina gives us a clear path to exactly what I believe can be the key to our ongoing missionary witness across the globe. But only if our churches and both career and short-term missionaries are willing to see themselves as interconnected as part of the global mission of the church. 

The Challenge

We are seeing a decline in long-term mission giving that predates the worldwide financial crisis.  In the early 2000’s, both the American Baptists and the Southern Baptists were experiencing significant declines in their ability to sustain missionaries in the field.

Both of these historically robust missionary minded denominations were bringing more people off the field than they were deploying, primarily due to a lack in funding.

Yet as that was happening, the short-term mission movement continued to grow, both in participants, and its ability to get funded.  

Little Johnny was showing an ability to reach out and into the wallets of his friends and family for his short-term journey to Uganda in a way the career missionary can only imagine.

The simple fact that someone spends his or her life on the field, halfway around the world, means that they do not have the personal relationships here in the United States to leverage into real support.

And they should not be expected to!  Yet that was quickly becoming the new model for funding long-term missionary support.

If our career missionaries are doing their jobs properly, the majority of their closest relationships should be in the countries where they are serving, not the United States.

To ask these dedicated men and women of God to return to the US and drive around begging for support from thousands of people they only see once every four years is almost unconscionable.

What Should We Do?

This is where Dr. Hovis’ idea comes into focus.

He suggests that every short-term mission team that visits another country should raise double their cost, and give that extra money directly to the in-field host receiver or career missionary as part of his support.

WOW!

Imagine the impact of an idea like this on our global missions movement.

On-field host receivers and career missionaries, serving the constantly growing short-term mission movement would see an immediate increase in support.  This, I am sure, would lead to better relationship between these two divergent styles of ministry, and would finally cement what has been an uneasy, though necessary partnership.

Over the years, we have seen a hostility towards short-term mission, often from on-field career missionaries.  There has been this belief that the STM people not only are engaging in useless feel good project ministries, but that they are also sucking needed financial resources from “truly important missionary efforts” done by the long-term missionary.

I refuse to see short-term mission in competition with our longer term global missionary efforts.  I have always believed the Kingdom would be better served if we merged the two sides of this coin for a greater good.

A Radical Idea

What if career missionaries acknowledged the real accomplishments of short-term missions and changed their methodology to one of acceptance and even joy at the prospect of working together for His Kingdom?  

What if the short-term mission teams acknowledged that without the career missionary preparing the way for their week long journeys, short-term mission could not exist and that as such, they have a calling to support that ministry, not only with their presence, but financially?

Perhaps Dr. Hovis is onto something.  Using the incredible ability of little Johnny to raise funds not only for his personal journey, but for the larger missionary calling of the church.

It’s a radical idea and one that I believe the church ignores at her peril.

Will we continue to place unrealistic financial burdens on our missionaries in the field, or will we empower and expect the short-term mission movement to become part of the solution to our current missionary retreat?

   

God Hates Short-Term Mission Trips... and these things too!

You read that right.

Put simply, the term short-term mission trip has led to an environment where people, by packing their bags and getting on an airplane, can check off one of their Christian bucket list items.

This short-term mission trip thinking has led to a belief that excuses us from living a missional life the other 51 weeks of the year.

A few years ago Adventures in Life Ministry saw our mission as “Giving participants from around the world the opportunity to grow in their relationship with Jesus by serving on mission in Mexico.”  As that statement was being proofread for a brochure, one of my good friends mentioned that we were missing the letter “a” before mission.
Notice how much differently that statement would read if we included the “a”.  With just one small change, mission becomes “a mission”, or something with a beginning, middle, and end.  An event, not a lifestyle.

The Pilgrimage Concept... Courtesy of DELTA Ministries and The Next Mile

Wouldn’t God be more pleased if we adopted the view that we are always on mission for Him, all year, no matter where we are, as opposed to our one-week mission trip?  I believe He would.

But let me share three other STM sacred cows that I believe also anger God when we serve on mission.

When our mission is all about us.

You’ve arrived on site and are ready for the specific task for which you and your team spent weeks preparing.  Within minutes of arriving, your host receiver informs you that circumstances and your mission have changed.

A challenge now exists.  Will you set aside your agenda and joyfully serve in the way your host receiver now needs, or will your group stubbornly hold on to their goals and what they hoped to achieve?

A couple of years ago I had a team serving with us in Oaxaca, Mexico.  We had planned to stay in one village and work on a specific project.  Unfortunately, days before the groups’ arrival, the leaders of the local village passed a law banning outsiders from staying overnight.  The new law was clearly aimed at our planned evangelical work.

As I explained this to the team leader, he looked me and said, “Dave, we are here to serve.  Use us as you need, it’s not about us.”

What a blessing it was for me to know that this leader, and his group were willing to set aside their agenda for the needs of the field.

I believe if we saw more of that attitude from short-term participants, we would see a real desire by more long-term missionaries to work together for His Kingdom.

Zeal without knowledge.

Easy, relatively cheap air travel has made it possible for those with means to get on a plane in the morning and land later that afternoon half way around the world.  This reality has led to countless problems in overseas mission work.

What we are seeing on the field are groups combining their passion to serve with their abilities and resources, and getting on a plane without a plan and very little training.

It is as if many teams have adopted a strategy that since God can use cracked pots, there is no need to try to make those pots water tight.

I do not believe God is blessed when we arrive on field devoid of any real preparation and training, even though our intentions are good.

When teams and individuals receive training that goes beyond just receiving the details of their upcoming mission, they are better able to serve and thrive in the rigors of cross-cultural mission work.

A focus on what, as opposed to who.

Americans can be very project oriented. While this is a great asset to have on mission, it can quickly become a liability if it gets in the way of building Kingdom based relationships.

Remember that all mission needs to be about sharing a relationship with Jesus.  It does not really matter if the building gets finished or the cement floor poured on our schedule.

We must never lose sight of the fact that while the projects we complete might look great, only relationships built on a foundation of Jesus Christ are eternal.

So there you have it.  Four things I believe God hates about short-term mission.

The good news is that while each of these can deal a destructive blow to successful mission, with just a little work, we can turn each of these liabilities into some real victories for God!

This article was originally published by Delta Ministries in The Hub, a gathering for STM articles, resources and opportunities.  Check them out, your mission will be better for it!

©dave miller... adventures in life ministry