One of the greatest lay movements of recent times is the involvement of the community of faith in short-term mission (STM) trips. Some estimate that 1.6 million U.S. church members annually travel abroad on STMs; the statistic for Canadian church members is certainly equally striking.
As a movement, STMs are predominantly organized around Christian travellers going from highly resourced countries to places with fewer resources. It is largely a lay movement of voluntary, unpaid labour, aimed at meeting perceived human needs.
As to the benefits of STMs, a long-term worker in Hong Kong judges that 80 percent of the STM is about what the traveller receives and 20 percent is about what the hosting ministry receives (Priest, 85). If this is accurate, some could conclude that STMs are mostly self-serving, even though team members go overseas with a very sincere desire to make their best possible contribution.
While much of STM work still takes a scattered approach?with one-time visits to far-off places where someone on the team has a connection?long-term value is beginning to be seen when a short-term team ties into a long-term team with repeat visits over the long haul. The impact in the host country is enhanced when a preexisting relationship with an International Worker is strong.
A group of International Workers (IWs), recently returned from overseas, met in Calgary to talk about short-term mission best practices. This group came up with several concepts which represent their point of view. It could be said that theirs is the view from the receiving side?the view from the other side.
A useful STM team is one which supports the strategic goals of the host ministry
When asked what 'strategic' looked like, these IWs mentioned helping with evangelism, participating in the development of lay pastors, being involved with children's outreach (thus modeling ministry for the local church), teaching in English camps and helping build key relationships, reaching out to university students, doing prayer walks, evangelizing, or coming as medical teams to help achieve a field strategic community health goal.
It was viewed as a bonus if there was already a relationship with the International Worker, if some team members spoke the local language, and/or if a church pastor or elder was on the team. And it was deemed foundational for the team to have a solid prayer base.
A useful STM team is a well-prepared team
A well-prepared team doesn?t have tourism as a goal; rather team members have a clear vision of why they are coming. They have developed good communication with the host person or team and because of good pre-trip communication with the field, upon arrival they have a good understanding of the exact nature of their role as a team. It is understood to all what are STM team responsibilities and what are field team responsibilities. STM teams do not presume on the host.
A well-prepared team has adequate orientation.
They have done their homework in learning about the host country and they have begun to pray for the target population or unreached people group they will be visiting. They will also have developed some cultural intelligence (Livermore). They trust the host team to make final decisions as to what their contribution will look like. IWs need to determine what the team?s contribution will look like on the ground; having the STM team decide the agenda simply doesn?t work especially if there is a sensitive nature in the ministry location.
Additionally, they will have done the work of bonding as a team and dealing with relational issues, as they spent time together in prayer and in other bonding activities before travelling. A useful team is one that is able to take care of itself. It takes time upon arrival for field orientation and cultural sensitivity training. It was noted that good teams have an authority structure and everyone is clear on who the team lead person is.
A useful STM team does adequate fundraising
They not only calculate their personal costs but are cognizant of field and hosting costs. They come with extra funds for field emergencies. Some have suggested the appropriateness of including a 10 percent line item in all STM budgets which would go to a field approved special project or to the Global Advance Fund to support the local IWs and the long-term mission.
