A Few Thoughts on the Pros and Cons of Short-Term Missions

I wanted to share a brief exchange of messages I recently had with a friend:

Her question:

I am wondering about your opinion on short-term missions. Do you find that it is as effective for, in our case, a family of five to come and minister as opposed to sending the money that would have been spent on the trip to your ministry?

I’m wondering because as a teen and young adult I went on several short-term missions’ trips. And while I loved my time, I heard from several sources that short-term missions is nice, but mostly for the missionary. And that for each dollar spent, sending it to a church or organization in country saves more souls than sending another person, particularly short-term.

Please understand that I’m not saying short-term missions trips aren’t good. As I said, I thoroughly enjoyed mine and would encourage others to go too. I was just curious about your thoughts on them.

My response:

My take on short-term missions is that technically there is no such thing, being as missions by definition requires learning the language and culture and going all in to reach a particular people.

I think there are many cases where you could hire a local person to help you build or renovate a building for much less than an American flying there. Or, there may be other examples when giving money would be a much more efficient use of resources than flying there. But sometimes God works in ways which doesn’t always add up in our minds, or on paper.

Sometimes (I say sometimes because I don’t want to broad brush), all the work done from short-term trips can be easily washed away after the people leave. Especially, when it is not in conjunction with a local ongoing ministry.

However, there are two main reasons I promote short-term missions trips to Ukraine for the kind of thing we are doing. And I will call them missions trips, although I believe technically it would more accurately be called an evangelistic trip, just because missions trips are what everyone knows them as and I am not on a mission to change everyone’s mind about that.

The first reason is I have seen the dynamic created when native English speakers who are Christians come and help create the atmosphere that really touches people’s lives for that week at camp. It is something they remember for years if not all their life. And we and our team work very hard to follow up with people. They form a bond to us, even the ones who don’t get saved, which creates many future opportunities for us to keep investing in them. The main praise I have heard about our ministry repeatedly from unbelievers is the positive family like atmosphere in the community our English Club has created. The more devoted Christians who come, the more this multiplies.

The second reason is because almost every missionary I have met in Ukraine, if not all of them, first came on a short-term trip. It was then God opened their eyes and gave them a heart for those people. I don’t know too many people quitting their jobs, selling their homes, and dropping their future plans in order to be missionaries in Ukraine other than the one’s who first visited short-term.

For our vision to grow we need people to do just that and join us on the field. While, we plan to raise up Ukrainian leaders as well, the dynamic and fruit of our ministry is greatly increased by native English speakers.

I will also mention that I know one missionary family who had 3 teenage boys there, another has two girls, another has three goals, another had two girls and one boy, and another has two girls and one boy also. It is perfectly possible for families with children to make this work. Just an FYI. However, you might want to wait until they can safely walk themselves to and from school, or at least the bulk of them.

What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of short-term missions? What would be a good use of resources and what would be a poor use?

Here are links to a few articles I think speak to the situation quite well:

Things No One Tells You About Going on Short-Term Mission Trips

There’s Nothing Short About Short-Term Missions

Are Short-Term Mission Trips Worth Doing?

Why You Should Consider Cancelling Your Short-Term Mission Trips