Perspective on Mission
Why Long Term Mission?
With the current trend towards the popularity of short term missions not looking like slowing down anytime soon, the question has to be asked what effect if any this has on long term mission world wide. From our perspective here in Bangkok we have noticed that, even with the spread of the H1N1 virus, the political unrest and the global economic downturn, short term mission trips to Thailand have continued to grow in number.
People are now more mobile than any other time in history; able to cross continents for what is considered a small amount of money. Many churches and mission societies are running their own Short term mission trips and last month alone I received four emails from different groups who are planning short term mission trips and looking for projects to visit. This along with three other requests from short term, mission teams already here in Bangkok has left me wondering what good, if any, these groups can do?
I am not against these trips on principle and have spent many hours debating both for and against the merits of these trips. I do believe however that these trips can only be of value to the poor if there is long term work on the ground.
Missionary friends of ours spend 80% of their time hosting short term mission trips. So much so, that their actual ministry on the ground has all but stopped and they have called on us to ask if short term groups can come, see and assist our projects. Is the role of the missionary to provide mission exposure opportunities for the broader church - or to serve the poor and disempowered who actually have no other opportunities? Sadly for many missionaries their experience on the field may be compared to that of a travel agent or tour guide. While in Australia recently I heard of an orphanage in Africa that was painted 6 times in six months last year because short term mission groups wanted to come and do something practical.
The amount of money spent on a short term mission trip is at least $2,000 per person. This multiplied by five participants is $10,000. Again multiply that by five or six groups and you are talking $50,000- 60,000! A lot of money that could go a long way to help an impoverished community or fund a long term program run by the missionaries on the ground.
Many have argued that short term mission exposure is an important way to help people experience the needs and feel called by God to long term mission. If that were true for even a small percentage of participants then we would have an explosion of long term missionaries across the globe, rather than the declining numbers that exist.
I don’t know where I truly end up on this argument as I do enjoy the benefits of the groups that come twice a year to help with our school holiday programs. However if I am being truly honest there does come a point, which for us may be now, that the small benefit of this is outweighed by the larger unjust use of resources, both financial and human. In my neighborhood, when I spend hours and hours with western visitors, that is hours less that I have to spend sharing the love of Christ with my neighbors. If we were a big team with missionaries overflowing that may not be an issue. We are just five of us who daily feel overwhelmed by the needs and challenges of our 80,000 neighbors here in the slum.