The impact of short-term mission

We have had the privilege of receiving several short-term missionaries over the past few years. Some have been individuals here for a month, some for longer, and more recently a team of 9 people came to build a house.

There are some disadvantages to short term service. One should question the cost and environmental impact of air travel. Do the benefits outweigh these costs? Could a local person have done the task they did, and have benefitted from some income? Are the short-termers a help to those there long-term, or do they make more work? Is there a lasting impact from their time?

However, there are many advantages. Often, doing a short trip is a new experience. It helps the volunteer see for themselves the needs there are in a different part of the world. It makes them question certain assumptions they make when in their own culture, and see how a different culture, language and people live. Many times, we have seen volunteers surprised by the welcome and hospitality they receive from local people, and grow to appreciate the friends they make here. When friendships are born, volunteers and local people can learn from each other with humility and compassion.

Another advantage is that short term mission is often a stimulus to pray for and raise funds for projects. If the volunteers have a positive experience while abroad, they will often then continue to pray for, raise awareness about and raise funds for the longer term mission into the future.

Short term volunteers can also be a support to the long term missionaries. It is a boost to have someone to talk to and share with from your own culture, in your own language. It is also good when they are willing to pitch in and help practically with whatever needs doing, lightening the everyday burdens the long term workers face.  

Short term volunteers work best fulfilling a specific need. For example, those that have taught English in local schools have fulfilled a specific need that the schools have, and are not taking jobs from local people. There is an ongoing need for volunteers willing to teach their language. As they do so, they make friendships with the children and the teachers and have opportunities to share in other ways. Another example is house building. Coming to build a house is a stimulus to fund-raising, providing a house that would not otherwise have come about, and working alongside the local builders also allows friendships to form. It is a practical expression of love and concern for the family receiving the house that they never forget.

Having received volunteers in our home in Ecuador, it then makes trips to the UK easier. It is fun to be able to visit and catch up with the volunteers in the future in the UK. It feels comfortable being received in their homes, and the girls also consider them friends. They understand when my husband or children behave in an Ecuadorean way, without thinking it is weird! It is wonderful to be able to share with their friends and churches about the ongoing work of Project Ecuador.

So much of mission is about relationships: relationships with those from a different culture, growing in our relationship with God and each other. Short term mission can have a real role to play in helping people develop these relationships. 

Team who built a house