Since COVID, anecdotal evidence I am seeing points to a significant decline in participation in short-term mission trips. Some churches I know that have been very active have cut way back. In 2005, when I was Director of EEMN (Now SONetwork) we had nearly 100 on summer teams. Awakening Lives to World Missions (ALWM) had about a dozen people in China in 2017, and in Vietnam in 2019.

When we resumed post-COVID in 2023 we had two, and in 2024 we had six on the team. Is it fear of international travel? Financial issues? An unfortunate byproduct of all of the issues related to illegal immigration? Other things? Probably all of the above and more. Nevertheless, few things will impact sharing the Gospel with the least reached and unreached, as well as grow your Christian walk, such as taking part in a short-term mission trip.

6 people standing in front of entrance to building with tall pillars on each side of door

ALWM 2017 Mission Team in Wuhan, China

group of Chinese children wearing either green, blue or red shirts

Summer 2017 ALWM Team worked at an English Bible Camp for Chinese Children at Mr. Mai’s in Wuhan, China. Wuhan was ground zero for the pandemic.

3 adults standing behind group of Chinese children wearing blue shorts and yellow shirts

ALWM team Member Wayne Peterson on the summer 2017 Hong Kong English Bible Camp team with his class. Many of the students were from across the border in China!

Group of Americans wearing white shirts posing with Vietnamese doctor and medical personnel, most wearing white shirts

Our 2019 ALWM Vietnam Mission team along with our Medical Outreach volunteer team at Gia Ray Church north of Ho Chi Minh City

Following is an excerpt from chapter 11 of my book, Igniting a Passion for Missions: A Guide for Church Leaders. [Format changed slightly for this article.]

What Short-Term Missions Are (and Aren’t) … and How to Make Them Happen

What adjectives can you use to describe a short-term mission trip?

  • Life-changing? Yes!
  • Unforgettable? Yes!
  • Challenging? Yes!
  • Hard work? Yes!
  • Worthwhile? Yes!
  • Popular? Yes!
  • Misunderstood? Sometimes!
  • Vacation? NO!!

Well, seven out of eight isn’t bad.

      Actually, when it comes to personalizing the Great Commission, one of the most effective ways for a church to make a real connection with global missions is sending members on a short-term mission trip. By definition, a short-term mission trip (STM) is just that—a brief cross-cultural outreach that lasts up to three weeks. Occasionally they can be longer, from a few months to a year. The average person taking part is a volunteer serving temporarily, often during spring break or summer vacation. The most important ability people bring is availability!
      There has been an incredible increase in STM over the past 50 years. Ralph Winter, founder of the U.S. Center for World Missions, has called short-term missions the “least anticipated major mutation in modern missions.” In 1965 a student researcher estimated 540 North Americans took part in an STM, while a reliable estimate in 2008 suggests nearly 1,000,000 Christians served in this way! That number approached nearly 1.5 million by 2015.
      Though increasingly widespread, the idea is not new. In fact, some of the firsthand accounts of the travels of Paul and his companions were written by Luke the physician on something similar to a STM. He traveled for somewhat shorter periods of time during the third missionary journey of the early church with Paul and the others who were sent out from Antioch (Acts 25).
      The ease of international travel over the past generation has made it possible to travel great distances in a relatively short time. Missionaries used to journey for months to reach their places of ministry—often never to return. Now these distant places can be reached in just a few days.
It is fairly common to encounter resistance from people who question the real value of STM. But after more than 30 years of experience planning and leading teams, I remain passionately committed to the value of STM trips when they are done well.

Four Important Questions

1. Is anything really accomplished in such a short time?

      There can be great benefit for the mission field in even a few short weeks. That’s because a quality STM team is actually part of a larger picture: the ongoing ministry of national leaders and/or missionaries. In practical terms, for us here at ALWM this means that:

  • We only go where we are invited to bring a team.
  • We coordinate our team goals and activities with the specific requests and input of indigenous leaders and missionaries.
  • We only go where we know our local co-workers intend to follow up. Since we plan together from the beginning, we are already intentionally doing things that help their ongoing ministry.

      For example, a young leader in Slovakia has now been serving the Lord for nearly 25 years. She shared that her life was changed by one phrase spoken nearly 20 years ago by a member of a short-term team visiting her public high school.
      In answer to a question about life, a young man had referred to the Bible as the “manual for life.” This little phrase penetrated the hearts of four teenage girls, sending them on a search into God’s Word that led all four to faith in Christ. Most likely the speaker doesn’t even remember saying it, and the girls never saw him again.
      In addition, the missionaries and indigenous Christians are encouraged by the support and help offered by properly trained teams that come with a servant’s heart. Living in the U.S. with churches on every corner, it is very easy for us to forget how isolating it can be for someone who is alone in their faith or struggling to persevere in their ministry. Our coworker Nadya in Russia said, “Life is hard here in Russia these days. Your presence helps melt the heart.”
      Many people wonder what they have to give, but when they go in love, in Jesus’ name, God works powerfully—softening the hearts of those who go as well as those who are served.

2. Isn’t an STM trip really a glorified vacation, at times at church expense?

       When there is prayer, partnership, training and good planning, an STM trip produces fruitful ministry. It is anything but a holiday. The only similarities between an STM and a holiday vacation are the travel and the change of scenery! For example, our Vietnam mission teams put in long days as we travel to villages and assist medical teams by working with children and adults in various ways. We often leave in the dark and return to the hotel in the dark! In Cambodia and Vietnam we distribute reading glasses, which are a ready commodity here, but greatly needed in villages in developing nations. We share the Gospel via conversational English, we minister to children, and much more.
      Very few churches have the expertise or relationships to be able to organize a fruitful trip that will bless everyone—the mission field, the team member and the sending congregation. Moreover, having a critical mass of people to take the trip is difficult. Therefore, it is best to partner with an organization that is experienced in planning an STM trip. This way a church can offer trips to selected areas of the world, with the missions committee selecting trips that meet congregationally established criteria.

3. What life change takes place in those who go on an STM trip?

      Reliable statistics suggest that now more than 90% of those who answer the call to serve as career missionaries hear that call while serving on an STM trip. That is the most significant life change that can happen as a result of an STM. The statistics do not say that 90% of those who serve on an STM become missionaries, but—for the vast majority of missionaries—serving on a short-term outreach was a crucial step in discerning or confirming their personal call.
      This remains for me the primary purpose for short term missions: a tool in God’s hands for calling forth more laborers into His harvest field. Short-term workers can make a difference, but this will never supplant the ministry in Jesus’ name that happens when missionaries are willing to leave behind “home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel” (Mark 10:29b) and go wherever He sends them.
      I have seen the Holy Spirit repeatedly use STM trips in various ways. Participants grow in Christ as they get outside of their normal day-to-day life. A world that at times is no bigger than the road leading across town suddenly grows as new people and new places are seen. There is a fresh awareness of the nations and tribes and peoples and languages described in the book of Revelation.
      There is also a new opportunity to learn the meaning of flexibility as the scheduled regimentation of Western living is left behind. Eyes are opened to what is really important when we have the privilege to come to know people for whom relationships are far more important than tasks. Missions giving often significantly increases—as well as giving in general—as priorities are reordered. People make the exciting discovery that life really isn’t about accumulating the biggest pile of stuff.
      Another result is prayer for missions and missionaries usually increases due to a new awareness of the joys and challenges of missionary life. The missionaries supported as a congregation are no longer unknown names in distant places, but are now people who are known firsthand. The STM report is brought back by other ordinary people in the congregation. When the number of people with short-term missions experience grows over the years, this can have a dramatic effect on the health and vitality of the church.

4. How do you wisely and fruitfully fund STM trips in a congregation?

      Never pay for the entire trip with church mission benevolence funds. This can create a number of issues. For example: How do you select who will go? Resentment and misunderstanding are common in these situations. Will the team member invest in all of the training and preparation if they are handed the trip for free? How do you replace the large amount of mission dollars spent this way?
      The best way to fund STM trips is by having a two-pronged approach. First, offer scholarships from church mission funds for team members. It may be a set amount, perhaps $250-$1000 per trip, or it could be a percentage of the trip cost. Using some congregation mission funds to invest in people is entirely appropriate and well worth it when you consider:

  • Fruitful ministry done in Jesus’ name on the mission field on behalf of the congregation,
  • The fruit in the personal lives of the members, and
  • The benefit to the church of more people who understand the primacy of the Great Commission first hand.

      Second, have team members send out support-raising letters to friends, co-workers and family. They are first asking for prayer support, which is vital before and during the trip. Some people have the resources to pay their own way, and they may not want a congregational scholarship. But all should write letters to build a prayer team. For those who need it—which will be most people—also offer an opportunity to contribute to their participation on the team. Many people often will want to invest in the trip because they want to feel a part of what their friend or co-worker has stepped out to do. This way it becomes our trip…not his or her trip.
[End of excerpt]

God’s Call Remains

God’s call to the nations still remains for congregations large and small. Don’t miss the blessing of sending people from your church! There is obviously more involved, but the Home Depot tagline fits: “Let’s do this!”

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