Are Short-Term Missions Worth It?

by Nick Braito

When Jesus told His followers, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), He surely expected some people to go somewhere.

Since there are still thousands of “nations” (or people groups) that are considered unreached (that is, without an established, reproducing church able to make disciples among their people), the missionary task is not yet finished.

So, who should go—and for how long?

As we at Neighborhood Church consider our own involvement in missions, we believe that long-term service is foundational to the completion of the missionary task. In so many situations, effective ministry and church planting require in-depth knowledge of the language, history and culture. In many places, evangelism and even basic discipleship happen over many years and thus demand an on-going commitment to personal relationships.

Therefore, the majority of our church’s missionary giving and prayers are directed towards those serving long-term on the mission field. As church leaders, we are continually praying that God would raise up more people from our church to go to the nations long-term.

However, we still see a place for short-term missions for several reasons:

There is a biblical precedent for short-term missions. Consider Johan to Nineveh (Jonah 1-4), the Apostles to the Jewish towns (Matthew 10:5-15), the 72 men Jesus sent out to towns in anticipation of His coming (Luke 10:1-12), Philip to the Ethiopian (Acts 8:26-40), or Peter to Cornelius (Acts 10:19-48). With God directing events, there may be a reason why He intends to use a particular person or team for a specific task.

Short-term trips can be an encouragement to those who receive them. There is no doubt that a poorly-planned or poorly-timed trip can be a burden to hosts on the field—which is something that we desperately want to avoid! However, a well-trained team that goes with the right attitude and a clear purpose can be a great blessing and encouragement to long-term workers. Workers on the field are often very glad to have more people at home understand and appreciate the situations and challenges they face in their on-going ministry.

Those who go on short-term trips often come back changed and more excited about the missionary task. Many people can point back to an experience overseas as one that altered their perception of and commitment to missions. Those who have been on short-term trips often become more likely to pray for, give to, send out, and advocate for missionaries.

Many of those who do end up on the field long-term can point back to a short-term trip as a pivotal moment that shaped the direction of their lives. (In fact, speaking personally, there is no doubt my own passion for missions has been greatly shaped by my experiences overseas!)

At Neighborhood Church, the question we deal with is not so much, “Should we be involved in short-term missions?” but “How should we be involved in short-term missions?”

Like everything else, we want to do short-term missions well. When we send out teams, we often try to send them to people with whom we have an existing partnership. We seek to coordinate our plans with those receiving us according to their needs. We do our best to adequately train for our trips beforehand and to debrief well afterwards, trusting God to use these trips to bring about long-term change in the lives of those we visit and in our own lives.

We long to see every member of Neighborhood Church passionate for and involved in global missions—whether going, sending, welcoming, giving, praying or mobilizing—all for the glory of God’s name in every nation.

So, as we look forward to seeing more people from our church involved in missions, we would appreciate your prayers for our short-term endeavors.

Pray with us that we would be sensitive to God’s leading, that our trips would be beneficial both to those who receive us and to those who go, and that we would excel in our pre-trip training and our post-trip debriefing.