Why your short term mission trip is a good idea.

There is a lot of blogs and articles questioning the idea of a short term mission trip,  that last a few weeks or months. Some arguments presented in these articles are really good but the idea of always questioning short term mission trips brings discouragement to those who want to go with a genuine desire to serve God. 

So even tho I will give some warnings, the purpose of this post is redirect your thought about why it is important to do short term trips and how can we make the most of it. 

1. Encourage the long term missionaries and local pastors: even if you are going for a short period of time, there is missionaries and pastors who stay in those countries, these long term missionaries or local pastors most time deal with frustration, loneliness, stress and interpersonal conflicts within their families or with other people. The presence of short term teams can bring refreshment to the long term ministers, even if the week gets busier, I highly recommend to make the most use of your time to encourage the local missionaries or initiate personal conversations regarding how you can pray for them or what is going on in their lives. It is important to take care of those who are staying after you leave, I know you have projects and want to get them done, but you should never forget the hearts of those who will see the long term of the fruit of your work.

     You can also encourage missionaries by having a relax time with them and talking to them, chilling or hanging out with them, or if they are from your country, you can bring them something they miss. Where I work, I know a lot of long term missionaries who speak English and they get excited when English speaking people come. Remember, there is missionaries who are planing to stay long term and having a little taste from home helps them in their homesickness.  People you know and love, even tho they are from different countries can be an encouragement to people in the field, there is a big importance in lift up spiritually (not their ego) to those who stay in the field. 

2. They have people to work with some projects: sometimes missionaries have specific tasks they wish they could do but they sometimes can't because of lack of people prepared for this or just lack of availability in people. So your medical team, construction team, or the group of people you brought can be used for the task that missionaries may have at that point. The presence of your team will be a blessing as you are willing to be flexible and help them with the projects they have in mind. So yes, you should come and help them.

3. Unique time of fellowship: there are missionaries who work in very small rural areas where there is no church at all. For those missionaries the only fellowship they get with other believers is when mission teams comes to help them. So take a time to get in deep fellowship with them because sometimes it has been several weeks or months since they had contact with other believer in person. Fellowship is important in the Christian life, but there is times where the Lord takes you to work in places where fellowship with other believers is something you get once in a while, I've been in those shoes and I can tell how encouraging it can be.

4. You can learn from them: sometimes the mission field help us to grow in maturity if we are not stubborn or proud. The Lord humble us and as missionaries we hope to teach you how to do things effectively in your short term mission trip. And we can say that not because we are proud or we think we know better than you but because when we stay we see the outcome of the work done by short term teams. So if you want to help long term missionaries, let them help you in your short term trip, you may want to get things done but the long term workers know what is best for the area.

5. Don't get too caught in your plans: I know that some people have the mindset of having a full schedule trip where they gonna work 24/7 and that's a great start but sometimes the things you are going to do more by learning, praying and encouraging. Listen before you speak, learn before you act and pray before you preach; it may an eternal help for you and those who hear you. There is some cultures or places where is harder to have everything scheduled because things go slower so be flexible, if you don't have a lot to do one of those days maybe the Lord wants you to be quiet and think about the interactions you already had or meditate in his word and who knows maybe you need to study his word more that day so He prepares you for a particular time He will use you. Whatever plans you have, surrender them to the Lord, and if you are a workaholic, don't worry He will teach you.

6. Enjoy the Culture: Some people who goes on short-term trips are afflicted by the culture they are in, they feel so different and that everybody is staring at them because is not common for the locals to see people like them. I understand that in different places people don't navigate things in the same way you do. But instead of focusing in all the differences and saying look at this or look at that, learn why locals think that way or learn how they get their culture, it will be helpful for you as you are there and also to contextualize your gospel witness.

I think short term mission trips are good but we must be careful to not do our own thing but go along what the Lord directs us to do as we learn more about  the culture and the missionaries who are there. Also don't forget to prepare yourself biblically and in prayer and if you have access to ask questions, don't hesitate but always learn.

My prayer is that you be encouraged by this and go help a missionary whether is locally or oversees.