Why Short Term Missions?

Hi Everyone, 

Thanks for checking out our blog.  I think one of the important questions to address when considering mission trips is always: "Why do we go?"  As someone who has gone on several trips over the years, it's interesting to look back on how I have viewed the purpose of those trips.  There is a variety of reasons to go on mission trips, and while I'm not saying that certain reasons are necessarily right or wrong, but I just want to take you through my general thoughts over the years.

When I was in youth group, mission trips were basically opportunities for me to travel to new places and hang out my church friends.  Sure, I had good intentions of helping out and serving others too, but those were probably secondary to having a good time on the trip.  Looking back, I did learn some valuable lessons about serving cross culturally, but my heart was not in the right place during those trips.

As I got older, my focus shifted from just going for fun to actually wanting to learn and mature as a Christian.  While this is definitely a positive thing and a benefit of mission trips, I was still self-serving in my approach.  I asked, "What can I get out of this trip?" and "How can I grow?"  While these are not bad questions to ask, I made the trips about myself, rather than about those I was serving.

In recent years, my approach has turned more outward.  This is not to say that I don't learn or grow in the process, but my primary reasons for going on these trips is more about loving and serving others.  I want to share the Gospel with those who have not heard it.  I want to encourage and teach fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  I want to support the ministries of the missionaries in whatever areas they need help.  There are certain things the local missionaries cannot do on their own, like hold larger scale events, so that's why it's important teams can go support them.

Lastly, one thing I've been thinking about more recently is short term missions as a way to connect the church to the mission field.  I recognize that not all church members are able to go out to the mission field for a variety of reasons.  However, all church members can participate in supporting missions, whether it's learning about and praying for the missionaries, supporting them financially, or sending encouragement through conversations, cards, or gifts.  It is the role of the short term mission team to connect the church to the mission field through sharing about our needs and our experiences.