Resource for the pre-trip phase:
Before You Go by Jack Hempfling, a
devotional book for short-term mission trip participantsIn normal years, as many as half a million North Americans go on short-term missions trips. A 10-day short-term missions trip experience is more than just the ten days spent on a mission field. There are important things that need to happen before the trip occurs, and there are important things that should occur after the ten days are over. As you set up your mission trip calendar, many things need to be on it in addition to the dates of departure and return.
Here are the three phases of every short-term missions trip along with a listing of activities that will or should go on in each phase.
| PRE-Field |
| Preparing |
|
| ↓ |
| ON-Field |
| Giving/Receiving |
|
| ↓ |
| POST-Field |
| Back to Earth |
|
This chart reflects Roger Petersen's presentations at Fall conferences of the Fellowship of Short-Term Missions Leaders and the follow-up discussions among conference participants.
It's been said that the interactions within a group of participants on short-term mission trips often go through a progression of:
Over the past few decades, short-term mission trips have become very visible parts of the church's attempt to carry out Christ's Great Commission. While those trips are a key component, they are not the one-and-only way the Great Commission is being fulfilled. They are just one component of today's world evangelism enterprise.
Mission trips reflect God's giving nature. Many do construction but others are evangelistic. Some give specific skills such as computer technology, medical care, sports outreach, teaching, or sewing. The trips affect the go-ers as much and probably even more than they affect the receivers.
Some time ago, a Haitian pastor reminded me that a chief benefit of mission trips was the sense they give to both receivers and goers that they are part of a global Church.
An excellent short-term mission fosters healthy, ongoing relationships between sending and receiving partners. An excellent short-term mission collaboratively plans on-field activities aligned to the long-term strategies of the partnership.
A good mission trip is truthful in promotion, finances, and reporting results. It will have quality program delivery and support logistics. Good short-term mission trips are led by spiritually mature servant leaders who are prepared, competent, and accountable and who seek to equip and empower others.
A good short-term mission trip has ongoing training and equipping (pre-field, on-field, post-field) that is Biblical, appropriate, and timely. It will also have thorough follow-through, which includes comprehensive debriefing of all participants (pre-field, on-field, post-field). In short-term mission trips that are done well, participants are, above all else, seeking God's way of doing and being. Most importantly, they have their hearts set on the Kingdom of God.
Resource for the pre-trip phase:
Before You Go by Jack Hempfling, a
devotional book for short-term mission trip participants
Experiences on every mission trip turn into stories worth telling over and over again. Here are four such experiences of which I was privileged to be a part
I am sometimes asked, "Rather than spending so much money on travel lodging and meals to go somewhere and help on a construction project, wouldn't it be better for us to just send that money to hire local workers to get the job done?"
One day during our five years as missionaries to Haiti, I posed that question to four or five key Haitian pastors. One of them got a pained, sad look on his face. An awkward moment passed, and then, in a quiet, plaintive voice, he said, "It"s not about the money. They help our church members know that we're not alone. They help us know that we're part of something global. Having a mission trip team here is an uplifting time for them regardless of what gets done in terms of construction."
I went on my first short-term mission trip as a college student. We went to a town in northern Mexico called Muzquiz. Forty years after that trip, I was back in Muzquiz over a Christmas break, this time as the university"s coordinator of a large short-term mission group.
On New Year's Day during that trip, people from five other churches in towns nearby gathered in the yard of the Muzquiz church for a combined celebration service. I stood in the back, leaning up against a palm tree. A young man from the Muzquiz church stood nearby. At one point, he leaned over and asked me, "Aren't you one of those they said came here a long time ago and helped build this first building?"
"Yes," I said.
"Thank you," he said, "Because of what you did, today I know Jesus."
The man was not old enough to have been born when we were there 40 years prior. However, because of the launch forward given to a tiny house church, the gospel reached the heart of a young man who came along later.
The standard rule on short-term mission trips is "No romancing." No romances between team members. No romances between team members and those of the receiving church.
However, on one trip I helped organize and send, a college student in Oklahoma named Joel and a college student in Ohio named Sara wound up on the same short-term mission trip team in Papua New Guinea one summer. They obeyed the "no pairing off" team rule. However, they exchanged phone numbers and email addresses at the end of the trip.
A long-distance romance did develop, and after graduation ceremonies at their respective universities, they were married. They then spent two years as short-term volunteers in Italy. After seminary, they were appointed as career Nazarene missionaries. They have served in Europe and in Southeast Asia.
One year, I was in a Louisiana church recruiting people for a short-term mission trip to do church construction in Monterrey, Mexico. An elderly lady approached me and said, "I'd sure love to go. I've always supported missionaries. I would love to visit Kingdom work in another country. But what good would I be? I cannot do anything to help with the construction project."
I told her if she came on the trip, we would put a chair under a tree, and she could dispense lemonade to the workers (local people as well as the Americans on the team). She could also interact with the inevitable crowd of neighborhood children who would show up to watch the activity on the project.
She did sign up for the team, sat in a chair under a tree, dispensed lemonade, and interacted daily with all the children who showed up. She became their English-speaking grandma for that week! She was a key part of that mission team's impact on that local congregation's ministry.
More mission trip stories
"May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." -- Romans 15:5-6
| Solving problems in each phase of every cross-cultural exposure experience |
1. Pre-field preparation |
| Problem: Time pressure, distractions, busy culture, work
schedules, tourist or consumer mentality, "adventure" attitude, lack of understanding Solution: Provide pre-field Bible studies. Insist that every team member prepare their heart for ministry by completing these devotional Bible studies before leaving for the field. (Pre-trip Bible study devotions ) |
2. On-field experience |
| Problem: Leaders guided by "tyranny of the urgent," lack of time to
prepare, and unexpected schedule changes. Good intentions with no follow-through Solution: Schedule 20-30 minutes before breakfast (or another set time) for team members to be alone with God. Provide on-field devotional Bible studies to help participants grow in their spiritual walk. |
3. Purposeful reentry |
| Problem: Time and schedule demands on returning students,
workers, and professionals. Failure to understand or feel the need to readjust to a person's own
culture can later cause serious problems for returnees. Solution: Frequently, people underestimate reentry stresses. Maximize your short-term mission trip investment with follow-up and debriefing. Provide reentry devotional Bible studies that include helpful reentry questions. |
-- Based on material by Howard and Bonnie Liesch "As leaders, we can do a great job of managing team logistics while at the same time becoming so busy with those details that we fail to help our team members grow spiritually." —Howard and Bonnie Liesch |
"Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." -- 2 Corinthians 13:11
-- Howard Culbertson --
 | How do you get started raising finances for a mission trip? There are some effective strategies you can use to create a network of faithful supporters. [ more ] |
Short-term mission trips are intensive and purpose-driven experiences that typically last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Participants, usually volunteers from various backgrounds and age groups, engage in a range of activities aimed at serving communities in need. These activities often include construction projects, medical outreach, educational programs, or community development initiatives. The focus is not only on providing aid but also on fostering relationships and cultural exchange. Participants immerse themselves in the local culture, learning from community members while offering their skills and resources. These trips often leave a lasting impact not only on the communities served but also on the individuals involved, fostering personal growth, empathy, and a broader worldview.