Ten ways to ruin your short-term mission trip
TL;DR:
Short-term mission trips can be life-changing, faith-deepening experiences, but unhealthy attitudes and actions can quickly sabotage their impact. This tongue-in-cheek guide outlines 10 surefire ways to ruin a mission trip — such as avoiding menial work, refusing to adapt, criticizing leaders, ignoring prayer, or being rigid and judgmental. In reality, success lies in doing the opposite of these behaviors. The page encourages servant-hearted flexibility, cultural sensitivity, and humility. It includes a set of positive practices for building cross-cultural bridges (e.g., being cheerful, adaptable, and respectful) and a warning list of bridge-burning behaviors (e.g., being critical, inflexible, or ethnocentric). There is also the metaphor of a mission trip being like a pie, with safety being the very slice to be served. The final element is a case study about flirtatious behavior on short-term mission trips.
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- A mission trip is an opportunity for personal growth, learning, and serving others. It can be a life-changing experience that may even deepen your faith and understanding of God.
- However, there are attitudes and actions through which team members can sabotage the effectiveness of the mission trip.
- Bridges can be burned rather than being built.
Tips for having a successful mission trip plus Ten Commandments for Mission Trip Participants
Unhealthy attitudes and behaviors on short-term mission trips
Believe it or not, it's possible to have a bad short-term missions
experience. Most times, this is not the fault of the situation or the organization setting up the
trip. Instead, the attitude and expectations of a short-term trip participant often wind up being the
root causes of negative experiences.
A Bit of Reverse Psychology. . .
To maximize your short-term experience, AVOID doing things on this Top Ten list:
- Be narrowly focused on "spiritual" activities. Since you want to win people
to Christ, focus on only the loftiest of things. Avoid menial work like data entry, loading trucks,
or working on buildings. Such things will distract you from your primary task.
- To tighten up your schedule, eliminate personal prayer and Bible study. You will be
so rushed away that you probably won't have time. Besides, can't you get all the spiritual food
you need from group devotions and church services?
- Stay organized and on schedule. Set detailed goals before you go. Establish
schedules and refuse to deviate from them. Do not accept delays, last-minute changes, and
impromptu visits and invitations. Those things will just keep you from getting things done for God.
- Help the missionaries by pointing out their mistakes. Bring them up to date on what
you've heard are the latest trends in missions. Some missionaries are stubborn. So, you may need
to enlist support among the nationals for your views about how things should be run.
- Get involved romantically with someone. Being away from family and friends
makes this the perfect time to do so. While it may distract you slightly from the work, you will be
able to expose national Christians to America's progressive dating customs.
- Don't embarrass yourself by trying to learn some of the local language. People
say that English is spoken worldwide. So, insist that people use it with you.
- Immediately begin pointing out your team members' faults. Time is short. It will be
difficult for people to make the needed changes if you don't help them right from the start. Focus
your helpful criticisms on team leaders.
- Do not eat any of the local food as you go all out in the war against dangerous
germs. You may miss some friendly opportunities with "the natives," but you'll
keep those awful germs at bay!
- Keep your distance from team members who couldn't raise their full support. They
may try to mooch off you. Don't give in. Sweating over finances builds faith!
- When you return home, scold your home church and friends for their lack of
commitment, weak prayers, and inadequate giving to missions. This may be one of the few
times you will have their deferential respect. Make the most of this opportunity to make them feel guilty.
If you do all these Top Ten things (or even some of them), you will have a less-than-fruitful and not-so-enjoyable short-term mission trip. These are, naturally, tongue-in-cheek rules. You and your team members need to be doing the opposite!
-- adapted from an issue of Commissioned
Question: "Do people actually do
the things on this list?"
Yes, they do. Recently, a friend who needs to remain
anonymous wrote to me: "I had a woman on two of my trips who consistently did five things
on your list. Last year, I actually prayed that she couldn't come. God answered my prayer."
|
A motto for mission trip teams
One short-term mission leader makes his team members memorize this servanthood
"mantra:"
No rights. No control. No
status. Whenever. However. Wherever.
"Seeing not only cultural differences but all the similarities between peoples will make us better citizens and Christians." -- Dee Kelley
Building bridges versus burning them during your mission trip
Your choices on a short-term mission trip will determine whether you are building bridges or
burning them as you try to minister cross-culturally
How to build cross-cultural ministry bridges
Doing incarnational ministry in a broken world
- Include missionaries'/pastors' kids in activities.
- Be punctual, and then be willing to cheerfully wait on others.
- Be understanding of others.
- Receive graciously whatever is given to you to eat or is presented to you as a gift.
- Be considerate of others on your team (Remember: there is no "I" in teamwork)
- Remember daily devotions.
- Realize that on any occasion, "This is temporary . . . this too shall pass."
- Write to your home church and to your financial and prayer supporters.
- Keep promises.
- Be friendly.
- Be a willing and cheerful worker.
- Be careful.
- Willingly adjust to your host culture.
- Be open-minded.
- Expect the unexpected.
- Be ready to share your gifts (i.e., talents, skills, abilities).
- Be conscious of the country/city you are in and its unique customs.
- Affirm the intelligence of people in all cultures and positions.
- Expect the Lord to use you.
- Think before you speak.
- Determine to be Christlike in all things.
- Build up the missionaries, pastors, and other church leaders.
- Learn as much as you can about the host culture and the language spoken by its people.
- Be a good listener.
- Be excited about their pride in their country/city.
- Be enthusiastic and present a positive Christianity (not "Churchianity").
- If serving outside your home country, represent Christ, not your home country.
- Keep your focus: Witness for Christ.
- Be flexible!
How to burn cross-cultural ministry bridges
In other words, How to destroy ministry opportunities and relationships
- Judge hastily.
- Stick with your first impressions.
- Talk bad or critically about missionaries.
- Make light of another religion.
- Be pessimistic.
- Recoil in shock from poverty conditions.
- Confuse disadvantage with ignorance.
- Act as though you think people from your home country are the only ones who know how to run a church.
- Complain.
- Be condescending.
- Worry about your performance.
- Expect to sleep late.
- Expect your mission trip to be a tourist vacation.
- Be nosy.
- Be moody.
- Be fussy about what you are willing to eat.
- Expect food to appear whenever you want it.
- Be particular about where you sleep.
- Share complaints, secrets, or things you don't like with anyone . . . any time . . . anywhere!
- Be afraid of everything.
- Voice comparisons between various missionaries and pastors.
- Take sides in the problems or issues church leaders on the site may be experiencing
- Argue or debate!
Ten Commandments for mission trip participants
How can you make your mission trip a worthwhile one?
Healthy attitudes contribute to short-term mission trip fruitfulness
- You shall not forget that you represent your home country
and, more importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ.
- You shall not expect things to be the same as they are at home, for you have left your
home to find different things. [ mono-culturalism
]
- You shall not take minor things too seriously. Accepting things as they are will pave the way for
a good mission trip.
- You shall not judge all insert name of target people by the one person with whom you have had trouble.
- You shall not let other group members get on your nerves. You raised good money and set aside this time. So, enjoy yourself.
- You shall not be overly worried. The person who worries has no pleasures. Few things people worry about are ever fatal.
- Remember your passport (or other identification document) so that you always know where
it is. A person without documents is a person without a country.
- Blessed is the person who says "thank you" in any language. Verbal gratefulness is worth more than tips.
- When in insert name of country (Rome), do as the insert name of
people (Romans) do. If in difficulty, use common sense and your native friendliness.
- Remember, you are a guest in insert name of country. He who respects his host shall be treated as an honored guest.
Okay, so these aren't the 10
commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. However, these principles are foundational to
success in short-term cross-cultural experiences.
Violating these ten commandments (even if Moses didn't receive them and handed them on)
will likely spoil your short-term experience and tarnish your contribution to a clear witness for
Christ in a cross-cultural setting. Keeping these ten rules will make your short-term mission trip
far more fruitful and successful in terms of the Kingdom of God.
"I learned a lot about myself and about God on two month-long mission trips to
Washington, D.C.. Those two trips were God's way of telling me that there are other people
who need to hear about Him . . . It was, without a doubt, the best two months of my life." --
Johanna Rice
Safety: The first priority on a mission trip
Doing things safely: The first serving of the mission trip pie
"Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm" -- Proverbs 1:33
During a Nazarene Missions Team short-term mission trip in Monterrey, Mexico, a lady fell at a construction site and dislocated her shoulder. In the aftermath of that accident, veteran mission trip participant Ken Earman drew a pie diagram on a paper napkin.
As he handed that napkin to me, he mentioned all the ingredients that go into a pie. A mission trip is like a pie, he said. Like a pie, a mission trip has a variety of ingredients. The ingredients of a good mission trip "pie" include things like:
- Recruiting participants
- Fundraising
- Soliciting prayer support
- Getting passports and other documents
- Pre-trip preparation/training
- Team organization
- Transportation/travel
- On-field organizing
- Permission from local authorities
- Gathering of construction tools and materials
Ken noted that putting together a good mission trip pie usually takes a long time. Then he
said, "But, the first piece of that pie that gets served at the destination is safety. Don't serve any
other piece of the pie until the safety one has been eaten!"
Ken Earman was right. Psalm 23 affirms God's presence even in life's dark moments. We
are also offered the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And we are cautioned against reckless stupidity!
"Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm" -- 1 Chronicles 4:9
Flirting on a mission team — Giving Jeff a thrill
- In a case study, Jeff and Katy, college students on a short-term mission team, experienced tension after Katy made a flirtatious and public comment toward Jeff at a campfire gathering.
- Jeff felt Katy’s remark was inappropriate and disrespectful, especially in light of how they have been trained to act in their upcoming mission in Nigeria.
- The incident raised concerns for Jeff about how such behavior might affect team dynamics and their witness in a Muslim-majority context.
- Jeff struggled internally with whether to confront Katy, report the situation, or let it go, fearing judgment or dismissal from peers.
- The case study can spark discussions about the challenges of navigating interpersonal boundaries and spiritual integrity within mission team environments.
Case study
Jeff felt like Katy had disrespected him.
On Sunday evening, the two college students had been introduced to each other as teammates for
a summer of short-term missions. They then spent an intensive week of training with their four
teammates and other students going to 20 different countries. At a Saturday evening
bonfire on the beach, Katy made a remark to Jeff that seemed too flirtatious and possibly even laced with sexual innuendo.
He felt it needed to be confronted, but he didn't know in what way.
It had been a great training camp in California. Jeff, who was a student at a university in
America's heartland, was excited about spending the summer in Nigeria with the team to which
he had been assigned. His five teammates were all from different universities. They seemed to
have a good mix of personalities. Katy was by far the most boisterous. Jeff thought some of her
outbursts bordered on the inappropriate. Still, in his confidence that the Holy Spirit had put their
team together, he trusted that Katy's exuberance would be used in their ministry, which they had
been told would involve outreach to Muslims.
They had now arrived at the next-to-last night of training camp. The nearly 100 Youth in Mission participants and the training staff were at an evening campfire on the beach. The laid-back evening was a welcome break from the crammed week of seminars, team-building exercises, and spiritual development sessions.
Jeff was lost in reflections on the weeks of ministry ahead as he stood facing the fire. People from his own team and others were milling around, enjoying the fire and the sound of ocean waves on the sand. His teammate Katy was directly on the other side of the fire from Jeff. Her back was to the fire as she talked to friends.
A cool, gentle wind was blowing, but the fire was hot. As the fire warmed up those around
it, Katy decided to take off her sweatshirt. When she pulled it over her head, the back of her T-shirt underneath rode up with it.
Though Jeff was facing Katy, his mind was far away. In just 48 hours, they would be in
Nigeria! Then, when Katy began taking off her sweatshirt, her movements caught his eye. Jeff
found himself staring at his teammate's bare back. He shifted his eyes away. It was too late.
One of the young ladies with Katy saw Jeff looking across the fire and said something to Katy.
Pulling her shirt back down, Katy looked back over her shoulder with a mischievous grin.
"Give you a thrill, Jeffie?" she said loudly enough for all of those nearby to hear.
Stunned, Jeff just stood there. For a millisecond, he tried to think of a snappy comeback.
Then he decided not to respond as Katy turned back toward her friends.
What Katy had just done seemed very inappropriate. Even outside the Youth in Mission context, her language and manner seemed too coquettish. As far as Youth in Mission was concerned, what she had done ran counter to several cautions raised during their week of training: (1) The need to protect team dynamics and guard against cross-cultural misunderstandings by avoiding romantic involvements during the summer, (2) The insidiousness of sexual temptations during lonely times they might encounter in their eight weeks away from family and friends, (3) Specifically for Jeff and Katy's team, the opportunities they might have in Nigeria to challenge the prevalent Islamic view that American Christians were morally bankrupt.
As the evening went on, Jeff wondered what he was supposed to do now.
- Should he talk to Katy? If he did, he was afraid she would laugh at him.
- Should he drop it as a harmless -- though seemingly flirtatious -- remark?
- Should he report the incident to his team leader (a college student like himself)? If he did so, would the team leader think he was being overly sensitive?
- Should he seek advice from the training camp staff?
Processing the case study
Need help in deciding what Jeff should do? [ case study discussion guide ]
-- Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
Acrostic: What Happens on Mission Trips
M - Mobilized by faith, we go with hearts wide open
I - Inspired to serve, not to be served
S - Sharing Christ’s love in word and deed
S - Stepping outside comfort zones for His glory
I - Immersed in cultures, we learn and grow
O - Offering hope, healing, and help
N - Nurturing global friendships rooted in Christ
T - Trusting God through every challenge
R - Reaching the lost, encouraging the found
I - Investing our time in eternal things
P - Praying constantly, walking humbly
S - Strengthened in faith as we serve together
