Short Term Missions

Yesterday I read a short essay on the value of short term missions. I thought this was a timely thing to read since I am gearing up for a short term mission myself. What was interesting was that based on this person’s research, short term missions are not very effective and can sometimes be detrimental to the very people we are trying to help. A little more than a year ago I also read K.P. Yohannan’s book, Revolution in World Missions, which had similar sentiments regarding western missions.

Here’s the thing – I agree with both of them. I too have long felt that short term mission trips were somewhat of a waste of money and didn’t really have the lasting impact that we so desire. So why am I now going on such a trip?? I have 2 main reasons: preparation for the future and the nature of the work we will be doing in Thailand.

I’ll explain more on the first one later but as far as the second one goes, I love that we are not simply going to Thailand to work on some building project or simply to visit orphanages and play with kids while we’re there.

Don’t get me wrong – neither of these are bad things. But instead, we will be coming along side long term missionaries in Thailand to reach out to kids and people who have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ. We will be going from village to village and putting on programs where up to 900 kids might show up!

I am so thankful and feel so privileged to be able to participate in this cross-cultural outreach! Those of you who are partnering with me either financially or in prayer should feel the same way because you too are a part of this!