The question of whether short term missionaries actually make a lasting impact is not only a popular one, but one that’s legitimate. Karl Dahlfred (M.Div, Gordon-Conwell) is a missionary with OMF International, working in Thailand. In this guest blog post, he explains how short term missionaries can best serve the communities in which they work. He blogs regularly at
Gleanings from the Field.
Short-term teams are often limited in their language ability, cultural
knowledge, and depth of relationship with the people they are
seeking to minister to. The number of possible activities that a
short-term mission team can do is almost limitless but what is the best,
most strategic way that a team can spend its limited time? How can
they use their short time on the field to produce a potentially
long-term impact on the mission field?
I’ve been involved in the world of evangelical missions for almost
fifteen years at this point and I’ve been on short-term mission trips,
led short term trips, and now as a long term missionary I have hosted
short-term teams on the field. I am convinced that the best, most
effective way that short-term missionaries can contribute to the
ministry of long-term missionaries and the local church is through
serving as bridge builders.
By bridge building, I don’t mean a construction project. Rather,
short-termers are in a unique position to help put long-term
missionaries and local Christians in contact with people who don’t yet
know Christ. In many places, the church is very small and missionaries
are often on their own. There is a limit to the number of people they
can get to know, and the number of people who would be interested in
getting to know them. However, in some ministry contexts, long-term
missionaries or local Christians can set up special activities or events
to attract non-believers and create a context where they can get to
know not only the short-termers but also the long-termers and local
Christians. When the short-termers go home, those introductions that
have been made can be continued by those still on the field.
An example of bridge building that I’ve seen work fairly well is the
long-term missionary or local Christians arranging for an incoming
short-term team to teach a couple of days of English conversation at a
local high school or college. Even though there is a language barrier,
the local students are attracted to the short-termers because they are
new, different, and exotic (in the from-a-foreign-country sense). At
the end of their teaching session, the short-termers invite the students
to a special event at the local church or youth ministry center. Some
of the students come to such an event. They play games, sing songs,
have food, hang out with their new foreign friends, hear testimonies,
and maybe a short Gospel message. But they also meet long-term
missionaries and local Christians who are at the event. After the
short-termers have gone home, some of those relationships continue.
Most the folks who came to check out the foreigners disappear after they
go home. But some stay to hear more about the God whom they hadn’t
known about before but now seems surprisingly attractive.
What are some other creative ways that a short-term team could serve as bridge builders?
What are some ways that you’ve seen short-termers serve effectively as bridge builders?
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