So what? After the series of three posts, a natural question surfaces; “so what?” or what are the implications to all of this? I originally wrote this as I was working through some ideas about short-term missions, and so the following are implications for short-term missions.
“If short-term missions are so costly and seem to have very few actual benefits (and may even have adverse results); “why do so many people feel compelled to participate in short-term missions?”
There are a variety of answers that can be given to this question which go beyond short-term mission simply being a new and passing fad of the church, or a simply a well marketed business.
The first indicator is the sociological ambience out of which short-term missions has emerged. Christianity (as well as other faiths) has historically expanded or adapted in movement with historical or sociological shifts. The expansion of Europe which came into being through newly discovered navigation technology, and which resulted in each expanding nation to establish ‘ownership’ of new territories in varied ways (Seed) also was the ambience in which Christianity expanded.
Similar to the Celtic Christians whose pilgrimages focus on a spiritual benefit for themselves, short-term missions is a shift in missions giving and participation. Although the findings of Priest, VerBeek, and others are that the benefits of short-term missions appear to be different than the “urban legends”, and although findings in tourism anthropological studies, such as Hutnyk indicate that the orientalistic perceptions that people carry with them are often a type of consumerism of the poor, there is consistent findings that there is greater benefit for those who participate in going on a short-term mission trip than those who host short-term missions teams. If this assumption is true, then it would appear that much of the motivation for continued short-term missions emerges from self gratification or even the capital which is gained from acts of charity.
Beyond the underlying sociological and even ethnocentric motivations behind short-term missions, I would argue that there is an element in which short-term missions as Christian pilgrimage is not only a natural expression of the missio Dei, but provides a basis for missions that engages the whole church in the whole mission of God. A balanced aspect of the practice of short-term mission is found in Miriam Adeney’s work (2003,2006). Her aspect of the shalom tourist, is an expression of Christian pilgrimage which takes into account the needed respect and care for host locations of short-term missions. A difficult question was raised by Oscar Muriu, pastor of the Calvary Church in Nairobi, Kenya at a conference on short-term missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (July,2009). Muriu asked, “how does short-term missions follow the example of Christ, giving up power?” Continuing, Muriu stated that the problem is that we model mission only on the great commission – the “go and do passage” and don’t take into consideration the Philippians 2 passage which state that Christ went—not because of resources that He had, but because of His humility. Jesus chose to be incarnate into poverty. In Matt. 10, Jesus gave the same call to His disciples. True Christian pilgrimage should be transformational for those who go, but should also reflect that their going is not an expression of their resources, but rather a reflection of their Christianity.
Perhaps, the phrase “short-term missions” is not the best description of this phenomenon. A major problem that has emerged in the recent literature on short-term missions is that people perceive their trip as a short-term participation in mission which begins when they board a plane and ends when they return home. In this sense, mission is strictly defined by location. Perhaps a better aspect of this phenomenon is to find ways to make short-term missions more than just a short project, but rather, a continuous way to live. I would argue that a good descriptor of this which is consistent with a scripture and which is in harmony with much of the Christian tradition is that of pilgrimage which is not defined by crossing salt water or by boarding a plane, but rather pilgrimage in the sense of a centered set in which the focus of the Christian pilgrim is Christ and His mission. Another way to describe this would be to use Lamin Sanneh’s articulation of mission by translation. With this understanding, short-term mission trips become a pilgrimage which begins long before a person boards a plane and continues long after they return home. The activities of those who participate in short-term missions in this light are activities which are incarnation in nature and which partner with a long term perspective of God’s mission.
Whereas the reading for this study focused on describing the context which fosters the phenomenon of short-term mission, further research which focuses on the relationships between pilgrimage and short-term missions connected with research related missionary ecclesiology could give a framework for constructive development of short-term mission practice in the future.
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