The Dog Ate My Short-Term Missions Homework.

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The Dog Ate My Short-Term Missions Homework.

Have you done your Short-Term Missions Homework?

A “Forward Observer” is a military term describing a soldier who is acutely aware of the position and movements of friendly troops as well as those of opposing forces. They see the lay of the land and report where advances can be made. Observers usually work independently for long periods of time and, because the nature of their work and their frequent placement on or behind enemy lines, have the ability to operate with minimal support for longer periods of time to acquire critical mission data.

Short-term mission trips should also have forward observers. Those that “go before” in some fashion to survey the current status of where they want to bring a team to. I’ve been in the Andes Mountains Cloud Forest Region of Ecuador for over 7 years now, and have seen many short-term missions teams come and go. Some have “discovered” our presence here and have worked with us “as we go” about our local mission work. Many have come and deployed their teams without doing any homework, investigation, or forward observing. Others have discovered our presence, and for one reason or another have completely ignored it and have done their own thing regardless. It is typically a western and North American cultural weakness to be so over-confident of their abilities that they fail to assess the cultural and historical background of a situation before applying their solutions.

We certainly do not want people to seek our permission to work in the area where we are already working, and we aren’t the mission police. But, and this is a BIG BUT, isn’t it biblically prudent to survey the situation of where you or your team wants to work, Isn’t it advantageous to know something about the mission, and understand what you can about the culture and its people? Shouldn’t there be at least some homework done before entering another’s homeland?

Several things might happen when the dog eats your short-term missions homework:

A paternal attitude will saturate you and your team before you even get to your destination. You’re convinced that your agenda is the right one, your methodology is superior, and the ones you are going to “serve” need you. Mutual respect is jettisoned before the plane touches down.

The benefit is swayed towards you. It is a relatively new phenomena where those that are going on mission trips benefit more than the ones they are going to. Where there should be mutually beneficial partnerships, there are one-sided projects. If you’re honest with yourself before hand, you’ll ask “Am I following God’s call to mission and service, or am I serving my own needs to “do good?”

You do more harm than good and can damage relationships that took years to build. Dropping in and ignoring or being ignorant of what work may be already going on can cause irreparable damage. The clean up often takes more time and energy than the length of your stay.

I’m not knocking short-term missions. I think they’re valuable in many ways. Research shows that students who have taken part in short-term mission trips are less materialistic, appreciate other cultures more and better understand missions as a lifestyle. That’s good news! But, they still might be the ones who are receiving most of the benefit of these trips. So, be a student/servant of mission before you make that short-term missions trip. Even if you think you are seasoned, experienced, and knowledgeable when it comes to short-term missions, do your homework and don’t let the dog anywhere near it. If you don’t do your homework, others will. These are the dogs mentioned by Christ who are “traversing land and sea to make a single convert.” (Matthew 23:15)

A few questions:

1. What are some other results of not doing Short-Term Missions Homework?

2. What if those already working where you want to go have wacky doctrine?

3. What are some biblical examples of “Forward Observers” in mission?

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