Short Term Mission Trips: Missions or Discipleship?

Lately, there has been a lot written on the effectiveness of short term mission trips. Over the last 25 years, most youth ministries have embarked on journeys to other towns, other states and even other nations. Youth and their leaders have led backyard Bible clubs, built homes and have fed the homeless in towns just like mine and yours. Some missiologists believe short term mission trips do more harm than good. Too many youth groups have gone on mission with the idea that they were going to save the world and left the community they served for five days in shambles. Others believe it is an effective way to carry out the biblical mandate of the Great Commission. I agree with both sides but only because I approach it from a different perspective.

My philosophy and theological understanding for short term mission trips is probably a little different than most. I approach mission trips as a way to help students and adults become better disciples of Jesus. As a follower of Jesus, we are to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. We are to also love our neighbors as we love ourselves. In addition, being a follower of Jesus also means that we go and make disciples of others. The Great Command and the Great Commission are all about being a devoted disciple of Christ. Thus, short term mission experiences are intense practices of what it means to be a disciple.

We ask students and adults to give up the comforts of home to spend 7-10 days on the floor of a gym. We ask them to get up earlier than they would like and work harder and longer than they are used to at home. We give them hammers and paint brushes to do work that they most likely don’t do at home. Why? I believe it is to teach them to love and to have compassion for God’s people. It is to teach the students and adults a fraction of what it means to sacrifice. It is to teach them how to love and how to serve others as Christ showed us.

It certainly matters how we carry out being disciples during the mission experience. If students and leaders approach short term mission experiences as “carrying the Gospel” to people who need it, then we certainly do more harm than good. We leave an impression of egotistical Christians who believe God has forgotten about the town or nation that we minister in. To be sure, God has been at work in all parts of the world and will continue to reveal God’s glory and love. We do not carry Christ anywhere. We simply join God in the work God is already doing in the community!

Next time you plan or go on a short term mission trip, think of it as an intense immersion into discipleship. You are carrying out God’s commands to love and help make disciples. You are growing more in love with God and God’s people. When we are able to truly experience that type of discipleship, the community we serve will experience God through our humbleness and weakness. God will be glorified and God’s name will be proclaimed.

By Andy Jung, Minister to Students
Trinity Baptist Church, Raleigh, NC