top eight of two thousand eight

I wouldn't say that I read A LOT (I know a few people who read a whole lot more than I do), but I do read many books throughout the year - some for seminary and others for my own edification. Here are 8 spiritual / ministry books that I recommend...

1. Life on the Vine (Phillip Kenneson)
2. Sex for Christians (Louis Smedes)
3. For the Beauty of the Earth (Steven Bouma-Prediger)
4. The Art of Forgiveness (Louis Smedes)
5. Announcing the Reign of God (Mortimor Arias)
6. Surprised by Hope (N.T. Wright)
7. Working the Angles (Eugene Peterson)
8. The Violence of Love (Oscar Romero)

For Fun:
1. Anything written by Ted Dekker.

forgiveness vs. reunion

We can see the differences between forgiving and reunion clearly if we look at them both from several sides.

It takes one person to forgive.
It takes two to be reunited.

Forgiving happens inside the wounded person.
Reunion happens in a relationship between people.

We can forgive a person who never says he is sorry.
We cannot be truly reunited unless he is honestly sorry.

We can forgive even if we do not trust the person who wronged us once not to wrong us again.
Reunion can happen only if we can trust the person who wronged us once not to wrong again.

Forgiving has not strings attached.
Reunion has several strings attached.

Let us be clear that forgiving and reunion are not the same things; a person can truly forgive and refuse to be reunited.

~Louis Smedes The Art of Forgiving

sunday morning snapshot

"oh the weather outside is frightful...oh the weather outside is frightful..."

Beware of the Doghouse

short-term missions: part 5

Copyright Josh Cooper 2008.
Here's a recap of previous posts on the legitimacy of short-term missions.

1. Introduction

2. Individual Level

3. Leadership Level

4. Denominational Level

This post is the fifth and final installment in this series. This post focuses on the legitimacy of short-term missions from the recipient's perspective, specifically from a Thai perspective, as well as some final thoughts.

The International Level
In this section, the analysis of this issue is based on information gathered from email “interviews.” The interviewees were Thai Christians from several backgrounds: pastors, lay persons, seminary students and lay church members, most of them do ministry or attend a church in Bangkok, the most influential area of Christianity in Thailand.

Christianity in Thailand was started from 1828 by groups of missionary that went there at that time such as The American Board of Missionaries, the groups of Presbyterian missionary, and the American Baptists. However, the Christian population in Thailand has not grown as fast as some other Asian countries like China, Singapore, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. In Thailand, the majority of the population is the Buddhist (94.5%). The rest of the population is Muslim (4.6%), and only 0.7% is Christian (Setabutr 2008).

In asking how Thai Christians understand the meaning of the word “mission,” their answers have some similarities: they think, for example, that mission is “groups of people who go and share the gospel in the place to which God sends them,” “planning a church and proclaiming the gospel to people,” “going and sharing the good news long-term with a clear vision from God,” and “the one who is sent to share the gospel.” As such, Thai Christians tend to understand the word “mission” in the sense of “an evangelistic program”; namely, they tend to not define church activities such as social services, political or ecological movements as mission, but rather their primary thought about mission is the programs or activities about witnessing or sharing the gospel. In addition, most of interviewees agree that the goal of “mission trips” should correspond to the goal of “mission.” Therefore, potentially when the church starts the program called “mission trip,” they are going to do evangelism. Lay church members automatically understand in the same way.

Hence, we can draw two thoughts from this interview: 1) it seems like in the Thai church the word “mission” tends to be understood strictly as an evangelistic activity, and 2) the understanding of the word “mission” influences the character of the program called “mission trips” of the church. However, the very good thing that we learn from this interview is the thought that just considering the fact that the Thai Christians understand and define the word “mission” in a narrow way (strictly evangelism) it does not prevent the Thai church from living its life as a church in missio Dei.

When we have seriously considered all of the answers to the a about the benefit of mission, we can tell that there are many beautiful things which they do in mission trips that correspond to the content of mission. Many of them said that mission trips benefit the church in several ways such as: “mission trips help communities see a church in different way,” “mission trip provides a good chance to share the vision to other members, and receive the support (prayer or money) from them,” “mission trips benefits member to learn to serve others,” “even if the mission trip is just a short-term, it helps people to learn to be a servant.” There was a Christian lady who said, “mission trips help members in the team know and serve each other more than usual, and when they came back, the experiences from mission trip also motivated them more to serve God in other areas of church ministry.”

According to the responses of Thai Christians, the most interesting conclusion is that even though those Christians in Thai church do not hold a full understanding of mission and mission trips, and even though some people go on mission trips without ever having thought about “the mission of God,” God is still in charge and able to use His people to fulfill His purpose in saving the world. As such, we humans can never boast that we, by our wisdom, strength, and money, can accomplish missio Dei without the might, love, mercy, and sovereignty of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Making “mission trips” more legitimate and beneficial
Mission is a privilege for the church. Probably the best starting thought that the church should have in mind to make “mission trips” legitimate and beneficial is to not think that all members in the team must know perfectly the meaning of missio Dei, but surely they must have the passion to do it. In addition, the fact that participants must never forget is that people cannot accomplish mission without God; God knows human weakness, foolishness, and fallibility, but through all human imperfection, God still accomplish His mission. However, although God does not need the sinful men to help Him save the world, He grants them the privilege, He chooses them to be His people and be an important part of His mission.

In the article Mission Dei by Tormod Engelsviken, there is a powerful statement mentioning about the mission and the church, “‘the mission, and with it the church, is God’s very own work.’ Both the church and mission of the church are ‘tools of God, instruments through which God carries out His mission” (Engelsviken 2003). According to this statement, the church, by nature is the tool that God made and want to use in His missional purpose. Therefore, this should not be overemphasized to repeat again that the church must always realize its identity, origin and purpose.

Mission trip is not a program, but the life living in the Spirit- Paul Jeffrey noted that “there is a downside (of mission trips). North Americans often come seeking the emotional rewards of hands-on involvement rather than a way to make an investment in long-term empowerment” (Jeffery 2008). Though mission trips are one of the good strategies for Christians to learn the mission of God, mission trips must not be consider a short-term Christian life’s reward or a way to gain God’s favor. The mission trip is one part in a whole process of life living in the Spirit. To think that mission trip is the ultimate goal is not a healthy thought, but the church must proclaim to all members clearly that a mission trip is one in many steps in life of the followers who commit their lives for serving Jesus in a whole life process.

Of course, merely realizing its identity and purpose would not be enough to be a good missional tool unless the church and its members as a whole submit to live faithfully to according what Jesus taught and exemplified in the gospel, take faith into action, and serve the needs of people.

Mission trips are not just evangelistic programs- There are many marvelous things happening in the time that the church of God walks faithfully in a full obedience to its call. For example, even though someone participates in mission trips just to share their wealth, when they go and touch other people in desperate situations, possibly they would see God’s hand on those people and receive unexpectedly passion through those situations. One of Thai Christians shared his experiences in mission trip that “the mission trip is useful in many ways such as opening people’s mind to see the reality of life, help people to learn to work as a team, building up relation, and opening a chance to discover a new potential in life.” Moreover, one golden chance that mission trips provide to the church is the chance to find “the missional leader.” The leader in the missional church plays the significant role in leading the church to the will of God in the world. This is the principle that Apostle Paul emphasized obviously in Ephesians 4; the church is the body comprising of many organs, the church would be healthy if those organs (its leaders) function properly. However, the meaning of the leader as mentioned in Ephesians is not the one who is served, but the one who serves others. He or she is therefore the servant of God who is willing to serve and be all kinds of people in order to save people (1 Cor.9:19-23).

Mission trips, the task of the whole church, not the individual- One bad thought in the postmodern era that the church should be aware of is the trend of individualism. There are some benefits to having freedom to participate in other missional projects outside their church projects. However, the follower of Christ who has a real passion for mission must know that he/she cannot separate himself/herself from the church. Even though the individual one can do an excellent job in the name of God, the individualistic person will never uphold the mission of the church unless he or she gives up his/her personal sake, and comes to work in unity with other folks in their church congregation. Individualism is not the way of missional church. As Lesslie Newbigin said, salvation from God is “universal to all”; simultaneously it contains a sense of “particularity.” Namely, salvation is an interpersonal thing that humanity receives in the sense of being-in-relatedness; salvation that relates directly to God, but also can never be separated from the church community (Newbigin1978).

Conclusions
Certainly, as we take note of the amount of time, money, and energy being spent on short-term mission teams we see that they are increasingly becoming a part of North American church culture, and a significant part of North American missions and missions in other parts of the world. As future church leaders, each of us will undoubtedly be some way involved in STMTs during our ministries. This involvement may be as a participant, planner, sender, or receiver. Regardless of our role, it will be necessary to assess the potential effectiveness of such trip(s), to discern how to maximize their benefits, and how to avoid their potential pitfalls. The present paper, and our research activities behind it, will be of great benefit in achieving each of these.

From our interviews, STMTs show a potential to help participants develop a greater attitude of humble servitude. Further, participants can exhibit this attitude not only while on these trips, but also when they return to their home context. STMTs also seem to advance other aspects of participant’s faith and spiritual development. Unfortunately, these positive gains are often not enduring. Many times, people who experience a “spiritual high” while on a STMT lose that passion when they are again immersed in their home setting.

Another common benefit of STMTs seen in our research is that, when cross-cultural, they can help participants gain a greater understanding and appreciation of a culture other than their own. This can help participants to have a greater appreciation of the global church. In addition, when the STMT takes place in a two thirds-world country, participants have an opportunity to see what conditions are like in the majority world’s population. However, our study has also shown that if a trip is not carefully planned, and the receiving culture is not properly understood, participants can come away with a distorted view of other cultures. In such a situation, relations between the sending and receiving churches/groups can be strained. Conversely, we have seen that well-planned STMTs can foster positive relationships between participants and receivers, amongst participants, and between short-term and long-term mission workers. In fact, the development of relationships was often cited as one of the most beneficial aspects of STMTs.

There are many positive and negative aspects of STMTs, many more than we discuss here. However, studying these positive and negative aspects has given us a number of things to consider while planning for legitimate and beneficial STMTs. These considerations include:

•STMTs should be one part of a life of mission, rather than an isolated experience

•An attitude of humility is necessary when embarking on a STMT

•Pre and post-trip activities such as orientation/preparation and follow-up/debriefing are necessary to maximize effectiveness

•Participants and planners must consider and respond appropriately to differences in sending and receiving cultures

•Participants and planners must be careful with how teaching and evangelizing are done in the receiving culture as Scripture, and how it relates to varied worldviews, is different in different cultures

•There is a need to be intentionally dependent on the Holy Spirit to formulate, empower and sustain these trips

When considering if STMTs are in fact missional, we concluded that like so many other aspects of church life, it all depends on how, and with what attitude they are executed. STMTs seem to be prone to being lopsided, more about the need and goals of those going than about those in the receiving culture. In addition, STMTs can be, at times, very ineffective because of inappropriate attitudes or poor preparation. In such cases, one would certainly conclude that STMTs are not effective at furthering the Kingdom of God. However, STMTs can be done in such a way as to facilitate growth amongst both participants and receivers. Hearts are changed and blessed in participants, receivers, and even long-term mission workers. In such cases STMTs are missional.

Endnotes
Paul Jeffrey. Short-Term Mission Trips. (Publish by The Christian Century foundation) www.christiancentury.org (accessed Nov 3, 2008).

Kurt Allen Ver Beek. 2006. “The Impact of Short-Term Missions: A Case Study of House Construction in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch,” Missiology 34 (October 2006): 478.

Robert J. Priest, Terry Dischinger, Steve Rasmussen, C.M. Brown, “Researching the Short-Term Mission Movement,” Missiology 34 (October 2006): 432.

A. Scott Moreau, Editor, Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books), 873-4.

Guder, Darrell. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.

Van Engen, Charles. You Are My Witnesses: Drawing from Your Spiritual Journey to Evangelize Your Neighbors. New York, NY: Reformed Church Press, 2007.

Brueggemann, Walter. Hope for the World: Mission in a Global Context. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.

Friesen, Randy . "The Long-term Impact of Short-term Missions." Evangelical Missions Quarterly 41, no. 4 (2005): 448-57.

Dohn, Michael and Anita. “Short-term Medical Teams: What They Do Well...and Not So Well.” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 42, no. 2 (2006): 216-227.

Livermore, David. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-term Missions with Cultural Intelligence. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2006.

Edwin Zehner, “Short-Term Missions: Toward a More Field-Oriented Model,” Missiology 34 (October 2006): 510.

Helen Lee, “Missional Shift or Drift?” Leadership, Fall 2008: 28.

RCA representatives were: Roger De Young, Coordinator of mission development and Jay Harsevoort, Coordinator for Volunteers. CRC representatives were: Norma Coleman-James, Special Project Director of the CRC, and Mary Dykstra, Volunteer Coordinator with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC). Unless otherwise noted, all quotes regarding denominational perspectives come from these sources.

Taken directly from an RCA document entitled “Discipling All Nations, The Global Mission of the Reformed Church in America into the Twenty-First Century” emailed by Roger De Young.

The Reformed Church in Mission 2006. Reformed Church Press.

Taken directly from an RCA document entitled “Discipling All Nations, The Global Mission of the Reformed Church in America into the Twenty-First Century” emailed by Roger De Young.

Harsevoort, Jay. 2008. Mission Trips: A New Beginning. RCA Today. On-line edition found at: http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?pid=3888

Ver Beek, Alan. The Impact of Short-term Missions: A Case study of House construction in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch. Missiology: An International Review, Vol. XXXIV, no. 4, October. p 481.

Richter, Don C. 2008. Mission Trips that Matter: Embodied Faith for the Sake of the World. The Upper Room. Nashville, Tennessee. p. 12.

Newbigin, Lesslie. The Open Secret. Wm. B. Eerdmans. Grand Rapids, MI. p. 65.

Noranit Setabutr. Buddhism in Thailand. (Published by the World Buddhist University) http://www.buddhanet.net (accessed Oct 2, 2008).

Tormod Engelsviken. “Missio Dei: The Understanding and Misunderstanding of a Theological Concept in European Churches and Missiology.” International Review of Mission, Vol. XCII, No. 367 O 2003, p.482.

Paul Jeffrey. Short-Term Mission Trips. (Publish by The Christian Century foundation) www.christiancentury.org (accessed Nov 3, 2008).

peterson on leadership

The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor's responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.

~Eugene H. Peterson, Working the Angles, 2.

leaders as poets

Friday night was a monumental night - it was the last night of Missional Church class for the semester. We had the privilege of having an adjunct professor from Chicago come up once a month for the last four months to teach this course. So kudos to Dr. Roland Kuhl for creating time and space to come and teach and learn at Western Sem. Thanks Dr. Kuhl. In our last hours together, we discussed at length the role of the pastor in the church, particularly missional churches. Here is an excerpt from the class lecture about leaders (pastors) as poets. It's an interesting analogy and I'm curious to know if this strikes a resound chord within any pastors / leaders out there who occasion this blog.

Leaders as Poets
In times of transition and change – cultural shifts that lead us to question the kind of church we are, the need to move from attractional models of church to a missional understanding – congregations feel disconnected from their stable past, which they could easily describe, and people in midst of confusion or lack of understanding have a difficult time to express themselves.

What is required is not some new strategic plan, but an approach to leadership that enables persons to come to terms with the emotions of change within. “What is required of leadership at this point is an ability to articulate, or bring to verbal expression, the actual experiences of the congregation” (Crossing, 125).

Poets Listen
- Have skill in the art of giving voice to the inarticulate feelings of people

- Not a role of providing solutions, but a role of helping give people voice to what they are feeling, but cannot readily express.

- Do not criticize, but bring to the surface the voice and soul of the people, so that they can give words to what they are feeling (has a lot to do with visioning)

- The focus is on people and the inner drives that shape them and give form to their lives.

- To listen to the stories, the events, the symbols, the rhythms of person’s lives

- Becomes immersed in the multiple stories that run beneath the culture in order to understand (and critique them)

- Are deeply immersed in the Christian Story (Crossing, 124-130)

"The purpose of all this is to help people see differently. They are not so much advice givers as they are image framers.

“The poet is a kind of in-between person. Like the pastor, the poet is drawn to that side of leadership that longs to care for and watch over the people of God. Unlike the pastor, the poet is also deeply committed to engaging the imagined future that God calls into being. Like the prophet, the poet understands that this imagined future will, necessarily involve great grief and travail for the people of God as they journey toward that, as yet, unfocused, alternative life” (Crossing, 132).

So, I'm a second career seminary student. I'm 30 years old, I'm married, and have two children. I've been in positions of leadership in the past and sometimes find myself in those kinds of positions today. However, I was struck the prospect that the younger students in my class were deeply troubled by the prospect of pastor as a poet. Somewhere sometime in their young lives (and as they work through the steps seeking ordination) that they were led to believe that pastors are supposed to be the "strong leader" types - the ones who have all the answers, the vision, the drive, and passion. The pastor as poets conflicts with their ideology. Even the idea of pastor as servant leader was troubling. I'm not suggesting that all the younger students in my class had this perception, but it was a fair number.

The pastor as poet resonates deeply within me, so does the pastor as servant leader. When I'm in that pastor position, I will not expect my church to commit themselves to anything more deeply than I myself am willing to commit. I would hope that I could be transparent enough with our folks to enable them to be more than passive participants in casting and carrying out the vision of the local church. There's much more I could say on this and I'll come back to this in a few weeks, but what are your thoughts? Can you relate to pastor as a poet? Or serveant leader? Or something else? Peace.

short-term missions: part 4

Previous posts on short-term missions from a missional perspective...as always Copyright Josh Cooper 2008.

1. Introduction

2. Individual Level

3. Congregational Leadership Level

This post focuses on short-term missions from a denominational perspective.

Section Four – Denominational Level
In addition to looking at short-term mission trips from the perspectives of individuals and congregations, we also met with and interviewed representatives of the Reformed Church of America (RCA) and the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) to understand better the denominational perspective of short-term mission trips (STMTs).

Both the RCA and CRC and their agencies have and continue to support various types of short-term mission opportunities. These trips range in size from individuals to groups and include a wide variety of activities including community development, relief, pastor to pastor visits, church to church visits, service learning opportunities, and vision casting / discovery trips. The main role of the denominational organizations is to serve as a focal point for linking together those (individuals, groups and churches) wanting take part in a STMT with those (organizations, churches and mission partners) open to receiving such trips. During the 2007-2008 year, CRWRC facilitated 437 short-term mission opportunities.

Legitimate and beneficial?
In talking with these denominational representatives, it was clear that their perspective in evaluating these trips tended to be wide (broader in scope than a single trip) and long-term (longer than a single trip). Most of the representatives also talked about the role of these trips in supporting the mission partners who receive the trip participants, and that a trip is legitimate and beneficial if it works within the context and goals of those mission partners. As such, both denominations mentioned that one of their goals was to “do no harm” to their partners and both emphasized the importance of partnership. The CRWRC representative noted that CRWRC designs all of the opportunities for teams they send out in such as way that they “contribute to the plans of the (host/partner) community to meet a legitimate need.” The RCA concurs stating in their global mission strategy that:
We work with mission partners. We are committed to working whenever possible with partner churches and mission agencies within the context of ecumenical relationships, affirming the primary responsibility of the local church to set the agenda and invite the participation of the global church. Partnerships necessitate mutual praying and planning. They also witness to the unity of the church in the world (John 15:34-35).

Another benefit/requirement mentioned by both denominations was the need to build mutual/reciprocal relationships, where both those who go and those who receive are transformed. As the RCA states:
God calls us to mission, not because God would find no other way to accomplish God’s mission in the world, but because we need to be engaged in mission to become the men and women, children and teens, that God intends for us to be.

Norma Coleman-James expanded on this idea:

They [the trips] become beneficial if there is a reciprocal relationship formed where the folks who go are transformed by the experience and come back to the local church to further equip the local church to make an impact for local ministry. Sometimes we can easily see the needs elsewhere, but “step over” needs here at home. However, if those going on the trip go with a western “fix-it” notion, then the trips are not legitimate. If folks go with that notion, they themselves cannot be transformed. Both those going and those receiving them need to be transformed. The transformation for those going is learning from the experience and going back to serve those back home.

Lastly, one representative from each denomination placed the ultimate legitimacy of short-term mission trips within a larger framework of mission. Roger De Young stated that “ultimately, our goal is to share the love of Christ.” Nancy Coleman-James stated that these trips need to support world mission “in fulfilling the great commission.”

Missional?
When asked about their denomination or denominational agency definition of “mission,” all responded with elements contained within our provisional research definition of a missional church: “The church as called and sent by God to be God’s instrument in the in breaking of the reign of God.” For example, the CRWRC representative stated that:
Within CRWRC we believe that it is first of all God’s mission, not ours, and his purpose is to reconcile the WORLD to himself in Christ, and that means ALL THINGS – see II Cor 5, and Colossians 1. Our work is THE MISSION – living in the world in such a way that we reflect and point to and participate in what God is doing through Jesus.

The RCA similarly reflects these values:

… the Reformed Church in America defines mission as:
our personal and corporate participation in this work of God
by intentionally crossing barriers
from church to nonchurch, faith to nonfaith,
to proclaim by word and deed
the coming of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ,
in works of evangelism, witness, reconciliation, healing, and diaconal service,
gathering people into the church
through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ
by the work of the Holy Spirit
with a view to the transformation of the world
as a sign of the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Both of these statements reflect an understanding that the church’s mission is framed from within God’s mission, and that the church is called and sent by God to carry out that mission in the world.

When asked specifically whether the STMTs that they have been involved with fit into their definition of mission, each of the respondents stated that they “can and do,” but “not always.” The RCA representatives stress again the need for long-term relationship in order to achieve true partnership which leads to a fuller expression of mission through STMTs. To achieve this Roger De Young says, “We encourage short-termers to work with the long-termers who better understand the culture and language and have a deeper understanding of the local situation.” This is also reflected in the RCA’s global mission strategy:

We make long-term commitments. We believe that effective cross-cultural mission depends upon sensitive mastery of language, custom, and history in the context of genuine relationship. This itself is essential work of mission. It takes time. On a spiritual level, we reach out to make and baptize disciples, then stay long enough to teach the disciples to make and train other disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

Norma Coleman-James seemed to agree, stating that one short-term trip cannot completely fulfill the great commission, “we cannot get it done in one short trip, especially if those going are serving their own interests or working from their own ideas without forming a partnership.” Though taking more time, both of the denominations agree that partnerships are a way to achieve their mission more completely. CRWRC puts it this way:
CRWRC’s STMTs provide the opportunity to connect the Southern with the Northern in a way that builds relationships and contributes to future involvement and transformation in those that participate on both sides. With the shift of the global church to the South, we can no longer talk about a “sending church” in the way we used to. We need to be a “Partnering” church.

As noted below, the RCA sees the lack of such long-term, strategic relationships as a pitfall for individuals or individual churches that attempt STMTs on their own; often these individuals or individual churches lack a deep relationship, or at least, a commitment to a long-term, deep relationship with those they visit. Otherwise, it is unlikely that a true partnership will develop, one in which both feel comfortable to disagree, “to really give their opinion rather than agreeing to whatever the North Americans want.”

Pitfalls
Respondents at the denominational level were able to articulate many pitfalls associates with short-term mission trips from their own experiences. These included:
Short-term Focus- Focusing on “the trip” itself rather than seeking and exploring a wider perspective of personal and communal faith journeys, and the journey and context of those they travel to. All too often, said Jay Harsevoort, this leads to a situation in which when the trip ends, so does everything else, where the “life-changing” effects of the short-term trip are themselves short-term.
Task Focus- Focusing on tasks rather than relationships, and wanting to “do for” rather than “do with.” Norma Coleman-James notes that without reciprocal partnerships and deepening relationships, STMTs can waste money, cause dependency and reinforce stereotypes.

Being Closed-minded- In the same way, a lack of willingness or openness to learn from those we visit can inhibit participants from learning and seeing how God is working through others, and the things God would like to teach us through them. We need to ask ourselves, do we have the openness to learn from others, especially others that are not resource rich?

Going it alone- Many churches or individuals try to set things up on their own without the denomination. Because of this, Norma Coleman-James says that they “lose all of the experience and insight” of those that have gone before them. The RCA representative shared this sentiment sharing that the denomination means has over 100 year experience on “what to do and what not to do,” and that long-term RCA missionaries and mission partners have the local experience and relationships, neither of which individual congregations or groups have on their own.

Response to Pitfalls
In response to these pitfalls, the denominational representatives all agreed that planning, preparation and follow-up are essential. Norma Coleman-James felt that preparing folks before they go through orientation would help “to remove the scales from their eyes of how God is working in other places.” Her organization also does debriefing and follow-up. Mary Dykstra likewise stated that CRWRC finds careful preparation, competent coaching and careful follow-up helpful in mitigating the pitfalls listed above. She also noted that CRWRC as an organization is willing and committed to change as they learn at the denominational agency level.

For their part, the RCA created an office of Volunteer Services with a Coordinator to help facilitate the relationship with those who “want to go” with those who “are there,” to “plug-in” short-term trips into longer-term strategies, partnerships and vision. RCA Global Missions also offers twice annual workshops for mission team leaders, misters of mission and pastors of large churches who are moving in this direction to help them make wise choices: “We are committed to helping every local congregation become an effective mission station, locally engaged and globally connected.” RCA Global Mission also provides a six-session course entitled “Building a Mission Minded Church” in an effort to further empower congregations to make wise decisions about missions. They have also developed a mission trip orientation video entitled “Walk Humbly; An Orientation for Christian Servants.” Lastly, in the Spring 2008 edition of the denominational publication RCA Today, Jay Harsevoort makes these suggestions to make sure that trips make a lasting difference:
• Make your short-term trip part of a bigger commitment to mission by supporting missionaries annually.

• Focus at least as much energy on follow-up and debriefing after the trip as you do on preparation before you go.

• Build time into the schedule for getting to know the community you're serving.

• Be flexible. God has provided amazing opportunities when plans fall through--will you be open to them, or unwilling?

• Remember that mission is a part of your life rather than something that happens for a week once a year.

• Make the trip a beginning rather than the end by raising money for a related project after you get back.

Summary of the Denominational Level
As noted by each of the denominational representatives, short-term mission trips may or may not be missional. They may or may not serve as a legitimate way for the church to act as God’s instrument in brining in the reign of God. From the denominational perspectives surveyed here, one of the keys to achieving legitimacy is for STMTs to exist within mutual/reciprocal partnerships, where both those who go and those who receive are transformed. From their perspective, this calls for longer-term investment and a broader perspective than one-off, short-term trips taken from a North America perspective. In other words, there is a need to incorporate short-term activities and experiences within longer-term plans and wider perspectives for both those who go and those who receive.

The Ver Beek study reflects these values in what Ver Beek calls “missed opportunities,” the opportunity to building strong relationships and mutuality. In her forward to Mission Trips that Matter, Dorothy Bass also makes that point that such trips need to be beneficial for both those who take the journey and those who receive them. Ver Beek also hypothesizes that the key to lasting change among the STM participants is for the trips to be “just one piece in a structure that also include support and accountability before and after the trip.”
As persons preparing for leadership within the church, these views highlight for us the importance of framing STMTs as part of a longer-term strategy formulated between mutual partners for the transformation of those who go was well as those who receive. As noted above, it calls for careful preparation/orientation as well as follow-up and debriefing. All of which the denominational representatives believe they are well equipped to provide as they journey together with the would be short-term missions trip participants.

Lastly, while there was some mentioned about the importance of prayer and the Holy Spirit in the RCA’s Walk Humbly video, very little else was said about these in the interviews. Similarly, we were surprised that the legitimacy of STMTs was not initially linked to the mission of God’s mission, missio Dei. In other words, we had hoped to see a deliberate indication that short-term mission trips were an intentional part of the wider mission of the church as we have defined it, as God’s instrument for God’s mission. Only after the mention of the term “missions” was this link clearly stated (though indirect links were made if one assumes that the goals of partners are linked to this framework). We had hoped to see a stronger fit of short-term mission into the larger framework of mission, and more dependence on the Holy Spirit to formulate, empower, sustain and even transform that mission. As Guder et al. state:

Missional communities are called to represent the compassion, justice and peace of the reign of God. The distinctive characteristic of such communities is that the Holy Spirit creates and sustains them. … they are not formed solely by human intentional and efforts, individual or collective [even in mutually beneficial partnerships], but instead by God’s empowering presence” “the Spirit of God is the dynamic, live-giving power of the Church, the unseen Lord, Master, Guide and Inspirer of the Christian community.

Likewise, Newbigin stresses the importance of the Holy Spirit in mission:
By obediently following where the Spirit leads, often in ways neither planned, known, nor understood, the church acts out the hope that it is given by the presence of the Spirit who is the living foretaste of the kingdom.

short-term missions: part 3

Copyright Josh Cooper 2008.
This is the third of five posts in which I have been focusing on the beneficialness and legitimacy of STM trips from various perspectives. This post focuses on STM trips from the congregational leadership perspective. To read part 1, the introduction, and part 2, which focuses on STM trips from the individual perspective, please click below:

1. Introduction

2. Individual Level

Section Three – Congregational Leadership Level
At the congregational leadership level we discovered – naturally – that the responses to the survey questions were varied but valuable for our research to uncover what makes STM trips legitimate and beneficial. All six pastors / lay leaders had at some point in their ministry career participated in a STM trip. Their destinations included – Zambia, Azerbaijan, Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Canada, Turkey, as well as multiple domestic trips (especially after a hurricane disaster). When asked “Was your specific STM trip legitimate and beneficial?” the overwhelming answer was “yes” in every case! Further when asked “What makes STM trips legitimate and beneficial?” answers varied but shared three common themes. For example:
1. STM trips have the capacity to establish positive cross-cultural connections and build relationships.
2. STM trips create opportunities to become aware of the challenges of the world. One pastor said that STM trips help participants gain a personal understanding of the issues being faced by people in other parts of the world.
3. And finally, STM trips foster life-change. Many respondents mentioned life-change as a result of going on a STM trip.

When asked to define the word missions, responses varied greatly from “participating in the Great Commission” to “advancing the kingdom revolution of Jesus worldwide” to “the varied dynamics that need to occur in order that the message of Jesus Christ as the Son of God is communicated in a cross-cultural setting in a real and relevant way.” And as a follow-up, we asked participants, “Do you think that STM trips fit into this idea of missions? Why?” Respondents were unanimously in agreement that STM trips do fit into their frameworks of missions. However, a couple of pastors cautioned that STM trips are not the only way of doing missions.

When we asked respondents to identify the pitfalls associated with STM trips, the participants identified many. Pitfalls associated with STM trips, according to our survey of pastors / leaders, include:
1. Wasteful spending.
2. Emotional entanglements. Interestingly one pastor had two separate instances where female participants were engaged in moral breakdowns whereby one filed for a divorce, and the other had some mental impairment and had to be brought back to “sanity.”
3. Desiring to live differently as a result of a STM trip, but not having the resources to actually do it.
4. Wrongful attitudes. One key leader mentioned that the mentality that “we have it all together and we are going to fix the world” is culturally insensitive and lacks humility.
5. Lack of direction / openness. One pastor talked about how certain people in a congregation can have strong feelings about working in a particular mission field without ever discerning the Spirit’s direction on where the church as a body is being called to serve.

Finally, when we asked respondents, “How did you avoid pitfalls in the past, and/or how do you avoid pitfalls in the future?” we received a lot of good feedback. The two most frequently cited tips to avoid pitfalls were:
1. Maintaining an attitude of humility; and
2. Providing pre- and post-trip training / debriefing, such as requiring participants to read certain material to better prepare them for departure as well as providing opportunities to share their experiences upon return.

Summary
Overall, there seemed to be no reservation about the legitimacy and beneficialness of STM trips. All agreed that STM trips are legitimate and beneficial. The three most frequently cited reasons in support of STM trips are: 1) STM trips build relationships; 2) STM trips generate global awareness; and 3) STM trips foster life-change. As far as pitfalls are concerned, there are many. Yet, despite the many obstacles which can wreck missions, all the respondents felt that the benefits far outweighed the obstacles. The findings from our informal survey are consistent with the literature concerning the benefits and pitfalls of STM trips.

The Benefits and Pitfalls in the Literature
For every article which emphasized the benefits of STM trips, we can find an article which criticized them. The value of STM trips according to the Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions is that short-term missions play an integral role in the mobilization of global missions by bringing in fresh enthusiasm from the outside, accomplishing practical projects, and serves as an advocate for long-term mission service. Additionally, upon return from STM trips, participants are able to impact their local congregations via increasing awareness and encouraging others to be more active in what God is doing in the world. From a youth pastor’s perspective, Pastor Scott Meier believes that the primary goal of STM trips should be to help teens see Jesus Christ and his kingdom in a new way. Mission experiences, he says, give us a “broader view of the world in which we live” and in order for us to understand other people and their cultures, he continues, we need to immerse ourselves in their culture and live the way they live (Scott, 2001). According to Zehner, even critics of STM trips are cautiously optimistic about short-term missions potential, especially if they support the national leaders and develop healthy relationships (Zehner, 2006).

The pitfalls of STM trips are many such as – overburdening local missionaries; cross-cultural insensitivity; creating unhealthy co-dependent relationships; too goal-focused; unrealistically positive about effectiveness; and last but certainly not least, “Americans seemed unaware of the cultural influences on their own readings and perceptions of the Bible, the result being that they often taught ‘a different Jesus than the one we know.’” (Ibid.). Ouch, this is a painful thing to read.

So What?
At some point, we have to ask, so what? What does all this mean? Well, at a leadership level there is movement toward not only proclaiming the Good News but also demonstrating the Good News vis-à-vis acts of healing, acts of restoration, and acts of love, compassion, justice, and so on. Not only that, “there is good reason to believe that many seminarians, when they become pastors, will support, participate in, and supervise STM trips abroad and that this will be a core center of their engagement with cultural ‘others.’” (Priest, 2006). So there is this sense at the pastoral / leadership level that STM trips are beneficial for those who participate in them and they are a legitimate expression of mission and that STM trips will be a primary outlet for such an expression. However, even though STM trips are regarded as beneficial and legitimate, our informal survey shows that pastors / leaders feel that some guiding principles are in order to frame STM trip participation, such as including pre- and post-trip education and debriefing; cross-cultural training; as well as promoting and maintaining an attitude of humility (or what one pastor called a servant’s heart). These guiding principles can in effect help alleviate (if not eliminate) many problems which pose as pitfalls to living in mission.

On a more personal note, this author (JC) believes that while all the pastors / leaders we surveyed had some difficulty articulating what mission is, they all believed their congregations should be participating in STM trips as a way to create cross-cultural relationships, increase world issue awareness, and foster life-change. These claims, in my opinion, do fall under the broader missional umbrella whereby the church is called and sent by God to be God’s instrument in the in breaking of the reign of God.

Lastly, a word of patient endurance – perhaps the greatest challenge for today’s pastors lies in the differences between a pastor’s understanding of the gospel and church’s mission and the congregation’s view of the gospel and mission (Lee, 2008). Pastors should tread carefully through these missional waters while at the same time be patient with their parishioners as the come to internalize, understand and live out the reign of God in their own lives.