by Tom Brink (10.1.10)
In the past twenty years, America has seen a steady increase in volunteerism and along with this an astounding growth of Short Term Missions (STM). There were 120,000 Americans that did STMs in 1989, 450,000 in 1998,1 million in 2003 and 2,200,000 in 2006. 1 Some even estimate as many as four million Americans take short-term mission trips out of the country annually. Also, it is estimated that American churches now spend as much on STM’s as on long-term missionaries. 2 Study abroad programs on college campuses are expanding as well, and students are using a “GAP YEAR” between high school and college to go abroad to serve also.
The irony is, that as Western short-term mission projects are on the increase to an all-time high, at the same moment in history the center of Christianity has shifted from the west to the south. ie the non-Western or Majority world. The majority of STMs from the west actually go to the “reached” Majority world in Latin America, Central American, or Africa. Thus, the area which is in decline spiritually, is increasingly sending folks on mission to the places, which are exploding in numbers and life spiritually.
Many have suggested that Christianity would unravel alongside of colonialism, but the very opposite has occurred. Christianity is the fastest growing religion in the world with a 6.9% growth rate, compared to 2.7 % for Muslims. None of the fifty largest churches in the world are found in North America. 3 The story of Christianity represents a fundamental and historical shift in worldwide religions. Christianity is not held captive by any particular culture. In fact, more languages and cultural expressions are used in Christian liturgy, devotion, worship, and prayer than in any other religion. 4
There has been much discussion raising questions about the effectiveness of Western short-term missions. These discussions range from the trips having minimal impact upon both those going and those receiving to outright damage caused all over the world by ‘well intentioned’ Americans. Some participants have had their global vision radically expanded, while some STMs leave half built schools and churches in rural villages or undermine the economics of an area by the money and gifts brought in. These issues, make one question the enormous amounts of effort and money being poured into this endeavor.
It seems almost comical that the post-Christian world is sending missionaries to the “majority’ church world and is ignoring its own need to be re-evangelized.
But, what if this well funded and motivated army of short-term missionaries could be used to re-evangelize the post-Christian West through short-term missions?
Part of the reason young people today are surging towards volunteerism is that they are tired of empty words and have decided to do something about the problems they see in the world. They are tired of seeing their parents complain and they instead, want to go out and get their hands dirty in serving those who are most vulnerable.
Christian youth know about the God of the Bible in their heads, but somehow it doesn’t make sense to them down deep or in practice. God and Christianity are not seen as relevant in the world they live in. Their friends don’t believe God makes any difference; in fact, the Christian God is all about what is judgmental and intolerant in the world. He doesn’t help people, he condemns, and he places unreasonable demands upon them.
Domestic STM’s
My experiences over the past 5 years has convinced me that one effective way to reach both the Christian youth and their skeptic friends is to dive into the problems of the world together. After sweating alongside a skeptic student rebuilding homes in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, I have realized that we all are really asking the same questions and desire to attack the problems we see in the world. “On MISSION” together we see the same problems, do something about them, and then wrestle with the implications to our worldviews. Some worldviews crumble and some belief systems rise up out of the ashes and now have the substance of reality, not just the words of reality. Students are looking for a faith or belief or worldview that works. Only in the midst of adversity or disaster does it become clear what really works.
Since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, we have taken over 2000 student volunteers from campuses in New England to help rebuild. Half of these students have been non-churched. A cynical student towards Christianity who you would be unable to invite to church or a student fellowship meeting, will easily make the decision to give up a week to help people get back into their devastated homes. This same student, seeing Christianity now for what it is “FOR” and not “AGAINST” will now be open to spiritual discussions back on campus. The lasting friendships made also move students to see Christ in action around them and many of these students become true followers of Christ on the trip or within a year after.
Churches could certainly entertain this type of STM by doing a service project in a needy area and inviting friends that would not be interested in coming into a church building.
We have employed a “bring a friend” scholarship program which helps get this idea off the ground. If a student brings a non-churched friend to the trip both of them get half off the price or a scholarship break on the price.
Thus, money doesn’t deter the non-churched from coming and money motivates the church person to invite friends. It has been the core of the success of our service projects on campus.
International STMs
By taking Christian students to some of the most horrific places in the world, they can no longer be bystanders in what they believe to really be true. Either Jesus is the hope of the world or He is no hope at all. Students who have followed Christ in the West still have learned to live with the appropriate ‘safety controls’ on their lives. But when they experience situations where there are little human controls at work, they experience the underlying principal of the gospel – “We’re screwed unless Jesus shows up.” By going into the hard places of the world, students experience street kids begging or former child soldiers who have been raped by commanders who are now child mothers at age fifteen. At the same time they may experience similar street kids now leading a church that transforms a community and these same child mothers who are joyful because of the reality of Christ. Students, who really see injustice and evil, can then really see the reality of Christianity and the resurrection at work.
Students today carry an unseen weight of constantly dealing with a Western world-view of pluralism and anti-missionary undercurrent. This hampers their faith and also boldness in thinking seriously about the mission enterprise worldwide and at home because they have been taught since childhood that there is a connection between colonialism and the spread of Christianity.
But when they go on a STM, they begin to see Christianity as no longer a Western dominated religion, but as a truly global indigenous movement of the Universal God. They see African and Latino Christians more bold about their faith than most Westerners and praying to the same God. They also see some of the harmful effects that missionaries have produced but at the same time also see the good that has come from the mission enterprise. They see how Christians are at the forefront of bringing hope to areas in dire need. They see how Jesus followers are bringing education, medicine, vocational training and the power of God to change people’s lives.
Student so impacted, return to the states with a new boldness and confidence in this faith they now see as real. They have a story to tell to their friends and family (and to the whole campus), which few can tell. Their story is about the hope of the gospel in the center of the evils of this world. It’s a story about non-white leaders who proclaim the reality of Jesus changing lives and bringing life into places of poverty, war, disease, and death.
What our post-Christian world needs is a shot of the reality of the evils in the world and a clear picture of how Jesus brings hope and a hand of service and healing into these places. What a returning STM participant becomes, is a true world changer. The way that he/she changes the world is to step into the marketplace of skepticism in the West and tell the stories of the reality of God they have seen and experienced. We have seen students do this by bringing a former child soldier to speak on campus, placing an African hut on the campus mall, or having a walk-through experience set up in the union building. Each campus event has brought a global issue to the center of the campus, emboldened the Christians, and intrigued secular students.
The expectations of sharing boldly should be up front in the STM recruitment materials. Experiential learning is a very powerful tool and becomes leveraged if there is an expectation for further action after the actual STM trip. Then, in our debriefing before leaving the field, we express that the real Short-Term mission begins now. You are going back to a campus or community in America, which is most likely less “churched” than where you traveled to on mission. This STM will be a success if you see it as the beginning not the end.
And remember what the ultimate goal of missions is, as John Piper would say: Mission exists because worship doesn’t. 5 Therefore, because God is not worshipped here in America by those that are lost, then our goal in Re-evangelization is that worship would again rise from our land.
So invite a skeptic friend to serve somewhere together.
Send your Christian men and women all over the world!
But when they return, that’s when the real mission trip begins…the RE-EVANGELIZATION OF THE WEST!
Notes:
1. Corbett, Steve and Brian Fikkel. When Helping Hurts. Chicago: Mood
Press, 2009, p. 161.
2. Peterson, Roger, Gordon Aeschliman, and R. Wayne Sneed, Maximum Impact, Short-Term Mission: The God-Commanded Repetitive Deployment of Swift, Temporary Nonprofessional Missionaries (Minneapolis: STEM, 2003)
3. Sanneh, Lamin and Joel Carpenter,eds, The Changing Face of Christianity: Africa, the West, and the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 3.
4. Sanneh and Carpenter, p. 5.
5. Piper, John Let the Nations be Glad, an article in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, a reader., William Carey Library, Pasedena, CA, 2009, p 64.
