Pastor’s Corner August 2006

The following was published in our monthly newsletter, the Redeemer Report.

Short-Term Mission Trips Are a Valuable Part of God’s Kingdom Work

Over the years I have heard various well-meaning Christians say something like, “Short-term mission trips are too costly, and they really don’t accomplish much.” I’ve even heard some suggest that short-term mission trips are more like a vacation or retreat than ministry.

I disagree with such notions.

It is true that the purpose, focus and fruit of a one or two-week mission trip is not the same as a long-term mission; it is nevertheless an important part of the overall missions strategy the Church must have. In the First Century, the Apostles made several trips to parts of Asia Minor and beyond to plant new churches and later to strengthen them. The church in Thessalonica was founded by Paul and Silas on a short mission trip (some scholars believe less than three weeks) See Acts 17:1-9; therein is the purpose of short-term missions: to encourage the saints and to assist them with the planting and strengthening of their local church. Certainly there is a need for long-term missionary efforts to accomplish this work, but that does not replace the need for short-term missions. Both are needed.

Redeemer is committed spiritually (through prayer support), personally (by sending members of our own church), and financially (by giving money to support missionaries), to sending and supporting career missionaries as well as short-term missionaries. All are necessary parts of God’s Kingdom work. Paul’s words to the Romans read like an anxious short-term missionary looking forward to a future visit with the Church there:

Romans 1:8-15 (ESV) First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Here we see Paul longing to visit the Church in Rome. He longed to strengthen them spiritually. Those who have the ability should long to go to places where the Church has not yet been planted or to places where the Church is in need of assistance and comfort. We should be eager, as Paul, to preach the gospel here and abroad by our words and our deeds.

Short-term mission trips, like my recent trip to Bulgaria with Pete Hart and our annual trips to Juarez, are part of Redeemer’s commitment to support church planting and strengthening in other parts of the world. We have supported the Sheppards in Bulgaria for the past nine years, and this month we will have the privilege of sending one of our own, the Hershberger family, to that ministry full-time. Closer to home, on the Texas/Mexico border, we have assisted in supporting the Youngs, and now more recently, the Craig family. We participate in short-term missions because the gospel of Grace obligates us. But even more wonderfully, we participate because we get to! Praise God!

As anyone who has been part of a short-term mission team knows, the benefits of such an endeavor are not one-sided. Most participants will readily confess that the blessing is greater for them than the people they minister to. I see this as part of the manifold “spin off” blessings that come from active participation in missions of any sort. Just like the U.S. space program spawned advances in relatively unrelated areas like computers, satellite dishes, medical imaging, and much more, so also participation in world missions produces all sorts of blessings for the local body who commits to support and send.

As short-term mission opportunities arise, consider giving up some vacation time to see Christ’s church planted and strengthened all over the globe…and have your life changed forever.

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich