Category Archives: Missions

A missionary rants on short-term missions

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I have a love-hate relationship with short-term missions. My wife’s family was converted through a campaign which utilized college students on a short trip. I came to know Argentina and missions on a similar trip. I’ve seen groups effectively reach out in limited efforts.

I’ve also seen people go to other countries to do what they never do at home. I’ve seen people spend thousands to deliver hundreds of dollars of relief. I’ve heard nationals talk about “mission” groups that insisted working in the areas that would give them the best photo ops. (“They want to ride canoes and wear feathers on their heads”)

Apparently I’m not the only one with mixed feelings. On the site “Jamie the very worst missionary,” the author stirred up quite a lot of comments by sharing her feelings. She started with a column called “Are we calling this a win-win?” which addressed so-called poverty tourism. She eventually had to shut of comments on that post because of the heat generated.

Later she looked at the four principal defenses given for short term missions and began analyzing those defenses. She’s addressed the first one (Sorry poor people, it’s not about you), the second one (Mmm… no, it’s not “all good”) and the third (Using your poor kid to teach my rich kid a lesson).

It’s interesting stuff. I hope you’ll take the time to read it. I may spend some time analyzing her arguments and others on this issue. Does Jamie have any valid points? Should we just accept that good is being done and leave it at that? Or is it time we took a hard look at short-term missions?

Missiology

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Today is the first day of the fall semester for me. I’ll again be teaching Missionary Anthropology at Abilene Christian University. Having made the mistake of switching textbooks, I once again find myself scrambling to finish my prep at the last minute.

Getting ready for class, I ran across a short video by Paul Hiebert, the man who probably wrote more about anthropology and missions than anyone else in history. I love what he has to say about the need for partnership in missions, rather than paternalism. It’s only about 3 and a half minutes, but it’s definitely worth the watch. Enjoy!


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Social media & missions

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I’ve been asked to give a class on the use of social media in missions. I’ve got lots of ideas, more than I would have time to share in one class period. However, I’m slowly learning that my cyber-friends are much wiser than I. So I’m appealing to you. Help me out with some thoughts on this topic. To make it easier, let’s keep it broad. Rather than focusing merely on missions, let’s think about non-profits in general and religious groups in particular.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on things like…

  • What are some non-profits that do an especially good job with social media?
  • Who are some individuals who excel in the use of social media?
  • How have you seen Facebook used effectively by religious groups or individuals?
  • How have you seen Twitter used effectively by religious groups or individuals?
  • How have you seen blogs used effectively by religious groups or individuals?
  • What about some of the other social media, like Google+, LinkedIn, etc.? How do you see them being used well?
  • What are some “best practices” that would span all social media?

Is that enough to get some thoughts rolling? Can you see how I’m not worried about having enough to talk about?

Thanks for any input you can give.

Rethinking Mission Work

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On Fridays, I sometimes recommend other blogs that I think have some especially worthwhile reading. I want to steer you over to Mark Woodward’s blog today. He has done an insightful series called “Rethinking Mission Work.” It’s an analysis of how we in the churches of Christ have selected and funded missionaries and mission efforts. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I do find the discussion to be very timely. You can find the series here:

Besides reading the blog on Mark’s site, you can join in on a post-by-post analysis of this series which Jay Guin is leading over on his site. You’ll find more discussion on Jay’s blog:

Happy reading, folks!

For those keeping score at home, I lifted the image straight from Mark Woodward’s blog.

Short-term mission resources

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I have a lot of hesitancy when it comes to short-term missions. Seems like everyone is doing them these days. Some churches have basically replaced long-term missions with short-term ones, which is a mistake, in my opinion. Many short-term efforts end up being little more than group vacations for those that go. While education isn’t always the answer, it can’t hurt, either.

That’s why I was pleased to find a number of resources from David LIvermore. He’s written several books on Cultural Intelligence that are generally helpful. He also has a book called Serving With Eyes Wide Open which is specifically about short-term missions.

While buying the book would be an excellent idea for everyone involved in short-term missions, there are resources on Livermore’s site that can be read for free. At the bottom of the page about this book, there are a number of articles. I especially recommend:
Leave Your Baggage at Home
Ten Things I Hate About STM
Head Over Heels for Short-Term Missions

We’ll get back to our pacifism discussion next week. Happy reading!