But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
My first short-term mission trip ignited a long-dormant call to “be [Christ’s] witnesses … to the end of the earth.” That call first surfaced when, as a ten-year-old, I was taken to see “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness,” a film loosely based on the life and ministry of English missionary Gladys Aylward. She became my first hero of the faith.
But that call lay dormant for twenty-eight years until I was sent to Brazil in 1987 to deliver and set up video equipment for a media ministry in São Paulo. My first experience of crossing cultural borders for Jesus was exciting and spiritually empowering. I returned on several subsequent mission trips with the support and encouragement of my local church.
Mission to South Asia
Six years later, our church became involved in church planting in South Asia, and in 1994, sent its first short-term mission team of three elders and one of our pastors to India and Nepal. It was my responsibility to document the trip for our team report to the congregation.
We spent the last three days of our journey in Kathmandu, Nepal. There, we found native missionary partners who were planting churches among the unreached people groups of what was then the world’s only Hindu kingdom. I produced a short video report, and our team shared our experiences during a worship service.
Learn how to pray for South Asia with our free South Asia Prayer Guide.
Developing Engagement Among Our Members
Over the next six years, our church supported up to thirty-five native missionaries who planted hundreds of village churches and saw thousands of Nepalis come to faith in Christ. A team would visit every year to encourage our native partners and return with updates on the work. Through our regular reports to the church, members of our church family became increasingly invested in this mission outreach.
International mission was becoming less and less the exclusive interest of the mission committee. The church as a whole was actively engaged and supportive of the work in Nepal. The commitment to continued engagement through short-term mission trips and regular reporting significantly contributed to the congregation’s involvement.
Some Long-Term Effects of Short-Term Mission Trips
- Learning to think and act globally as well as locally
God’s kingdom work is greater than any one locality, ethnicity, or church tradition. Being the hands and feet of Jesus in another culture helps expand a church’s vision for evangelism and discipleship.
It also often ignites a greater commitment to local evangelism. Participating in short-term missions cultivates a culture of thinking missionally within your local church. Shifting focus from ourselves to others, from those like us to those unreached with the story of Jesus, can bring a healthy dose of reality to our Christian lives and congregations.
- Increased maturity in discipleship
Exposure to diverse cultures, spiritual needs, and the global church can foster a deeper sense of dependence on God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. When short-term team participants witness the accomplishments that can be achieved through the labors of local believers who often have limited resources, their confidence in God grows as they mature in Christ.
It is not uncommon for career missionaries to have sensed the call to full-time missions during a short-term trip. I certainly did.
- A stronger sense of community
Shared experiences on mission trips often translate into a stronger sense of community back home in your local church. There is nothing like navigating new environments and overcoming challenges together to demonstrate our unity in and dependence upon Christ.
Offering Encouragement and Service
Our church has experienced all of these long-term impacts and more over the past thirty years of partnership in Nepal and in other countries as well. We continue to partner with ANM for work in Nepal and Myanmar. Most importantly, we have learned that our most significant contribution to our native missionary partners is to offer them encouragement and service as co-workers in Christ’s harvest field.
At ANM, our short-term mission trips are organized and led by experienced staff who know, love, and respect our local missionary partners who host our teams. Click here to find out more about ANM’s mission trips for your church.
