The number of United States Christians taking part in trips lasting a year or less has grown from 540 in 1965 to an estimated more than 1.5 million annually, with an estimated $2 billion per year spent on the effort, according to Missiology journal.
But is the spiritual profit worth the investment? Researcher Dr. Dennis Horton — an associate professor of religion at Baylor University and principal investigator of a study on the effects that short-term mission trips have on mission team members — gives a qualified “Yes.” Some have suggested the money might be better spent giving directly to a country’s Christian partners for spreading the gospel and offering medical aid, construction assistance or other help. Some long-term missionaries even have complained that culturally insensitive short-term mission participants do more harm than good by damaging relationships that had taken years to build.
But the study showed that students who participate in short-term mission trips tend to have lower levels of materialism, greater appreciation for other cultures and a better understanding of missions as a lifestyle.
Two-thirds of short-term trips last two weeks or less, with a host of purposes ranging from evangelism to digging wells or teaching English as a second language.
The trips would seem to benefit sending agencies, the teams and the host countries.
“But I think a lot of churches and groups need more follow-up to help mission team members incorporate what they’ve learned on their trips into their daily lives,” Horton said. “Long-term involvement is where you see transformation taking place.”
About 600 students, most from Texas universities, and 48 short-term mission trip leaders participated in the study conducted by Horton, former pastor of a church in Hong Kong, and four Baylor University undergraduate research assistants.
For long-term effects on those who go on short-term mission trips, some studies show little difference between those who have participated short-term trips and Christians who have not when it comes to giving, materialism and believing one’s culture is superior to others. What makes a difference is pre-trip training, on-site mentoring and follow-up after the trip, Horton said.“We appreciate the zeal (of students),” he said. “They say, ‘We need to get out there and share the gospel!’ But missionaries are saying ‘Wait a minute.’ In many countries, the best way to reach others is through friendships over time, not quick presentations of the gospel that can endanger long-term missionaries and local Christians.”
Short-term mission trips should be “more than spiritual tourism in which participants travel to an exotic place, take a myriad of photos and return to their relatively isolated home environments and pre-trip behavior.”Churches, campus ministries and Christian colleges can play a huge follow-up role.
Many people commit at Christian youth camps to become missionaries, Horton said, but “some find out a little bit more and say, ‘Oh, that isn’t for me. I can do this for a few weeks, but I like my technology, my comforts.’ It wasn’t that they didn’t still have an interest or wanted to work with local missions.”
In some countries, there are immediate responses, with hundreds of converts, Horton said. In others, “you could work for years and have only one or two converts. Students hoping to see instant results on a two-week trip may become discouraged."
Dr. Rosalie Beck, an associate professor of religion at Baylor, served in Vietnam in the 1970s, providing support services to missionaries.
“Even if the missionaries love having the short-term team members there, it can be disruptive as far as time and on finances that already may be troubled," she said.
But short-term mission team members “will encounter the world in a way they never have before and may never again. It will deepen their commitment in the faith and open their eyes to the reality of life elsewhere in the world.”
Matt Lewis, a Baylor sophomore communications major from Jacksonville, Texas, worked with youth on volunteer mission trips to the Czech Republic in 2007 and 2008.Between trips, he said, “I spent a lot of time in prayer and tried to meditate and listen to what God was saying to me. I got to reconnect with some youth there from the previous summer. It was great to see that the decisions they made were still apparent in their lives. Seeing this reinforces my belief that God is calling me into the ministry.”
Of the 32 students interviewed after their trips, 29 said the trips had changed the way they see other cultures, with 17 mentioning increased respect and concern. Most said they had greater appreciation for what they have — or even disgust for American greed — but only a few mentioned concrete steps they had taken to lessen their materialism.
Horton plans a future study on the effect short-term mission trips have on churches and agencies who sponsor them.
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