Brief Report – Short-term Missions Research Conference held at Chicago, 22nd to 24th March 2007. Convenor: Dr. Robert Priest of Trinity Theological College, Chicago.
This is in no way an official report. Neither does it claim to be objective. It contains my personal thoughts, reflections and to some extent conclusions.
This research conference was attended by about 25 people many of whom were researching in short-term mission (via PhD programmes). Most were from the USA, plus two from the UK and one Paraguayan. Delegates included academics, practitioners, youth-pastors and missionaries.
The objective of the conference (as I perceived it, and not necessarily officially) was to bring people together to seriously consider how short-term mission trips could be aided to be better managed and more effective. The trips mostly in view were between a week and a few months long, by Americans outside of their country, to non-Western peoples. Typically the groups discussed were of between 4 and 40 Americans, either specifically school / college students, or of older people, with the stated intention of somehow assisting the churches in the target locations. Part of the intention was also clearly to assist the travellers to mature and grow spiritually, and in their appreciation of the world.
The position taken was that such mission trips could not be prevented, and were likely to continue to increase in number (they already number 1.6 million people or more annually from the USA alone), but that they needed to be assisted so as to operate more effectively.
A clear tension throughout the conference was that we were seeking to improve the effectiveness of something which in many people’s views cannot be effective. Many reports pointed out that such trips actually give few of the intended benefits either to travellers, or to their host communities. The host community’s primary reason for wanting them to continue was for the financial benefit that they brought. The motivation of the travellers was not considered in detail. It was felt that if short-term mission was to occur, then it would be better well-done than badly done.
Many reports were given by PhD students to small groups that then attempted to guide them in the design of the methodology of their proposed research. Some people further on in the process reported on their findings.
Good orientation prior to short-term mission trips, and then discussion and follow up over periods of 6 months or more after return from trips, was considered vital. Groups of young people especially needed this kind of attention. The role of ‘cultural broker’ – someone such as a resident missionary to stand between the group and the people of the region being visited – was considered vital. Unfortunately it was acknowledged that this role would interfere with other mission-work being done by the ‘broker’. Inter-congregational relationships was one way of going about short-term mission.
The conference was more a time of asking questions than of drawing conclusions. For me, the discussions that we engaged in were a confirmation of the importance of my two points: that mission should be done in the language of the target people being reached, without the use of outside resources to subsidise ministry.
For more information see: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/sociology/staff/kurt.htm
Jim Harries
