BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS FOR SHORT-TERM MISSIONS

Abstract

Short-term missions (STM) has both its advocates and its nemeses in our postmodern context.  In the course of reviewing hundreds of sources I have come to the conclusion that the advocates often over-estimate the value of STM by allowing any group of people moving from one place to another to constitute “missions” regardless of what their purpose may be.  On the other hand the missiological nemeses of STM have managed to pin nearly every problem on the mission field to a bad experience with a group of “ugly Americans” on a STM assignment.  Both assessments are subjective in nature and are less than helpful in the task of completing the Great Commission.  What is needed is an objectively grounded assessment based upon the phenomenon’s biblical roots.  If it can be established that there is biblical precedence for STM and that the approach is not a violation of theological orthodoxy/orthopraxy, then the missiological community should exert its gifts toward the end of discerning a strategic use for the approach.