What Is the Role of Short-Term Missions?
What is the role of short-term missions?
Short-term missions is a double-edged sword. It cuts for you and it cuts against you. The way that it cuts for you is through two primary benefits:
- Short-term missions raise up up potential long-term missionaries
- Short-term missions can help a church planting effort overseas by aiding that church
It cuts against you if short-term missions is seen as primary to evangelizing the nations. By short term I mean anything less than 5 years. If we're going to entrust the church planting efforts to less than 5 year missionaries, this is not going to be doable. You're going to be left with anemic churches at best, and watered down believers.
Short-term missions has its benefits, but it's mostly to alert potential missions to what it means to be long-term, and also to help the existing church plants overseas.