Short-terms missions have positive effects

Becoming a missionary used to mean taking time to obtain extensive professional training, and going on a mission meant staying several months or years in a foreign country. In recent years, more people are showing an interest in missionary work, but they don’t have a lot of time to donate to certain causes. As a result, short-term missions are becoming increasingly popular.

Three authors — Roger Peterson of Minneapolis, Minn., Gordon Aeschliman of Villanova, Penn., and Wayne Sneed of Memphis, Tenn., who collectively have more than 80 years of short-term mission experience — say they also have a positive effect.

Their book, Maximum Impact Short-Term Mission, points out the rewards and benefits of going on a short-term mission, while also mentioning that failure to understand the lifestyles and cultures of the “host receivers” can result in disaster.

Ultimately, the authors emphasize the importance of “the God-commanded repetitive deployment of swift, temporary, nonprofessional missionaries.” In other words, those seeking to serve God as non-career missionaries, doing so in other cultures, when time permits and as often as desired.

Over 1,000,000 people travel yearly on short-term missions. Of the many who go on short-term missions annually. “God has always used real people to promote His original plan,” asserts Sneed, who said his interest in the topic grew out of his own work with orphanages in Latin America. In addition, he takes a group of short-term missionaries to Brazil every year for two weeks to share the Gospel.

“The perceived quality of short-term missions outreach is in direct proportion to the relationships established,” Sneed says. “If it is done right it will be one of the highlights of your life.”

— E.P. News