Source: Wipf and Stock
Re-Imagining Short-Term Missions, edited Angel Burns and Forrest Inslee, Wipf and Stock, 2022. 301 pages.
Given the diversity of endeavors under the term short-term missions umbrella, it’s hard to find an easier target in the mission world to critique. But many of us have some horror stories to tell from our own experience or that of those we know.
What about you? Ready to think deeply as you relaunch efforts halted by the pandemic? This hard-hitting but ultimately constructive book may be for you. It includes almost two dozen essays written by 40 global contributors. Chapters are grouped around core values they promote: mutuality and unity, humility and repentance, curiosity and teachability, and creativity and contextualization. It includes lots of stories of mission done well.
Here’s how the publisher describes the book:
“This book is for those who suspect that current practices of short-term missions are in need of serious reform. It is a book for those who recognize that, in this decade of global upheaval—and in light of the cultural, political, and demographic shifts affecting churches everywhere—now is the time for change. The essays here are intended to equip and inspire any who want to advocate for change but may not yet know what change looks like.”
Visit the publisher’s website. The book’s a bit pricey but you can get the Kindle edition for US$9.99 from Amazon.
Need help making your mission trips better? Friends at Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission offer a ten-hour seminar and many other resources you may find useful.