By Shane Bennett
Here in my corner of the world, spring is gloriously breaking out all over the place. With it comes the proliferation of three things:
- New life, thanks be to God.
- Allergies, thanks to the Fall.
- Short-term mission-trip funding requests, thanks to the upwards of two million short-term-mission participants sent out each year by America alone!
The number of requests you receive may correlate closely to how much money you have given in response to past requests. So, if you’re complaining about the stack of letters on your kitchen counter, realize it’s like a war veteran whining about the weight of the medals on his dress uniform. You did this to yourself. But now, what to do about it?
What if this year we all made a concerted effort to really help the short-termers who reach out to us? The Great Commandment (love God, love people) may apply even more than the Great Commission.
Here are five ways you might show love to mission trippers.
1. Give them money.
This is why you read Missions Catalyst, right? For surprising, unforeseen insights such as “give money to someone who’s raising support to go on a short-term mission trip.” Of course this is a way to love them!
But seriously, there’s only so much of this kind of love to go around, right? How do you choose how much and to whom? Consider these options. You’re smart; pick the criteria that seem best to you.
- First come, first served. This will reward the go-getters who actually follow their organization’s fundraising schedule!
- Give when they make it easy. Prioritize those who crowdsource or who email their letters and include an online giving link. Who uses checks anymore?
- Give when the ask is personal. Only give to those who make their request in person or by printed letter and take the time to sign it. Unless it’s a blood relative, in which case you may be close enough to give both money and a scolding.
- Give when it’s strategic. Only give to those you sense are meeting real needs in a way that short termers can do well.
- Give a little bit to everyone who asks. This is kind and generous, but also a sure way to multiply the number of requests you’re looking at this time next year.
- Have a focus. Decide on a type of work or a geographic area to which you’ll give. Bless the rest, but stick to your plan.
2. Give them prayer.
God alone knows how large a donation has to be before it outweighs heartfelt prayer, but I suspect it’s more money than I’ll see in my lifetime. You know prayer matters! You also know it’s easy to check the prayer box to say you’ll pray, and then forget. (Unless that’s just me?)
Make your prayer commitment meaningful by asking for regular prayer requests. Maybe daily ones for a trip that’s two weeks or less, weekly for a longer experience. With a little thought, most can come up with such a list prior to departure.
Some good buds recently participated in a huge, multi-day prayer gathering for unreached peoples and sent out this crazy great prayer guide in advance. Check it out. It might serve as an inspiration for you or someone you’re helping to go.
You could also show love by writing your prayers in a text or email or calling them and praying live. What about taking their prayer requests to an ongoing group you are part of?
3. Give them advice.
I know, I know, you’re thinking, “What advice do I have about missions?” Or maybe, on the contrary, you don’t want to break your new year’s resolution to stop telling other people how to live their lives (again!) But you probably do have some words of wisdom. And can I tell you something? If you deliver them right, they will even bless your friend.
Your advice may be as simple as, “Read this article, Nine Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Mission Trip. You’ll benefit.”
You can also think for a moment of a key way God challenged you during a short-term trip and share that, or even a way the Lord has spoken to you in a sermon or your devotions recently.
You may want to provide a word of warning or counsel. You know: don’t fall in love with your team leader or local translator. Do consult with your team leader before going off with a friend or starting a multi-day fast. Give ongoing attention to how God is using your experience to transform you. Drink more water if your pee gets dark and smelly.
4. Give them a shout.
Over the course of my career I’ve gone from frantically throwing tokens in a Turkish pay phone for a once-a-summer, 90-second call, to now enjoying leisurely, multi-participant video chats at will! Technology allows for—to the point of almost demanding—instant global contact. This does cause some problems (“Stop chatting with your girlfriend back home and pay attention to this local person we flew across the ocean to hang out with!!”)
While keeping that in mind, consider reaching out and communicating with the person you helped send. A ping or two over the course of a week-long trip or weekly for a summer-length project wouldn’t be intrusive but could be super encouraging.
Simply let them know you’re thinking of them. Use the communique to tell them how you’re praying. Pat them on their virtual back and say, “You’re doing good, kid!”
5. Give them follow up.
Finally, one of the best ways you can show love is to follow up with the short-termer after they get back. I’m thinking a coffee-centric event in which two things happen:
- You listen and ask good follow-up questions. I’ve never met a returned short-term goofball who said, “Ugh, if one more person buys me coffee and lets me tell them about the trip, I’ll scream!!” One of the best ways to love someone is to listen to their stories.
- You show up packing some good questions. I assume most sending organizations provide their participants some sort of debrief. On the off chance they don’t, be ready. And even if they do, doubling down on this never hurt anyone.
Here are four easy-to-remember, worthwhile-to-answer, debrief questions:
- How did you win?
- How did you lose?
- What did God teach you?
- How does this trip fit into the rest of your life?
Ask those questions and the follow-up ones that emerge from their answers and your short-term bud will feel the love.
Conclusion
Ministry people debate the value of short-term missions ad nauseam. You could probably argue both sides of the debate intelligently. But maybe, like me, you feel it’s often a waste of time. The goofballs are going to go! And some of them are not even goofballs. God will delight to use them. And they’re going to ask us to help them succeed.
This summer, let’s go above and beyond. Perhaps we’ll be honored to play a small part in a mighty kingdom harvest.