As you know, I recently returned from Morogoro, Tanzania from a short-term missions trip. Prior to leaving I shared some thoughts regarding missions based on John Piper’s book Let the Nations Be Glad. The basic premise there is that worship is the fuel for our obedience, including missions. We do not obey out of a spirit of drudgery, but out of the overflow of our joy in God’s glory.

But many separate short-term and long-term missions. While few would argue the worth of long-term missionaries, there is much debate surrounding the concept of short-term missions trips. I’d like to briefly discuss and defend the idea as not only valid but important for all believers (for our purposes, we will classify short-term missions as any trip with a clear objective from one week to five months).

Missions-work of any breadth personalizes God’s heart for the nations (Genesis 22:17-18, Psalm 22:27, Psalm 67, Revelation 5:9, etc.). We often feel led to pray for “the nations” and “every tribe, tongue and people.” This is entirely appropriate and within God’s will for both our hearts and prayers. However, we must admit that our prayers are often more fervent the closer they hit to home. Short-term missions accomplishes just that. We leave praying for “nations” and “tribes” and we return praying for individuals with names and lives just like ours. Short-term missions puts names and faces to the nations, adding fervor to our prayers.

Short-term missions also gives us a different perspective. For example, a Scripture such as, Psalm 84:5a: Blessed are those whose strength is in you takes on new life after a short-term trip. Such a text is devotional and uplifting, reminding us that the same God who saves will deliver. Yet, after meeting men and women who live in not only humble, but seemingly dire conditions, we are forced to consider that, especially for Americans, our strength is often placed everywhere but God. We look to our country, our school, our church, our doctrine, our friends, etc. But when faced with believers who truly have nowhere else to place their strength than in God, we are reminded again of God’s perspective on issues.

While in Tanzania, I had the opportunity to meet a local pastor who truly exemplifies what it means for our strength to be in God. His church has now been in the area for ten years and he is greatly respected by other pastors and the community as a whole. But such was not always the case. The community is majority muslim and a mosque not half-a-mile away has terrorist ties. The police came to him one day and told him in no uncertain terms that if any harm befell him, they would not protect him.

One day, he and his family were awakened by calls for him to come outside and die. Several men with machetes were at the edge of the property saying that if he did not come out and die like a man, they would come in and slay his entire family. As he crossed the field, he did the only thing he could; he dropped to his knees and cried out to God for protection. After praying, he got up, turned his back to the men and went back inside, unharmed. This man knows what it means to place his strength in God in ways that we might never experience.

Short-term missions opens our eyes to God’s perspective and fills us with God’s heart. We must makes Christ’s last command our first concern:

Read Operation World.
Read God’s Heart For The Nations by Jeff Lewis.