Send money? Or send people? TAP asked a Canadian missions guru to give us some pointers towards understanding the importance of short-term missions to the life of local parishes.

Kimberley Beard

Is it worth investing in short-term missions that only last from one week to two years? Wouldn’t the thousands of dollars in plane fares be better spent mailed directly to the mission organization? Can short-term mission workers have any real impact, especially overseas?

Here are the reasons why I think short-term missions are so worthwhile:

1. Many people in Canadian society are looking for ways to ‘make a difference’ in the world. They often work in occupations that do not allow many opportunities for creativity and meaningful impact in the area of development. There is a strong desire among many people to ‘give back,’ to learn, to serve, to give to others and to travel with meaning.

2. The Church would benefit greatly by creating opportunities or doorways for non-church people to serve alongside church volunteers in short-term overseas or local mission projects such as

Habitat for Humanity or food banks. This can also help introduce non-church people to the strengths of Christian community and to the love and grace of Jesus Christ. It can help to overcome the skepticism that some Canadians have about ‘institutions in general’ and the ‘church’ in particular.

3. We can provide short-term mission opportunities in the local community, in Canada and overseas whereby children, youth, and adults can work together and learn together with our mission partners. This is a wonderful opportunity to empower volunteers and provide time for people to encounter Jesus and be transformed spiritually and to reflect on their way of living.

4. Short-term missions promote learning and understanding that motivate future commitment to development issues and evangelism. Giving donations to overseas projects is excellent and needs to be encouraged. The next step of actually committing time and personal resources to participate in a mission team helps volunteers to be transformed and to have a much deeper appreciation for the issues of the Global South, for example. After our mission team to South Africa and Swaziland spent three weeks working with HIV/AIDS programmes here they returned to Canada with a much deeper understanding of the impact of this pandemic and a greater resolve to become involved in responding to the challenges created by this disease.

5. Volunteers learn from our partners in the Global South about evangelism and catch something of their passion for mission. In Canada we need to relearn the skills of church planting, evangelism and mission. One excellent way to do this is to learn from our partners in areas where they are both successful and innovative in evangelism. We can then begin the process of taking these skills and transposing them into the Canadian context so that our churches can grow and become more effective in evangelism and mission.

Approaches to setting up Short-term Mission Opportunities

1. Work with an established mission in a receiving country. Arms of Jesus does wonderful work in Antigua in Guatemala. They receive many foreign mission teams each year and are very experienced in helping church groups with the logistics of serving in Guatemala. Some Anglican dioceses such as the diocese of the Dominican Republic have dedicated local volunteers who can arrange for the visiting mission team’s transportation, accommodation and work projects.

2. Develop relationships with dioceses or churches in the Global South to promote partnership, shared learning and exchange opportunities. This requires a longer term commitment by both partners, but can be deeply rewarding.

3. Support individuals in working with various mission agencies

such as South American Mission Society (SAMS); the Church Army particularly in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania; the Church

Mission Society (Africa); Volunteers in Mission (through the Anglican Church of Canada); Youth with a Mission; Operation Mobilization; InterServe; InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and many more.

  A decalogue for encouraging short-term missions 

1. Invite visiting bishops or priests who are visiting your diocese to come and speak to your community about their outreach and mission work.

2. Partner with another parish in an overseas diocese. The Diocese of Toronto has a companionship relationship with the Diocese of Grahamstown, South Africa. A committee exists to help promote the development of partnerships between parishes in these dioceses.

3. Contact the Partners in Mission department of the Anglican Church of Canada at (416) 924-9199 and ask for the regional mission coordinator for the part of the world you are interested in. They can update you on what is happening in the Anglican world and help you connect with other dioceses.

4. Form a mission/outreach committee in your church to promote

world and local mission. Develop educational coffee hour displays on HIV/AIDS, world hunger, education, water, malaria etc. to help inform parishioners about these mission-related issues. Explore how other dioceses are developing outreach and evangelism initiatives so that you can learn from their experience.

5. Develop short-term summer/March Break mission trips for youth

and adults. These mission teams could include youth, children and

adults with a variety of skills. Teams can assist in house building, church building, library development, HIV/AIDS education, Christian education, prison visiting, dental work, medical work, eye glass clinics, computer skills development, water purification, evangelism projects in partnership with the local church, and ESL classes.

6. Create a budget line in the church budget for world mission support. In our congregation we help support individual missionaries serving overseas with a variety of mission organizations. We also sent a representative to the world AIDS conference in Toronto in August 2006 to be better equipped to minister in this area.

7. Use the Anglican Cycle of Prayer and remember overseas dioceses in your weekly worship services. Create a bulletin board display to highlight an aspect of mission. Pray frequently for mission work.

8. Collect educational books, school supplies, eye glasses, Canadian Tire money and basic medical supplies for donation to mission agencies or projects.

9. Invite speakers from the South American Mission Society (SAMS), Primates World Relief, Partners in Mission, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, InterServe, World Vision etc. to speak at your church. While your at it, purchase books on mission for your local Christian resource centre.

10. Encourage attendance at Missionfest and, for college students, Urbana Missions Conferences.

Send Me: Your Journey to the Nations by Steve Hoke and Bill

Taylor, World Evangelical Fellowship, 1999.

To order contact the William Carey Library, P.O. Box 40129,

Pasadena, CA. 91114 Tel. 1-626-798-0819

Into All The World: The Annual Great Commission Opportunities Handbook www.aboutmissions.com

Short-Term Mission Teams: A Guide to Preparing for a Successful

Mission Team Experience compiled by Rick Banman. Arms of Jesus. 2001. See Arms of Jesus Website for more information

When God’s People Travel Together: A Trip Leader’s Planning

Manual Debby D. Vial, 1999 Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. To order contact Presbyterian Distribution Service at 1-800-524-2612

Centers for Disease Control- excellent website for health information on various countries around the world and the diseases found there. See their website at www.cdc.gov/travel/

Travel Warnings and Country information:

CIA World Fact Book: detailed country information- political, economic, communications.

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (Canada)

www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/ctry/new-en.asp

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel www.fco.gov.uk