What can you do on a short-term mission trip?

Paul and Auguste were crucial in keeping our trip focused and productive. They set up our itinerary, arranged the events at the orphanages, brought us to the school assemblies to announce the VBS. Oh, and they also (along with Pastor Volker) had the idea for the VBS in the first place. And Paul taught us some skits to break the ice with the kids. And they were running the skate competition and…okay, so basically the whole trip flowed through them.

We knew that going in, though. Lauren’s contacts in Namibia were old friends, not ministry contacts. So it was a blessing to get that kind of guidance from someone who’s actually living there and can say, “This is where you’re needed. This is where you’ll make the most impact.”

Because that is a common worry about short-term mission trips, isn’t it? Will you really make an impact? Will you change anything about the lives of those you work with? Sure, sharing the gospel or encouraging a child is worth doing, don’t get me wrong. But why spend all that money to do it across the world?

To me, the answer is to do it with the local church, the local missionaries. That may seem obvious. But not all trips work that way. After working with the Streets and others on this trip, though, and after hearing about all of the good that came out of the Finland mission trips our church did (where they mostly ministered directly to the church leaders/members), I’m a firm believer that this is the way to do it.

We were able to reach out to children who know that they have a church right there to return to for further encouragement. Enjoyed our skits and reenactments of Bible stories? Come to Sunday school, they have cool stuff every week. A bunch of weird Americans stopped you in a mall to pray for you and now you’ve realized you want to make Christian friends, specifically with young adults close to your own age? Well, here’s the address of the local church they were working with; their young adult group meets on Saturday nights.

Discipleship is huge. And it’s something we can’t personally provide through a short-term trip. But we can:

• Be something different or interesting that sparks the attention of the people we’re ministering to.
• Provide extra manpower to make it easier for the church to do the things they want to do, like run skate competitions or Vacation Bible Schools.
• Remind the local church that they have brothers and sisters in Christ on the other side of the world. (That always encourages me on these trips – you know it, but it’s something else to see it.)
• Encourage the missionaries who come from our country, our church. Give them a taste of home, and remind them that they are supported and prayed for and that they haven’t been forgotten.

I feel like we did that. And I’m grateful that God gave us the opportunity.