Short-term mission: is it worth it?

Andrew and Bethanie Walker lead the Anglican Church of Mendoza in Argentina, where Leah Moore has been serving on her language year abroad.

How does short term mission help the world-wide church? Does it help at all?! Having been on both sides of short-term mission, as a short-termer and as host of short-termers, the answer is perhaps not as clear as we’d like it be.

Often the expectations of both parties are not very realistic. Leah says, ‘serving in Argentina turned my preconceptions about mission life on their head. My first expectation was that God was sending me to Argentina with all these fantastic new ideas that would transform the church.’ Whereas us hosts tend to be enthusiastic about the extra pair hands to slot in where we’re lacking them!

The reality tends to pan out differently. Hosts must remember the time it takes to adapt to a new culture and language and how unsettling it can feel, even to the keenest traveller. While Leah says she ‘was quickly humbled and learned that the church already had so many great ideas but lacked the hands to execute them. This taught me that even though I may only be playing guitar on Sundays or helping in children’s church, I am still part of God’s mission as I support others in their evangelism work.’

Leah also observed that ‘mission is not always living in dirt huts in the middle of nowhere but can be just simply doing life and serving a church as you would in the UK, just in a different cultural context.’ Sometimes the ordinary nature of missionary life can be a surprise!

As short-termers settle in, they find their feet. Leah’s done a great job serving in different ways, and her help at our Christmas events this year has been particularly valuable. Perhaps less visible is how she’s been a great joy for the four little Walkers. A really great side-line for short termers is getting to know the ‘mish kids’, encouraging them in their fledgling faith and reading stories to them.

Downsides? Well, for us, six months does seem like the blink of an eye. The gospel is all about relationships, but just as the short-termer is really getting involved, they have to leave! The whole church in different ways invests in a person knowing that in a few months they’ll be gone.

Leah’s take is that ‘world mission involves a lot of sacrifices. There weren’t many people my age in Mendoza, so I often felt isolated and deprived of a year abroad experience like my friends. I also missed out on significant life events back in the UK and spent my first Christmas away from home.’ There is definitely a realisation that leaving home to share the gospel overseas comes at a cost.

Short term mission then – is it worth it? I think our answer is a resounding yes, but not for the reasons we often give. It is an important step in considering the cost of leaving a home culture for long-term mission and growing in gospel truths outside our comfort zones. But didn’t Jesus do this, in the most incredible way ,when he left the glory of heaven? He made himself nothing, taking the nature of a servant because of the glory set before him (Philippians 2:7).

Or, in Leah’s words: ‘As followers of Christ, we are called to make these sacrifices, and the reward is so much greater than a roast turkey!’