The phrase “mission trip” can mean a lot of different things to different people. For some, it conjures meaningful memories about how they connected with a community of people on the other side of the world. For others, it may not be so positive. Headlines about mission trips done wrong and memories of seeing people treated like projects leave some asking, "What good comes from a short-term mission trip?"
While Experience Mission (EM) is a short-term missions organization, it may be surprising to know that we think everyone should ask this question. Because the truth is that unhealthy mission trips can do more harm than good. They can leave people feeling undignified and small while making those who go feel big and important for what they've done. This is not the vision of self-sacrificial love we see in the life and teachings of Jesus, and we should say "good riddance" to this approach to missions.
However, we believe that healthy mission trips—approached with intentionality, a focus on relationships, and a mission to dignify everyone we serve and partner with—are exactly what the world needs more of today. So, here are three great parts of these kinds of mission trips that make each experience worth the time, money, and effort you put into them.
1. Mission Trips meet tangible needs
In a world that's not experiencing enough love, mercy, and justice, mission trips allow you to participate in God's plan to redeem and restore the whole earth by serving your neighbors in need. There are real needs around the world that we as followers of Jesus have the opportunity to help address—most effectively by coming alongside local ministries with a vision to serve and impact their own communities. This type of self-sacrificial service is one of the most important witnesses we can be in the world.
When welcomed in by local leaders, mission trip volunteers play a critical role in tackling real problems alongside local residents.
How can mission trip teams help in communities?
A relational approach to serving translates into a few concrete kinds of help teams can offer:
- Momentum and energy - Local ministry staff and volunteers are often stretched thin, and mission trip teams can humbly take on the grunt work of cleaning, organizing, and expanding ministries, which frees up full-time staff to gain vision, avoid burnout, and serve their communities well year-round
- Eased financial burden - On many mission trips, a large portion of your trip fee goes directly toward addressing financial needs for local projects or long-term ministry partners, such as the 1-week mission trips to Savannah, Georgia, where this partnership can help put a roof over a family's head as they work toward a more hopeful future
- Power in numbers - For some small and growing ministries, the help of short-term volunteers reinforces the truth that they are not doing their work alone, and mission trips create space for all of us to rally around people faithfully loving and serving their communities
- Education and training - In some rural areas, access to educational resources is scarce, and when specific needs align with volunteer expertise, short and long-term volunteers can help by bolstering programs and training local volunteers, approaching the work as mutual learners rather than saviors
Each of these forms of practical help works best when we are responding to what a community has already identified as their own needs, not what a visiting team assumes it should be.
2. Mission trips build meaningful relationships
From our perspective, healthy mission trips don't focus on projects and agendas. They're about building meaningful relationships across cultural boundaries that honor each person's God-given humanity. Mission trips with a relational approach do more than just meet immediate needs; they empower everyone to "live their mission" more fully every day.
We believe intentional relationships unlock our God-given potential for compassion and grace.
From community members feeling valued and dignified as they work to fight cycles of poverty and injustice, to volunteers learning to have empathy and understanding for those around them in different life circumstances.
What can relationships do on your mission trip?
A relationship-first mindset changes what a mission trip actually accomplishes:
- Empower everyone to live their mission - Relationships are about mutual respect and influence, allowing people to shape us just as much as we hope to bring meaningful change to their lives, so that everyone involved is empowered to serve and partner together toward lasting change in their own communities
- Restore dignity - Mission trips and charity organizations don't always have a good track record of dignifying those in need, but when we build relationships instead of handing out aid, community members gain a sense of dignity and ownership over what's happening in their own lives
- Inspire generosity - A long-term, face-to-face relationship between real people and real churches has the power to transform the generosity of an entire congregation of givers, because putting a face and a name to a cause turns it into a priority rather than a one-time gift
- Create world-changers - Especially with youth mission trips, the experience of going has the ability to shift a person's worldview, giving context for the impact and influence they can have, for good or bad, and hopefully choosing to live into the good
3. Mission trips are about giving and receiving
Healthy mission trips are about serving with open hands, ready to give as well as receive. While we all understand the importance of meeting tangible needs, what does it look like to receive? We think it has a lot to do with your attitude and posture. When we come with open ears and open hearts to hear what God may be revealing to us during the trip, we can allow the people we meet to challenge and change us for the better.
What can you learn on a mission trip?
Receiving well on a mission trip tends to show up in a few specific ways:
- Compassion and empathy for those around you - We're all the same in God's eyes, but taking time to build relationships with those who might seem different than us unlocks understanding and compassion, not just with those we meet on a mission trip, but for people in all walks of life
- Faith and hope in the face of adversity - Listening to those who have experienced difficult circumstances, whether it's loss of community, generational poverty, or injustice, teaches us what it means to depend on God in all seasons of life
- Leadership and teamwork - Mission trips are a group effort, and coming together with others from your church, family, and the community where you serve is a rare glimpse into what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like
- How to live your mission - Good short-term mission trips transcend the week-long experience, and when you take a week to live intentionally, love your neighbors, and see everyone the way God sees them, you walk away changed and can apply that change to every area of your life
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Mission trips are a powerful experience, and they should be treated as such. If you're asking yourself, "What good comes from a short-term mission trip?" we think you're on the right track. Serving with a humble posture and seeking to build relationships and create lasting change on your mission trip can be the difference between a meaningful, dignifying, transformational experience or one that wastes time, effort, and resources - or worse, degrades the community you hoped to serve.
Will you fight for a mission trip that dignifies, empowers, and uplifts those in need? Will you go and allow people you meet to challenge and change you? Will you give your group the unique opportunity to meet tangible needs, build meaningful cross-cultural relationships, and grow into people who live their mission every day? We hope so.
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