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Church: World

Short Term Mission Trips

A wee while ago, Ben wrote an excellent post on short term missions trips, and a day or two ago, Mark wrote another post quoting extensively from Ben and adding some comment of his own as well as these wise words from one of his colleagues:

Here’s one way I look at it.  If I have relatives in Australia and decide to visit them for 2 weeks to spend time with them and see where they live and what they do, no-one will question why I am spending all that money on flights and travelling all that distance.  I’m visiting family.  So, if we’re all part of God’s family, surely it makes sense to visit each other and learn about each other’s lives and spend time together.  Africans get this – they always say how much it means to them that we visit them.

The dynamic for mission, whether in the UK or worldwide, lies in relationships. Our relationship with God and our relationship with other people. When we become too task orientated, we lose the essential spark that makes mission effective. The balance is a very fine one: we still have to produce, but relationships are what will give success to our production.

Read Ben’s original post here.

Read Mark’s post here (includes links to Ben).