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ALAN'S BLOG
August 2, 2008
So
what exactly is “short-term missions?”
I
believe there has been a traditional definition and
expectation of “short-term missions” which is: to go to a
third world country and “do” something “for them.” Teams of
volunteers will take their vacation time to travel to
another country and contribute their time and money to
health programs or church development, whether the latter be
construction, evangelism, or VBS. This is truly an admirable
undertaking, and a commendable effort.
But, generally speaking, this tends to be a one-way street:
“we” are “doing something” for “them.” The focus of the trip
is not on what “they can do for us.” In fact, most of the
emphasis is on “doing” and not on “learning.” What could be
a beautiful two-way cultural exchange is generally lost in
“doing a project!”
We
cannot keep up the old-mission mentality as mission efforts
are developing. Ecuador has hundreds of evangelical churches
growing, struggling, and reproducing. Do we need foreign
missionaries to come and do evangelism? No. Do we need
foreign missionaries to come and plant new churches. No. (I
am speaking from a general, overall point of view.) Why not?
Because the Ecuadorian Church is now doing just that, and
can do it much better than a foreigner can. (Where the
Ecuadorian Church needs help is in pastoral training and
theological education.)
So
when short-termers come to do evangelism and VBS, what is
really happening? They are learning about Ecuador by doing
certain activities. But do they realize that, or do they
just think that they have “done a great work in Ecuador?”
That depends on their attitude.
If
one evaluates the productivity of a short-term mission as
compared to its cost, the conclusion is discouraging. It
would be much more efficient to just send the money and let
the Ecuadorians do the job. But if we evaluate a short-term
mission trip in terms of learning, the time and money are
well invested, not just in the Ecuadorians, but even more in
the volunteers from the US. The volunteers learn about
Ecuadorian culture, about different ways of doing things,
about different perspectives on time and relationships, and
they see first hand what is going on in the ministry and
Ecuador, and get to meet some of the people who are doing
the ministry here. That is the real value of a mission trip!
The
need in Ecuador is to build relationships, long-term
relationships. The US Church and the Ecuadorian Church need
to understand each other in order to be able to work
together. Rather than a mission trip end up being a
“been-there, done-that” adventure, it needs to be seen as a
“we visited them and now we know each other better.” That
may not be seen as being very “productive,” as least in the
eyes of a North-American, but in the eyes of an Ecuadorian,
that is very beneficial and important. And this is one of
many values that Ecuadorians can teach North Americans:
relationships are more important than projects. I believe
that in itself could transform many US churches!
We
have had three groups visit us in the past year. I have seen
many faces of confusion at the end of the trips, wondering
why they came here. They ask the question because they have
been trained to think in terms of projects, and they really
didn’t do any major projects. The first thing I tell them is
that they have blessed Faby and me. How? They visited us.
That in itself means more to me than any project or
donation. Missionary work is lonely. There are times when
one needs contact with his or her home culture. One of my
best experiences on this last trip was playing “killer UNO”
(a card game) with the four youth who spent a month here.
It’s been years since I played that game!
We
never have time to travel and see the country except when a
group comes to visit. With this last group of four youth
from D.C. we went to the jungle and to the coast. Yes, we
did some work projects, but what meant most to me was
meeting old friends that I hadn’t seen in years. I was
reminded how much a friendship means!
So
what did the youth learn on this last trip? They can answer
that best themselves. I suspect they learned about different
foods, learned some more Spanish, and struggled with the
loose time schedule and ever changing plans. I would like to
believe they learned a lot about themselves, being away from
their home environment. And I hope they began to build
relationships with some Ecuadorians and have come to
understand them a little better, beginning with Faby and me.
Thanks for coming!
Alan
and Faby
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