I have been among missionaries and ministers for the last 22 years and I have learned a lot from each one of them. It has always amazed me to see how people give their time, resources, and heart to give to others what they can to show the love of Christ in every action as they join their first short-term mission trip.
The truth is that it always left me in awe of how people try to pour their hearts out with the only intention of allowing the kingdom of God to move beyond their borders. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not idealizing the work that is done in the mission field nor am I looking at it with pure and naïve eyes. I’m rather sharing the conviction I have seen in every action done by a team leader or member of a short-term mission trip.
Nowadays there is a lot to be said about short-term missions. From authors to pastors you will find a variety of opinions and arguments on whether to support or reject short-term missions, postures that would radically humanize short-term mission trips as just a simple transaction of giving and justifying a personal lifestyle.
The reality is that in a century full of information, opinions, and experiences, everybody is entitled to share their two cents on the topic, and in the next few lines I would like to share mine. Even if there are people who come on short-term missions just to be part of a trip or to find a way to justify a lifestyle that doesn’t promote the same values as those expressed on the short-term mission, it is also true that from short- term missions the gospel is mobilized. Through hands and feet that go to forgotten places, that is how the gospel gets stronger, through short-term missions, dreams and callings start to take form.
So, how do you mobilize the gospel? Is it not by small actions that you take every day? Is it not by sharing, by going, by encouraging, by promoting, by expressing, by talking, by serving, and by clothing? How else do you mobilize the gospel? Is it not by making the decision to give your life to Christ and sharing with others, is it not by jumping on the first opportunity to extend the great commission with whatever skill, resource, or idea God has given you? How else do you mobilize the gospel? Is it not by the feet that go, even though they are going as part of a short-term mission trip?
A short-term mission trip can create an opportunity to see the good and the bad of the mission field; a short-term mission trip can allow dreams and callings to take place, spouses to meet and organizations to be built. So, it doesn’t matter where you stand, the reality is that a short-term mission trip can change someone’s life and mobilize the gospel in ways that are impossible to estimate.
As a husband, friend, and minister, I invite you to join the next short-term mission trip you can and support VER International in mobilizing the gospel one project at a time.
German is a psychologist, forever theology student, and project manager at Compassion International. He is married to the love of his life whom he gets to do ministry with. Some of his favorite hobbies include reading, traveling, and watching TV.