Running head: SHORT-TERM MISSIONS: HURTING OR HELPING COMMUNITIES?

Are Short-Term Missions Hurting or Helping the Impacted Communities?

Position Paper

Kara Ingersoll

Azusa Pacific University

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This position paper will dive into the idea of short-term missions and the negative stress it

puts on communities and local people. Mission work is a beloved topic by Christians and non-

Christians alike; however, when culture, religion, and economics are neglected, short-term

missions can leave a negative mark on communities. With the ever-growing mission field, it is

imperative for missionaries to prepare before entering the communities in order to respect the

people being affected by the mission work.

Missionary work is something that I did not take part in growing up. The church I attended

focused around community outreach more so than short-term missions to other nations. It was

through my sister Kristin, that I was educated on the impact of short-term missions. Kristin

studied abroad in both East Los Angeles and Colombia. In order for her to embark on the

semesters, she was immersed with the culture in her courses. It was through these courses that

she became knowledgeable about understanding others circumstances before being able to go to

the culture to try and make a difference. Christians are taught to complete missionary work, but

there are certain aspects to know before embarking on a short-term mission.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, NIV). Missionary

work is a familiar term to Christians as we are told to make disciples of all nations, but what

does it look like to bring the kingdom of God to all nations, one may ask. Missionary work was

preached throughout the Bible as Paul sought out to bring monotheism to the polytheistic

Gentiles. Through undeniable faith, expressive speech, and continuous movement across the

land, Paul was able to utilize missionary work to gain disciples of the Lord. Paul was a key

missionary that assisted the spread of Christianity to where it stands in today’s society.
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Christians are taught to share the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We are taught from a

young age to attend the youth group summer camp in order to paint homes. Visit Mexico with

the hopes of bringing joy to the orphan’s lives. Fly to Haiti and provide short term relief to the

victims of extreme poverty. Where is the line drawn between helping and hurting communities

through short term missionary work?

Whether a mission trip causes one to travel from the suburbs to the inner city or fly halfway

across the world, mission trips allow Christians to take a leap of faith and travel to a location

outside of their home. Traveling offers a wide range of education and missionary work simply by

immersing oneself in a foreign city, culture, and environment. The growth of traveling

missionary work has significantly shifted upward in the past 30 years (Brown, 2005, p. 2). It is

through volunteer programs that missionaries are able to both vacation while teaching the Word

of the Lord and offer their helping hands to the community. Universities, such as Azusa Pacific

University, offer short term mission trips that range from long weekends to several weeks in

order for students to travel while spreading Christianity across nations. Each year, the University

sends more than 250 students and employees to local and international locations in order to

serve. Participants are taught the importance of integrating the cross-cultural experience to their

spiritual development.

Spreading the Word of the Lord has led to stories of powerful spiritual formations in

communities that previously did not know who Jesus Christ was. There is no doubt that there is a

power behind sharing the Word. It is the way in which the word is spread that creates positivity

in mission trips. Christians are called to follow the lessons taught by Jesus Christ. The Bible is

the source which provides understanding as for how and why Christians should take mission

trips.
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Romans 10:14 proclaims, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?

and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear

without someone preaching to them?” (NIV). The questions previously asked test Christians to

ponder the importance of mission trips. The impact of Romans 10:14 is evident. If the Word of

the Lord is not spread, if Jesus Christ is not introduced to strangers of him, if the stories of the

Bible are not taught, then communities foreign to Christianity would not be saved. One cannot

have faith without knowing that faith exists. It is through bringing faith to foreign places that

missionaries are open to cultural differences.

Cultural immersion is a valuable takeaway from mission trips. Gaining knowledge,

sensitivity, and understanding of other cultures creates the ability to create deeper connections

with the people that live in the communities in which the mission trip is occurring within.

Saundra and Darren Clarke, authors of Culturally Focused Community-Centered Service

Learning: An International Cultural Immersion Experience, found that those being immersed in

cross-cultural mission trips have gained, “the cultural lens by which diversity is experienced, the

workings of successful multicultural organization, individual cross-cultural relationships are

examined and personal cultural identity is explored” (2010, p. 167). Immersing oneself in a

cross-cultural mission trip opens the door gaining self-awareness as well as sensitivity to the

culture of the people.

While missionaries may reap benefits from completing short-term missions, the negative

impact of the trips is far greater than the benefits. The impact of mission trips benefits the

missionary, but reap little benefit to the people and communities that are left behind once the

missionaries leave. Overall, the communities suffer greatly once missionaries leave due to lack

of education, cultural sensitivity, economics, and neglect. It is through the benefits that this paper
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will analyze the negativity that comes along with missionaries taking short-term mission trips to

nations.

The community, arguably, is negatively impacted by short-term mission trips more than

any other factor. The community’s economy is directly affected by short-term mission trips. As

missionaries visit the communities, they bring along supplies such as food, water, vitamins,

clothing, and anything that may serve the community in a positive way. While this is deemed a

harmless act of kindness, the economy of the community is being challenged. In an interview

with Peter Greer, CEO of Hope International, conducted by Jerry Bowyer, Greer stated, “When

you give something the first time, there was gratitude; and when you give something a second

time to that same community, there was anticipation; the third time, there was expectation; the

fourth time, there was entitlement; and the fifth time, there was dependency” (2013).

Communities gain a sense of dependency upon the missionaries to bring supplies. This makes

economic growth almost impossible as the members of the community are not spending the

money from the vendors of their society, but rather taking handouts from missionaries. The

impact of economic growth not only hurts the economy itself but also the labors of the working

class.

Local workers reap the negative effect of short-term missions. When missionaries enter

communities to construct buildings, offer food, or donate clothing, the ability of the local

workers is ignored. Small local businesses are unable to grow due to the donated items and time

of the missionaries. The Journal of Adventist Mission Studies found that communities would reap

more benefit of receiving donated money to hire local workers rather than missionaries entering

the community to do the same work (p. 2). Not only are the local workers being belittled by the

incoming of missionaries, but the structures built quickly with little quality. Studies show that
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volunteer organizations spent nearly $30,000 in order to rebuild a home after hurricanes tore

through Honduras. In the following weeks, Christian missionaries built a home of the same size

and structure for only $2,000. The quality of the home was ultimately unhelpful to the

community as it was not structurally sound (Gable, 2015, p. 34). While the missionaries have

good intentions of helping communities devastated by poverty or natural disasters, they often

bring forth more problems for the communities.

Culture is another aspect of short-term mission trips that are often neglected by

missionaries entering foreign communities. The world is a cultural mosaic. Humans are rooted

and defined by their culture. Stepping into a different culture is very impactful, but one must

have cultural sensitivity as a form of respect to the members of the community. When entering a

new culture, missionaries should be informed of how to have respect for the members of the

community; however, education is typically lacking.

Neglecting local culture is disrespectful to the indigenous people living in communities

across the nations. When looking to the Bible’s teachings of building cultural sensitivity, Jesus is

the ultimate teacher. He walked the earth his entire life setting an example of how to listen, pray,

then speak. A key aspect to understanding cultural differences is to simply listen and learn. An

article published in U.S Catholic stated, “Today the world admires Pope Francis for listening,

meekly reaching out to understand others, and embracing what he has called a “culture of

encounter’” (p. 35). Learning to embrace the culture of the communities that missionaries are

stepping into would shift the way in which short-term missions are viewed. Insensitivity only

prolongs the negative impacts of short-term missionary work.

CBS highlighted a story that broke on November 16, 2018, as an American missionary

was shot and killed by an arrow as he attempted to share the Word of the Lord with an
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indigenous tribe. It is illegal to interact with the dangerous tribe as they are known to attack

anyone that comes close to the island. John Allen Chau neglected to realize that the indigenous

people of North Sentinel Island have an established community with ideas and culture. The

community did not want Chau to enter their island; therefore, he was killed. Missionaries set out

to share the Word of the Lord, as that is taught in the Bible. While there is importance in sharing

the Gospel, missionaries forget to understand that Christianity is foreign to the communities.

Understanding the spirituality of the nation is just as important as understanding the culture. For

Chau, he gave up his life in order to share the Gospel with a tribe that simply did not want it.

Volunteerism or the act of volunteering while on vacation is a word that has taken form

as mission trips have shifted to a vacation-like trip rather than a form of mission work. Volunteer

tourism has given mission trips a negative connotation to the world of mission work as it can be

seen as a form of instant gratification to show others the good deeds of the “mission trip”. The

reality is that the missionaries are touring the communities as if they are tourist attractions rather

than benefitting the community with their actual needs. Ultimately, the money spent traveling

would be better utilized in a form of a monetary donation to the community.

Neglecting the needs of the community in order for self-development is a major setback

for volunteer tourism. Christopher Lupoli conducted research on the negative effect of volunteer

tourism and the way in which missionaries can shift their focus in order to give back in a more

respected manner. Lupoli stated that missionaries visiting other countries often view themselves

in a savior manner. This only increases the negativity of volunteerism. It allows missionaries to

seek out new cities, landscapes, and beaches for their enjoyment while volunteering time to

communities that they believe are in need of their time. Due to this, volunteer tourism has been

given a negative connotation for the way in which missionaries respond to their work.
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Seeking out self-empowerment through missionary work has given the white savior

complex a new meaning. The white savior complex is the term used for missionaries that show

their missionary work with self-interest in mind. Robert Lupton, author of Toxic Charity: How

Churches and Charites Hurt Those They Help, focused his book around the work that

communities come up with in order for missionaries to have something to do while in the

community. One example he shared was a wall in a Mexican community that was painted on six

occasions by different missionary organizations (p. 34). It is through the missionaries that do

such work in order to serve their own self-interest that has affected the way in which missionary

work is portrayed. In 1999, a church in Lanesboro, Massachusetts conducted a survey of 100

people that had previously served in South America. Of these 100 participants, 74 agreed or

strongly agreed that they felt better about themselves after the trip (Journal of Adventist, p. 39).

The survey is a reflection of the intent that missionaries often hope to gain out of their

experience with volunteer tourism.

After reading countless articles related to the effects of short-term mission work, I have

concluded that short-term missions cause more harm than help to communities. In one sense,

short-term missions are paved with good intentions. Unfortunately, there are many reasons, as

examined in this paper, that proves that the negative impact of short-term missions outweighs the

good of short-term missions. As Christians, we are called to share the Word of the Lord with

those that have not heard the Gospel. We are called to love our neighbors and help those in need.

It is through long-term missions, learning to be culturally sensitive, and sharing the wealth that

we can fully live out the missions we are called to do.

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References

Bowyer, J. (2013). Your Help Is Hurting: How Church Foreign Aid Programs Make Things

Worse. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f

Brown, S. A. (2005). Volunteerism-traveling with a Purpose: Understanding the Motives and

Benefits. Retrieved March 3, 2019, from

https://search.proquest.com/docview/305390388.

Gable, M. (2015). Heroes not welcome. U.S. Catholic, 80(5), 33–36. Retrieved from

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=aph&AN=1035

43918&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=azusa

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies. (2019). The Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, 14(2),

2. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f

Lupoli, C. (2013, May 5). Volunteer Tourism: A Catalyst for Promoting Community

Development and Conservation. Retrieved from

https://etd.auburn.edu/bitstream/handle/10415/3554/Christopher_Lupoli_dissertation_for

_submission_April_16.pdf?sequence=2

Serve Nationally and Internationally. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2019, from

https://www.apu.edu/studentaction/serve/internationally/

Tomlinson-Clarke, S. M., & Clarke, D. (2010). Culturally Focused Community-Centered Service

Learning: An International Cultural Immersion Experience. Journal of Multicultural

Counseling and Development,38(3), 166-175. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.2010.tb00124.x

U.S. man likely killed trying to bring Christianity to remote tribe. (2018, November 22).

Retrieved March 3, 2019, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/american-john-allen-

chau-killed-sentinel-island-tribe-india-christian-missionary/