Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
…A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. –Eccl. 4:9, 12b
Most of the summer missions discussion has been about sending mission teams out from your church. Now let’s look at when an individual, or a couple, decide to go somewhere for a month or more. They may be called summer missionaries or short term missionaries. Either way, they are entering into a ministry partnership that they, and their partners, need to understand. If the partners are all on the same page, then the ministry strands for all parties involved will be strong.
As previous discussions about teams have some transference to those going alone, this partnership discussion has transferable applications for the church teams. Therefore, summer missions team organizers and leaders, don’t skip this chapter.
In every short term or summer mission endeavor, there are four partners involved:
1) the short term or summer missionary
2) the mission agency
3) the field host/overseer, be it a missionary or national worker
4) the supporters/sending church of the short term/summer missionary
Each of the four partners has expectations regarding what will take place before and during the mission trip. Too often, however, the expectations differ from partner to partner. Too often there is little or no communication about expectations being done between partners. Sometimes there is miscommunication, some accidental, some intentional. Because of this failure to communicate expectations clearly and accurately between the partners, the result is a lack of satisfaction after the trip by one or more of the partners. Worse yet, instead of a joint praise to God, the result can easily be:
1) The summer missionary returns disappointed, not so excited about missions any more, and having to either exaggerate to supporters all the “great things God did”, or admit, “ It wasn’t what I thought it would be.”
2) The mission agency just shrugs their shoulders, “some work out, some don’t.”
3) The field host is just greatly relieved to be rid of the short-term “help”.
4) The supporters/sending church wonder if they are wasting their money sending their people on short term/summer mission trips.
Ultimately, the goal of these four-party partnerships is for all involved to glorify God as a result of the short-term/summer mission ministry. The best chance of this happening in such a joint operation is if all parties are working off the same set of defined expectations for each party before and during the trip. Whether these expectations are called “goals”, “plans”, “priorities”, “objectives”, “requirements”, or just “hopes”, they must be clearly communicated so that all parties are operating on the same page, understanding the role each will play before and during the ministry.
We recognize that there are times when the sovereignty of God overrides our well-laid plans and redirects our path in mid-stream. The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. (Prov. 16:9) This can cause an unexpected shift in the ministry on the trip. However, we must do our best to ensure that such a shift is due to God’s hand at work and not our own disorganization.
Short-term missionaries, and particularly the lone summer missionary, are often in a relationship with the mission partners that is similar to that of the new son-in-law from across the tracks entering the bride’s family business. The new son-in-law is excited to be a part of this new family and is ready to jump in with both feet. The family still isn’t so sure about him, but does its best to give him something to do in an area where he can’t do too much damage if he’s incompetent. The son-in-law, if he has half a brain and some ambition, sees he is being kept busy with the mundane. He doesn’t care for it much, but says nothing because he doesn’t want to upset anyone. Meanwhile, his bride back home wonders why nothing seems to be working out the way they hoped. Is the problem with her husband, the family business, or both?
Just as the bride has no idea how the family business really works, most churches and individual supporters have no idea how mission agencies and those hosts on the field operate. Since the bride has never had any desire to join the family business, she has never tried to find out all the “ins” and “outs” of the business. All she knows is that it is a successful business and it ought to be a good place for her husband to work. Since the family business is in advertising, she thought he would be involved in advertising, not working in the mailroom. In the same way, churches and supporters assume, unless they are told differently, that a trip to the mission field includes some type of ministry to the lost by their short term/summer missionary.
Another problem is that not all short term, and particularly summer, missionaries have the best motives for taking the trip. All will say the correct things, like, “I want to serve the Lord.” So it is difficult for an agency to distinguish between those strictly on a mission of service and ministry from those that want to serve in some way, but mostly want to see the sites and have a lot of recreational fun. It is also difficult for an agency to tell from an application form who truly has ministry skills and who doesn’t. Ministry experience does not always translate into ministry capability, particularly in a cross-cultural setting. For, even the most gifted of teachers and evangelists can really struggle when having to work through translators.
Meanwhile, the missionary or national on the field, who will host the short-term or summer missionary, usually has even less knowledge of what kind of people are heading his way. The field host’s attitude toward short-termers can vary as much as the short-termers’ motivations for coming. He may love leading them in mission ministry, viewing it as discipleship of future career missionaries. Or, he may view it as baby-sitting ugly Americans that really have nothing to contribute to the ministry there, but he must put up with them because it helps promote the agency.
Thus we have a wide variety of unspoken assumptions and expectations stirred up in the same pot. What type of mix ends up on each field is anyone’s guess from year to year. However, if the four parties will recognize the roles each play and work together, they can reduce the guesswork and produce a better prepared and shared short term and summer mission ministry effort for everyone involved.
Each of the four parties is a part of the body of Christ. Each must take care not to assume the attitude that any or all of the other three are not as equally important.
And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you;” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” --1 Cor. 12:21
Since the mission agency is the coordinator of the short term or summer mission program, it is the agency’s responsibility to spell out the expectations of the program for all parties. The agency and field host must define the purpose for having the worker come and the role(s) expected of the worker to fulfill. Once the agency and field host are agreed upon the type of worker needed, the short term/summer ministry must be promoted as accurately as possible to potential workers regarding the nature of the project or ministry being made available to them. Once interested workers contact the agency, a more detail list of expectations of the worker prior to and during the trip must be communicated to the worker and the sending church.
Issues Pertaining to Each of the Partners
The Mission Agency
1) What is the purpose of the short term/summer program(s)? (one or more below)
a) Cross-cultural experience through observing missionary work.
If so, is this a tour or following one missionary around?
b) Observe missionary work with hopes of soliciting financial partnership
c) Meet a specific supporting role need that requires someone with a
specific skill, i.e. bookkeeper, medical personnel, Bible college
teacher.
d) Free labor for a building project and give a glimpse of the ministry
e) Cross cultural ministry experience by observing ministry and giving a
very basic ministry responsibility, i.e. VBS.
f) Cross cultural ministry experience by working closely with the field host in ministering to the nationals, i.e. relationship building, personal evangelism, preaching, teaching. This would require the field host to provide a translator on most fields. A missionary internship for college credit should require this, even though, beyond stating how long the trip should be, many schools have no requirement or expectation of ministry experience. If the agency truly wants to help develop future missionaries, it is essential to have translators available in order to give people the opportunity to discover God can use them to minister cross-culturally.
2) Coordinate with a field host to set up the trip to meet the purpose of the program.
a) Determine the service and ministry opportunities.
b) Determine what skills and/or ministry capabilities needed by the
workers.
c) For the sake of all parties involved, do not set up a trip with a reluctant
field host. There cannot be unity in purpose, as God desires, if the field host is reluctantly cooperating just because the agency is the boss. An agency that knowingly sends workers to a reluctant field host is deceiving the workers and their supporters, for these people assume the short-term/summer missionary is wanted and needed on the field.
d) Determine what preparation the worker needs prior to arrival, i.e.
ministry experience, books to read, research about the particular mission field. There must be some way of verifying the preparation is actually being done. There should be forms and/or worksheets that can be completed on-line and turned in.
e) Determine the type of on-line communication between the field host and missionaries will be most helpful in preparing the short-term/summer missionaries to partner with the host in ministry. Email alone may not be the most effective means if a team of people, particularly if they’ve never met each other before the trip, are coming to the field. Instant messenger might do better in order to get everyone together for team meetings. Perhaps a team chat room could be created. Then a schedule of team meeting times could be given out so that the field host and team members can begin to get to know each other prior to meeting on the field.
3) Determine the price of the short-term/summer missionary’s trip
a) Domestic travel to the agency’s pre-trip orientation location must be noted as not being included in the trip price. Airfare expense to and from the field must be estimated and included in the trip price with the note that the airfare included is only an estimate and the actual trip price will be adjusted once the fare is pinned down. To be safe, the estimate for the airfare should be made high. Everyone is much happier when the true price lowers the expected trip cost than when it must be raised. Then once the true airfare cost is known, adjust the trip price up or down accordingly.
b) Once the trip price is determined, a breakdown of the price should be
provided to the field host, worker, and supporting church. Remember, there is tremendous ignorance among these parties regarding expenses outside of the U.S. However, agencies must resist the temptation to “pad” the figures in order to create a healthy balance of remaining funds to use elsewhere at the end of the trip. If the trip price comes out to equal $500 per week on the field, then the worker should be able to see, once he is there, why it costs $500 per week to be there. If there are pre-trip set-up costs incurred by the agency, it should be noted in the price breakdown. If the trip price includes a donation to a ministry on the field, it should be clearly stated. What is not wanted is the worker determining after two weeks that it only costs $200 per week to lodge, eat, and travel in the country and now wondering who is pocketing the extra $300 a week. He will most likely question his field host. But since the agency is the one that set the price, the field host may or may not know where the funds are going. With email access so readily available on most fields, this suspected “rip off” will trickle back to the sending church and supporters. A price breakdown sheet will provide financial awareness and accountability to all parties involved.
c) The field host will have to tell the agency what the cost for room, board, and any in-country travel expenses will be for the duration of the worker’s stay. While estimations should be a little on the high side, an experienced field host will have a very good idea of what the stay will truly cost. Any “day off” activities planned during the stay should be included in the trip price.
d) With a recommended amount from the field host, a daily or weekly
allowance for personal spending should be suggested for the worker to bring with him, which is not included in the trip price.
If, at the end of the trip, it is customary/expected for the short-
term/summer missionary to give a monetary gift to his field host out of his own pocket, then that needs to be communicated the same time all other trip expenses are being explained. This is not something to surprise the summer missionary with at the end of the trip when all he has left is what he saved to spend on souvenirs on the last shopping day.
Field Host: Missionary or National
1) Do you really want or need short-term or summer missionaries to join you
in your ministry? If not, be honest with your agency and discuss
the reasons why you would rather not have such people sent your way. If so, then be equally honest in the reasons for desiring such people being sent your way. If you just want people for physical labor or to observe and not really minister directly to people, that needs to be clearly stated. By the same token, if you want people with ministry skills, clarify the type of ministries you would like to plug people into.
2) Put together an information packet about your field and ministry for short-
term/summer missionaries to read prior to coming to the field. Include a few assignments of reading, interviewing, or ministering that will better equip them for their time on the field. There may be books or articles that you feel are helpful to educate one about the realities of mission ministry. You could put together a set of questions to be asked in an interview of a current or retired missionary of their choosing. (The answers to those questions would probably be interesting to you, too.) If the worker is coming to be involved in ministry, then he should be ministering in some way, and reporting about it, prior to coming to the field.
3) Estimate the in-country expenses for the short-term/summer missionary.
Make arrangements for and inform the agency of the costs for room, board, and any in-country travel expenses will be for the duration of each worker’s stay. The price of any “day off” activities planned during the stay should be also be in the list of expenses that the agency will use to determine the total cost.
4) Secure translators, if needed. If translators must be hired, then hire them and include their cost in the in-country expense list sent to the agency. This is especially important for summer missionaries and interns who are primarily coming to experience ministering in a cross-cultural context.
5) Recommend a daily or weekly allowance, which will not be included in the trip price, for the worker to bring with him, for personal spending.
6) Provide an orientation session that welcomes short-term/summer missionaries to the field. Introduce the missionary team and pertinent nationals connected to the ministry they have come to be a part of. Tour the physical layout of the facilities they will live and work in. Review the major cultural dictates that unaware Americans will typically blunder into. Review rules of conduct and consequences for violating the rules.
7) Set up the daily schedule for the short-term/summer missionary that reflects the purpose of the program that sent them there. If they are coming to minister directly to the people, they should not have numerous days where they are only observing. Watching and doing is the best way to learn about missionary work. Summer missionaries, who are there for the shortest length of time, should have a busier daily schedule than is typical of career missionaries or even short-termers who are on an extended stay. It is always better to have too much planned and have to trim back than it is to not have enough and have the summer missionaries drift off into becoming vacationers that need baby-sitting.
8) Determine who will supervise, escort, or chaperone the worker(s) throughout each day for the duration of the trip. One suggestion is to have a short-termer fill this role for the summer missionaries. Hiring a national Christian that speaks English could do this and be a translator too.
The Short Term/Summer Missionary
1) Be able to clearly state to the other parties why you wish to serve on the mission
field and what you hope to do there. What training and/or ministry experience have you had in the past to prepare you for this step? What will you continue to do to prepare yourself between now and leaving for the field? Be able to explain how the trip you are considering seems to be appropriate for you.
2) Solicit a prayer and accountability partner, of the same sex who is not related to
you, who is willing to truly hold you accountable for your time of preparation before your trip. A pastor, missions committee person, or other church leader, rather than a best friend, would be best. This person must be informed of all that is required of you by the agency and how you are going about fulfilling those requirements. This accountability also includes your personal testimony and walk before the Lord, how you are doing in the spiritual disciplines of Bible study, prayer, worship, meditation, fellowship, and service. Meeting with your partner should be at least bi-weekly, if not weekly. Once you have your accountability partner, you need to let your pastor, missions committee, and supporters know who it is that is coming along side you during this time of preparation for service.
3) Communicate monthly to your supporters during your preparation process, and
if serving more than six weeks, monthly while on the field. This can be
done with email. For the few supporters without email, have your sending church or other supporter get copies to the others. What God does with you in regards to this mission trip begins during your fund-raising and pre-field preparation time. Invite your support team in on the journey from the beginning. Committing to serve in missions for any length of time is usually a new step onto the spiritual battlefield. You need their prayers just as much before leaving as you do while on the field.
4) Do all of the pre-trip preparation as assigned by the agency.
Do not succumb to the temptation to skim through or skip your
preparation work. Most likely you have agreed before God and the other
three parties that you will faithfully do all that is asked of you. One of the first tempting schemes of the devil will be to convince you that you don’t need to do it all.
5) Pray for God to give you a love for your field hosts, the nationals, and your team
mates. Once on the field, love them, warts and all, remembering that you
are not always the easiest person to love either.
6) Prepare for and practice denying yourself. (Mt. 10:38; Phil. 2:3-4)
One of the biggest obstacles on the mission field is: the way you think
things should be done. Culture shock is all about encountering differences to what you are used to. Tension on ministry teams is rooted in differences. You must avoid the pitfall of equating differences as “wrongs”.
7) On the field, be a servant.
You came to serve God, which means serving where and how the field
hosts need you. While field hosts often exemplify servanthood, they
are not your servants to wait on you, nor your tour guides to keep you entertained and happy.
Sending Church/Supporters
1) The primary role of sending churches is to send people from their congregation
on short-term and summer mission ministry trips. Going unto the remotest
parts of the world does not mean it has to be a career move. If the local church wants to see more of their people involved in missions, then short-term and summer involvement is the best way to funnel people that way.
Through short-term and summer involvement we can whet appetites for career service and expand the local church’s involvement in world missions.
2) Sending churches must take seriously the recommendation of candidates for
short-term and summer missionary service. Both the agency and field host depend upon an honest appraisal of a candidate from your church. The pastor and/or missions committee must interview the candidate about the trip they are interested in prior to making a recommendation to the agency. The candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and how they will affect his missionary role, should be discussed. If the candidate, particularly a college student, has no known ministry skill or experience, then that needs to be clearly communicated to the candidate and on the agency recommendation form.
3) Sending churches/supporters, once they decide to financially support a
candidate, should also commit to support the candidate in prayer. Prayer
needs for your missionary should include:
continued spiritual growth prior to and during the trip
humility and a servant’s heart
to bond quickly with his field hosts and the national believers
to have a love for the people he will minister to
boldness and confidence to minister using God’s Word
to persevere through trials
health and safety
4) Sending churches/supporters should receive a copy of the trip purpose, the pre-
trip preparation work, the role their supported worker will play, and the financial breakdown of the trip expenses. They should take the time to read this information in order to educate themselves more about the world of short-term/summer missionary ministry and what their supported worker will be doing.
5) Sending churches/supporters are to hold their supported worker accountable to
do the pre-trip preparation work required of them by the agency.
6) Sending churches/supporters should use the example of the current short-
term/summer missionary to encourage others to consider doing the same in the future. They can be recruiters of more laborers from their church to be sent into the world-wide harvest.
7) Someone needs to be the accountability partner for your supported worker
during the time between signing up for the trip and leaving. Who that
person will be should be broadcast to all the supporters, who then need to
pray for the ministry of the accountability partner to your worker.
8) Once the short-term/summer missionary returns, allow him to give a
presentation about the trip to the congregation in a worship service. Not only does this give many the opportunity to praise God, seeing and hearing how “one of us” was used on the mission field is the best way to encourage others to get involved in missions.
The most God-honoring approach to summer/short term missions is when a true partnership in the ministry exists between the short term or summer missionary, the mission agency, the field host/overseer/missionary, and the supporters/sending church of the short term/summer missionary. All four partners are needed for the ministry to happen. So they need to be united in this partnership for God to get the greatest glory.
Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. -- Phil. 2:2
If one or more of the partners can’t or won’t agree to get on the same page, is God really in it? Isn’t there enough opposition already in missions without the four necessary partners failing to cooperate?
Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. –1 Cor. 1:10
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