Selling an Experience

What is the purpose of short-term mission trips? I’m talking about those 10-20 days trips we take during our vacations or spring breaks.

To the short-termer who goes: The purpose is to be a witness of Christ; love those who are different from us; encourage cross-cultural believers; build a church building or other needed asset in the work of the kingdom there; make a difference!

To the long-termer who hosts the short-termers: Make them feel like they’ve made an incredible difference.

Yes, it’s all politics.

Have you ever noticed that a politician never criticizes the culture or the people at large? Never will you hear an American presidential candidate say, “Well, you know Larry, this is where a vast majority of the American people are dead wrong. They need to change their thinking. They need to change their behavior.” No, they don’t go there even if they think this way. Instead, they compliment Americans. They talk about the greatness of the American Spirit and how they identify with the masses of people who live on “Main Street.” If anyone needs to change, it is those few but loud “radicals” that belong to the other political party.

Politicians have everything to gain from telling people they are good just the way they are. If a candidate says everyday people need to change, it is political suicide. Instead, they need to make people feel as if everything about them is all right.

So it is with short-term missions. Few people are brave enough to criticize these trips. Why? Because so many people go on them and have loved them. Because so many supporting churches send groups to visit their missionaries. A long-term missionary would be in trouble of losing support if he criticized his supporting church’s short-term approach.

I, for one, am not against short-term trips. Not in the least. If done right, I think they are great. In fact, I went on exactly ten short-term trips before I became a long-term missionary. (Well, six were in the 10-20 day range; four were in the 2-3 month range.) I would not have become a long-term missionary if it weren’t for those trips. So, I am not against such trips. Neither am I against people from my supporting churches coming to visit or do a small project. I love it! I love getting to share with them the country and the people I have grown to love. I feel like I have learned an entire world of new information from living in The Location and am delighted to share these things with people who come.

But there is one aspect of these short-term trips I have come to realize. Most people come to achieve one thing: An experience or sense that they’ve done something incredibly good.

People want to go home with the feeling, “That was awesome!” And there is only one thing, for Christians, that makes them feel that way—that they made an eternal difference.

It is not impossible, but it is very difficult to make a long-term impact in the space of 10-20 days. Even in the life of one person. Chances are the people coming for a week will be much more affected by the trip than The Location is affected by the people coming. But this doesn’t help recruiting:

“Come to the Far East and learn that you have anger issues you need to resolve when you return home!”

“Go on an exotic trip to Africa and learn that there is another way to live besides your narcissistic, consumeristic, individualistic existence!”

“Visit the other side of the world and discover that God is not only interested in, or dependent upon, the American church!”

These lines do not get people signing up in droves to spend $3,000 and precious vacation time.

Instead, we like to advertise like this:

“Spend a week of your time and make an eternal impact.”

“Experience what God is doing on the front lines of the gospel.”

“Be like Jesus and make a difference among the most unreached and the poorest of the poor.”

And we tell stories of how somebody went somewhere, met a local, shared the gospel and how he became a believer. We show pictures of white people hugging dark-skinned natives with bright white smiles. And we know that going on a trip is the best thing a spiritual person could do. While people at home don’t even want to hear the gospel, it is so easy to make a difference overseas where people are begging to hear the gospel but no one will even tell it to them!

If there ever was a missions “urban legend” that last statement is one! While there have been some instances of this dynamic in the history of Christian missions, it certainly does not characterize the “mission field” in general.

So, as a long-term missionary who often hosts short-term groups, I often feel like I have to sell an experience. I have to make people feel that what they’re doing is incredibly critical to the advance of God’s kingdom around the world. I have even had churches tell me that they want their people to have that feeling when they return.

I have to laugh. It is clear such churches aren’t really interested in making a difference overseas. Instead, they want to make a difference in their own people—in their church dynamic and church “life” back home. They want to feel like they’ve made a difference. And I’m stuck with the role of politician trying to make sure they feel that way.

If churches were really interested in making a difference on “the mission field” they would learn to accept that differences aren’t made that easily. They wouldn’t be so concerned about their “feelings” upon return home as they would be about gaining a greater understanding of the task ahead of them. They wouldn’t be so concerned about what they “do” but about what they “learn.” And they would spend more collective resources on long-term efforts than they spend on short-term trips.

But that just isn’t as sexy as being able to boast about one’s short-term trips and the incredible difference these trips are making to listeners at home who have no way to evaluate the real impact.

It's not sexy, but it has teeth

Just thinking a little about the post I made today (Choose a Few, Train a Lot) in the context of church planting in America. Of course, I didn't write it thinking about that context, but I wrote it thinking about our context over here. But when I read this from the perspective of those in America who are trying to plant big happening churches, or to grow big happening ministries, I think they will think this is a pretty boring approach.

Boring. Not exciting. Not flashy. Not impressive. Not... sexy.

One of my favorite movies is "The Firm" with Tom Cruise. Cruise's character is a lawyer with a firm that represensts these mobsters, and he wants out, but they threaten him, and then he meets these FBI guys that want him to gather evidence against the firm for them. So, he is caught in between and realizes his life is messed up, possibly forever, and tries to find a way out. In the end he gives the FBI guy enough evidence to put the firm partners away, but it is not the 'smoking gun' the FBI guy is looking for. When the the FBI guy balks, Cruise's character says, "It's not sexy, but it has teeth."

It's not sexy, but it has teeth.

It may not impress anyone, but it gets the job done very well.

That is discipleship the way Jesus did it. Jesus didn't do it to impress the Pharisees. "Wow, look at Jesus' approach--he is so smart and innovative! Maybe we should think about getting a few of our own apostles at the synagogue." In fact, I don't think Jesus did much of anything to impress people. He didn't do miracles for the effect it had on the crowd. "Oh, they love it! They love it!" as he bows before an applauding mass of people. Jesus wasn't into his own fame like many of us would be. You could say he was into God's fame, but it wasn't the same as human pomp and pride.

To be sexy is to be impressive. A "sexy" girl is someone who impresses men who like pretty girls. A "spiritually sexy" person is someone who impresses people who like spiritual people. If I know you are impressed by humility, I can then impress you by being so humble. So, I've raised your opinion of me by demonstrating my humility to you. If I know you are impressed by influence, I can then impress you by being the one up in front of large crowds of people. So, I've raised your opinion of me by demonstrating my leadership prowess to you.

You see, anything we do to have the effect of raising someone's opinion of us (impressing them) is pride, even if that thing is Christian spirituality. And I don't think Jesus got caught up into this. I don't think he lived to impress people in the way we often do. But he lived to get the job done.

Taking a few disciples and training them for a few years to go out and do the same isn't going to impress many Christians who are looking for impressive people to write articles about or ask to publish books. But it just may be the thing that begins the transformation of your community.