Truett McConnell Assignment
The action of “missions” began when Jesus came from heaven to earth and began sharing the good news of God’s love. In Matthew 10 Jesus appoints his twelve disciples and instructs, “Go to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel. As you go spread the message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Cure the sick, bring the dead back to life, cleanse those with skin diseases, and force demons out of people. Give these things without charging, since you received them without paying.” After being raised from the dead, Jesus gives the disciples, adn us, the great commandment. In Matthew 28 He says, “So wherever you go, makes disciples of all nations: Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember I am with you until the end of time.” This is the reason do missions, short or long. In doing these amazing works for God, the disciples, ordinary people, gained followers for the kingdom. Short term missions are very much biblical. Jesus’s whole ministry was a total of three years, short term, by moving place to place. The priority was to spread the good news and get light and truth to everyone possible. The gospel would not have spread rapidly if they stayed in one place for a long time, so the disciples and Jesus moved around. The message was so radical and different to what people knew, it spread like wildfire. Dating from the times of Jesus to now, short term missionary trips have been occuring.
Short term missions is generally defined by anything less than 2 to 3 years. If a person dwells and devotes their time and life to a place, they are long term missionaries. They make their area, the place they were called by God, their home. Short term missionaries travel to aid the long term servants in whatever project is at hand. Acts 20:3 describes Paul’s short term missions saying, “He went to the region and spoke many words of encouragement to the people. Then he went to Greece and stayed there for three months.” God worked divine miracles through Paul so much so that people would touch him with pieces of fabric and be healed. There are seemingly negative effects of short term trips. They are more for your personal relationship with Christ, when the goal is to add souls to the kingdom of heaven. There seems to be a stigma in lukewarm christians, that the only way to connect with God, is to take a short term trip, when God is moving everywhere all the time. Large impacts come from people who know the land and will stay in the one place for a while. Even though most long term impacts derived from long term missionaries, God uses short term missionaries for His Kingdom. My squad and I are living in Ethiopia for three months, just like Paul, and God has allowed me to be apart of awe inspiring miracles for His glory. We have seen a handicapped boy’s arms move for the first time, and young girl’s eyes be opened to see. God specializes in using the least of these for His glory. Jesus’s disciples were all very inexperienced average men, being fisherman without school or tax collectors for example. Even though you devote a short time and little experience, God still chooses to use us over and over again, so short term is more appealing to many people. Before I had a true relationship with Christ, I went on a short term mission trip to South Africa. On this 3 week trip, the Holy Spirit awakened a fire inside of me for overseas missions and lost people groups. This happens often on short trips. Eyes are opened to God’s goodness and healing ability and a lot of personal growth occurs. More knowledge of God is learned and passions are ignited. One huge job of short term travelers, is to pour into and love on the long term missionaries. They are the servants and believers who truly go through everything with the people being reached. They become staples in community to build it up, so I try to be an encouragement. I would say that soley, is my biggest ministry for these 9 months. My goal is to pray for and fight for every missionary host I meet. That may look like listening prayer on their behalf, or painting nails and good conversation, or cooking a meal together. We try to love them well enough to restore their energy and drive and remind them of their importance.
