Now here's a question I've been wondering myself, along with a few of my friends: is it really effective to spend almost a year hopping around from one ministry and country to the next? What about planting your feet and establishing relationships?
So I want to touch on this…
Two different kinds of ministry are long-term and short-term (or even moving somewhere permanently). Some long-termers sell everything they own–houses, cars, furniture–and move their families to another country. They establish themselves there and learn the language, making friendships that they know will last. They may find one person and pour everything they have into him or her in order to help them be more effective ministers to their own people. I'm amazed by these people, and would tell them to rock on and keep up the good work!! They are dedicated to the point of leaving their comforts and even their extended families behind, exposing their own families to a whole new world.
And then there are short-termers, and I am one of them. I'm not moving from country to country because I have a short attention span and need a change of scenery. I see the good in staying in one country to establish relationships and learn the language. But I personally feel like God has called me to work alongside a friend of mine, and she feels called to many nations.
So what are the benefits of moving around so much?
If you've ever sent people in your church on a two-week mission trip, then you have the general idea. They might have had a fabulous time making new friendships there, but after two weeks they had to go back home. The good thing about short-term missions is that God sees the big picture, even though we might not. He knows the purpose for which He sends us and the people we can impact, if we're intentional. The Apostle Paul encourages me because he went on short-term trips to many different areas in order to establish and strengthen the church; and he was fruitful.
There's a woman I met this year who is a Polish Jew. She is incredibly sweet and often reached out to me in the four months I was with her. She's a Christian now, but she used to be very opposed to Christianity. That changed when a man from Poland was called to Spain. He didn't know why, but he felt for sure that God was telling him to go to a certain hotel in Spain. In faith, he bought a ticket and went to the hotel. At the same time, this woman went from Poland to Spain, to that same hotel, on a vacation with her sister. This man and the woman ran into each other in the hallway, and the man witnessed to her. The woman was angry and went back to her room; but that night, she couldn't sleep. The man's words kept ringing in her ears! The next day, she found him in the lobby and asked him to tell her more about Jesus. So he did, and she gave her life to Jesus. They both went home to Poland and lived their own lives, but this woman's life is changed. She's a new creation! And she has found churches where she can thrive and minister the Gospel.
Another story is my friend Teresa's. Someone handed her a tract when she was about twenty, and because of that she got saved. But she hasn't seen that person ever since, and she doesn't even know who they are. Just someone who was being obedient to the Lord.
I also heard about a Mslm man who became a Christian; and when someone asked him what led him to Jesus, he said, "When I was a boy, I saw a cartoon picture of Jesus." That was it! That was all it took for this man to become a Christian. 🙂 That's the good news about short-term missions! Whether my team and I are at a ministry for one day or for a month, I see this trip as a beautiful opportunity to spread His Word in many places, like the sower with his seeds!
