I believe that effective short-term mission trips are a tool from God to enlarge our spiritual and theological worldview. When speaking to a group of short-term mission leaders about my concerns regarding the short-term mission trend, I commented that the short-term mission movement was “arguably the first time in Christian mission history where the mission is being is being done for the benefit of the missionary.”

After my observation, I re-read the encounter of Peter with Cornelius in Acts 10. For the first time I realized that my comment was wrong. Peter's “short-term mission” to Cornelius is arguably more life-changing for Peter than it was for Cornelius. (Will Willimon calls this Peter’s “second conversion.”)

Their Jewish-Gentile encounter is perhaps the most profound biblical story of how a cross-cultural encounter changed the worldview of a missionary. Short-term missions can plunge people into what I call their “I now realize” moment. After seeing God’s grace in the life of the Gentile Cornelius, Peter proclaims, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35). The cross-cultural encounter transformed Peter’s view of God, his relationship to the Gentiles, and his understanding of salvation. 

When we leave our own cultural comfort zone and meet and worship and share meals with Christian brothers and sisters who praise God more vigorously, believe God for miraculous, or rely on God with faith that outshines ours, we, like Peter, realize that God is bigger than our stereotypes, our cultural biases, and our limited worldviews. We discover that English is not God’s language and that the USA is not God’s favorite country. When we step out into the world of cross-cultural relationships, we experience our unity in Christ first-hand. 

Zac Niringiye, now a leader in the Anglican church of Uganda (who I came to know through repeated, reciprocal short-term mission visits together) summarized this worldview change through cross-cultural encounters this way: “We [from different cultures] need to be together and share our lives and our faith… because if we don’t come together, we’ll both end up having our own ‘tribal gods’ defined only by our own culture.”

There are many things that I want to change about the short-term mission movement and the thousands of T-shirted teenagers flowing through the Miami International Airport reminded me of that fact. But ultimately I still believe in the life-changing, relationally-expanding, faith-stretching, worldview-enlarging impact of short-term missions.

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Short-term Missions are great opportunities for your church and its people to serve God in different ways and in different places. The problem is short-term missions often require a lot of organization and work before during and after the trip. These forms will help guide you through the process of planning and executing a memorable trip.

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Paul Borthwick holds a doctorate in Cross-Cultural Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and teaches missiology at Gordon College near his Boston home. He’s the author of How to Be a World-Class Christian and fourteen other books. Borthwick has coordinated over 100 missions trips all over the world. He also serves as a senior consultant with Development Associates International. Borthwick spoke with Round Trip Missions about the future of short-term missions and about how to best serve with our Christian brothers and sisters in the Global South.