The Power of Short-Term Missions

I just found out that my sister is going on a two-week missions trip to Rwanda next week, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. In fact I’m pretty jealous that my schedule won’t allow me to go too. I know that would seem like a crazy sentiment for most people to have. Why would someone want to go to Rwanda of all places? To me it shows the extreme value that short-term missions have had in my life.

I’ve been on three overseas missions trips to Third World countries (all in Latin America), and I can say that those few weeks have impacted my faith, my worldview and my life in an amazing way. The beauty of a trip like that is that God uses it to bless both those who are receiving aid and those who are "giving" aid. I put that in quotes because everyone I know who has been on one of these trips feels like they always receive way more than they give.

When you travel on missions trips, God changes your perspective in a way that just cannot be learned or experienced in America or other wealthy countries. You can’t be told how valuable faith is until you have seen the exuberant smiles of those who have nothing other than their faith in Christ. You can’t be told how enormously poor most of the world is until you have seen the miles of slums beneath the highway. And you can’t be told how real the kingdom of God looks until you have seen it spread like wildfire from person to person, village to village, without any sort of evangelistic strategy or materials.

Although the West continues to slowly step further and further away from Christ, God is transforming whole populations of people in Latin America, Africa and southern Asia. The growth of the gospel in the Southern Hemisphere right now is absolutely astounding, a true revival. Yet we are always caught up so much in our American worldview that we often miss what is happening around us. After you’ve seen it in person, you’ll never forget.

If you’ve never been, I highly recommend getting involved in a short-term missions trip with your local church or one of the many organizations that host trips. Not only do our brothers and sisters in poorer countries need us, but we need them. We need their passion and their powerful faith. You will be amazed at how God will bless you so much more as He uses you to bless others.