There’s a big debate as to whether or not the money spent on Short Term Mission Trips by churches in North America is worth it. A blogging friend of mine who also works in Europe did a great write up about this on his Tall Skinny Kiwi blog (he’s from New Zealand), however I wanted to add my two cents worth:

• Short Term Mission Trips are the reason I’m on the field now. I started going on short term mission trips when I was 15 and went on too many to count from Pittsburgh to Brasil to Dominican Republic to Mexico to Kentucky. People do not just go into missions these days - they want to test the waters and see if it is God’s calling or they never would have thought about going into missions had they not gone on a short term mission trip.
• Most people who financially support missionaries have gone on short term mission trips. People walk away with a more global view of the world and understand and support global mission efforts because of that.
• Churches who actively send out people and spend the money and effort to do mission trips are more likely to understand what it means to reach out to their local communities. People learn on short term mission trips that what they do over there is more about the attitude of being a servant and can see that that works just as well in their local communities.

Here’s some things that I would suggest that you remember if thinking about doing a short term mission trip:

• Short Term Mission Trips are more for the spiritual growth of those that go on them more than those they are going to minister to. God uses us on trips to minister however God usually gives so much more back to those that are willing to go. Talk to almost anyone and they will say that they feel like they received more than they gave.
• As a church body, just remember to not put all your efforts into short term trips and forget about those that go full time into missions. There’s a lot more that could be said (and misinterpreted) so I’ll just let the Holy Spirit speak to you there.
• Make sure everyone in church leadership goes on a short term mission trip. When the leadership understands and has a global mindset, the church body will follow. If your pastor has not been on a cross-cultural mission trip - get them to go (heck, get on the plane with them!). You will see wonderful changes in your church’s attitude when the leadership experiences short term missions.

If you are interested in going on a short term mission trip in Europe, check out our eDOT Teams site at eDOTTeams.com or another Greater Europe Mission Ministry called EuroTeam (all they do is short term teams) at www.Euro-Team.org.