Short Term Missions - How to Help and not Hurt by Beth Gianopulos
Recently, I have read a number of articles, books, and blogs questioning the importance of short term missions. Some of the criticisms of short term missions are that short term mission teams often know little to nothing about the countries and people they visit, the teams often spend a lot of money that could be better used for other purposes, and in some instances, short term mission teams discourage and even hurt the communities they hoped to serve. Often times, short term mission teams are accused of visiting a city or country once, and never helping the area again (this failure to support may be by failing to serve again, failure to provide financial support, etc.) Finally, many short term mission teams are accused of getting more from the trip themselves than they actually give. I believe that there can be a strong argument made for short term mission trips if the trips are planned appropriately and if the trip has the right focus. While I am not an expert on short term m