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In the last post, we started asking ourselves: What if our strategy around mission trips focused as much on the participants’ spiritual health as on our destination? Could we even go as far as to use Short Term Mission Trips as an internal evangelism tool for our organization?

I’ve been calling this the Mission-Centric Engagement Strategy (MCES)… mainly because it sounds official and all things need an acronym.

Before we dive into an overview of the concepts behind this, I want to acknowledge a legitimate concern around this concept that has been raised. One fear I’ve heard is that, while this approach of engaging non-believers might benefit the team members themselves, would it be at the detriment or expense of the local community or partner?

It was such a great conversation that, although there are other concerns we will address in subsequent blogs, I wanted to discuss it here briefly. Ultimately, our goal is to provide healthy serving for a population/people group/partner that lasts beyond the time in which we are in the field. As you are aware, doing this well involves a lot of self-sacrifice and coming alongside the partners that are already in the field and have relationships with the local community.  

Remember this is an intentional strategy for some portion of your trips, not “all” trips or service opportunities. So, how do you choose?

1. First, start with your partner. Select which partner would be a good fit even if you had a mixed team. 

2. Next, include your team leaders from the very beginning and let them know why this trip is a good fit for this type of approach. 

3. Then, train the team well. Since you have folks coming from different backgrounds, make sure that you mention the overall end goal repeatedly (Healthy serving) and provide ways for them to learn this process themselves. We would strongly advocate for a theological basis to Missions (God’s heart for the world) and education on how to live that out well. For example, you can have the team read books like “When Helping Hurts”, or “Toxic Charity”, etc. The benefit goes beyond this trip and in the realm of service altogether, but opens up each participant to how they can enact those principles within their daily lives as well.  

Over the past several years, the strength of certain training programs prompted this entire MCES concept. While a team participant prepares for their trip, they often receive theological teaching, emotional encouragement, leadership development, and other field-readiness training that has a positive impact on their life regardless of their past faith journey. 

If you find yourself doubting the effectiveness of your own training in your organization, we will discuss more ideas in a later blog, but I would challenge you to find one element of your current training program and improve it for next year. Don’t try to change everything at once, but do one small thing incrementally, and you will be amazed at how much that makes a difference in your leaders and teams.

For today, let’s dive into a quick overview of the concepts behind this Mission-Centric Engagement Strategy I’m proposing. 

Why “Mission-Centric?”

As a technology leader, when I start looking at a large project, I often like to challenge myself or my teams to think about the end first. For example:

• What will the user encounter?

• What will they take away from the trip?

• How will we report on this?

• and so forth…

By envisioning the end result, we can often save ourselves effort by not distracting ourselves with many other features; Ideas that won’t actually matter for the end product.  

What I love about missions is that we already know the end of the story and we know its purpose. It is found in Revelation 7:9-10:

“the great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, trip, people, and language” worshiping God.  There has been a lot said on this passage by people way smarter than me, so allow me just two quick thoughts on this… First, this isn’t some mystic vision, but reality.  This is where the story will really start!  Second, the goal is worship. We often misplace that worship here on earth, but in reading this, I recognize that missions are the mechanism to get to the end goal, which is worship in the Kingdom. John Piper once put it this way, “One day, missions will come to an end, but worship will endure forever!”

We acknowledge that missions have never been, nor ever will be, about ourselves. It is always about God and His heart for the world and turning others to worship Him.

So if that is the end… where did it start?  

In the very beginning! We see God’s heart to reach “all people” through his promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 where He says “and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

Do you know what the Hebrew word is used for ‘all’?  It’s not a trick question… it means “All!”  (it’s “kol” for you Hebrew geeks, pronounced like “coal”, meaning “all, in totality”).  But the point is, there isn’t anyone who ever existed that wasn’t on God’s heart.

So from the very beginning to the end, God’s heart is to reach every tribe, every nation, every language and bless all people through the good news of Jesus Christ.  

That is why we must start from a position where the Mission of God to reach EVERYONE is in the center of everything we do.  

If we are going to achieve lasting impact, we need to engage and equip folks in ways that align with each individual’s purpose and design. My hope is that a Mission-Centered Engagement Strategy can bridge the gap between the Imago Dei (the image of God within us) and the Missio Dei (the mission of God in the world), particularly for engaging children, students, and adults in a church or ministry setting.

The 30,000-Foot View: Connecting Imago Dei with Missio Dei

We are all uniquely created to participate in God’s mission. Each individual, regardless of age, carries a set of interests and skills that are not merely coincidental but are part of a divine design. However, for many, there exists a significant gap between recognizing the image of God within and utilizing this inherent spark in service of a greater mission. As I stated previously, we often misplace this in work, relationships, etc. 

Closing this gap often involves a process of rediscovery and creation where others guide or disciple us to understand, at a foundational level, how we can leverage God-given skills, experiences, trades, and passions in ways that create lasting impact:

• Rediscovery: Every person bears the unique imprint of Imago Dei. By peeling back layers of personal brokenness —often only possible through the transformative love of Jesus Christ and life within a healthy community— we can uncover passions and purposes essential for missional living. The most effective way is often within relationships where we can be reminded of our identity and challenged to live within that reality.
   

• Creation: We are not only created uniquely but also with the capacity to create. It’s the first thing we discover about God in Genesis 1. Recognizing our inherent capability to create, true discipleship becomes a lifelong endeavor of nurturing and utilizing our God-given talents in accordance with His mission. There is a reason you have the passions and skills you have… you are here for a purpose!

Practically, this mission-based identity and awareness usually starts with steps such as self-assessment, both individually and as a team/community, to discover and remove obstacles that obscure our innate abilities and allow us to function within a healthy group. Aside from scripture, tools like personality assessments (DISC, Myers-Briggs, etc), spiritual gifts inventories, Strengths Finder, Emotional Intelligence tests, and leadership mapping can facilitate this exploration, enabling personal growth and skill development.  

By engaging in self-assessment tools and community discussions, individuals can identify and develop their God-given potential, preparing them for both local and global missions. Another result of this discovery is that they often become better equipped to operate within a team.

Mission-Centric Engagement Strategy to Expand Our Reach to All

As we navigate through the post-modern and post-Christian landscape, some of the attraction-based models – where the church uses music, preaching, and programs to draw folks in – are losing steam. There are still effective tools in place, but they could be enhanced by shifting to a mission-centric model that places mission at the core of church activity.

This shift from traditional church engagement methods to a strategy that places mission at the heart of all church activities not only invites church members to participate in missions but also attracts individuals from outside the church who are motivated by a desire to serve and make a difference.

So, could a shift towards missions as a broader term draw more people into God’s family everywhere?

Next Week: We’ll look into the upcoming generations and how they might be wired for missions.

In the meantime… Start with yourself. Ask yourself:

• How has my own identity been shaped by the understanding that I am made in the image of God?

• What skills, talents, passions, experiences, trades, or education have I viewed as just the result of my hard work or circumstances? Could God be shaping me towards a significant impact in the world?

EFFECTIVE PREPARATION

Clarify Expectations

Clarify expectations with your team.  Consider outlining expectations for different groups involved and the different stages of the event.  You might outline expectations for the team members, the team leader, the field partner, and the sending organization.  You may also outline expectations leading up to the event, the event, and post event.  

 

Provide Resources

Create an experience that’s going to be a success for your team members; provide them with resources like fundraising tools, ways to connect with other team members, educational resources, information about the partner, and any other resource you feel important.

 

Educate about Tools

For organizations who are using ServiceReef, each participant has their own personal fundraising page where they can share their stories, post a personalized message and video, and provide a means for donors to help support them… make sure they know about this.  You may have a number of tools that you have created for short term trip participants; make sure your participants know about them!  

 

Encouragement

This may be a first experience for many of your participants, so be sure to help encourage their journey as a trip participant, in their fundraising, and how they share about their story.

 

Share Stories

Encourage your participants to share their stories, and these start long before the actual event. For organizations using ServiceReef, your participants can share stories at any point in their journey and these stories aggregate together for the entire team to create a team blog.  This is a great way to share the bigger vision for missions in your organization.  

 

You are a steward of their missional journey.  

Have a Plan

You always have to start with a plan.  Benjamin Franklin once said, “failure to plan is planning to fail”.  Your plan should include dates, team leaders, expectations, preparation, resources, travel logistics, legal resources, fundraising tools, communication plans, and more.  

Work the Plan

It might sound simple, but once you have the plan, work it!  Review the plan at least weekly with the lead team for each event and make sure you're keeping your deadlines.  

Have a Team

Working with a team makes all the difference.  Most of us aren’t wired to do everything… we aren’t great at leadership, finances, administration, communication, follow up, and all the other aspects.  Create a team that compliments all the needs of an effective team. 

Utilize Tools

Tools should work for you, not the other way around.  Consider a tool like ServiceReef.  Most organizations will spend over 150 hours managing a single short term trip. ServiceReef enables organizations to manage trips in less than 40 hours.  Spend the time where it counts and not in the administrative weeds.  You have a task to equip people for missional engagement, keep focused on the main goal!  

Navigating the Tensions of a Shifting Mission Field

One of my favorite quotes is “Change is the only constant in life.” (Heraclitus 535 BC)

Change is challenging, isn't it? If your instincts align with mine, you might find that you have a somewhat inherent resistance to change. Our human nature is often predisposed to avoid it and yet, change is a fundamental aspect of life. We like others to change more than ourselves, right?

However, here lies the conundrum. In recent months, as we’ve had conversations with mobilizers and agencies, a recurring theme continues to emerge, suggesting we might be amidst a significant shift in missions. Knowing my own inclination to resist change, this notion both challenges and invigorates me, particularly as I learn more about how various organizations are thoughtfully adapting.

Before we get too far, it’s worth acknowledging that numerous, insightful individuals are wrestling with this topic as well. Given the vast scope of the subject, I won't attempt to present a universal solution. Rather, I aim to highlight some of the tensions I’ve been hearing and experiencing in hope that this will invite you to engage as well—to question, reflect, and discern where God might be directing us. 
 

I invite you to share your perspective or help draw attention to elements I may have overlooked.

A Couple of Important Caveats:

Firstly, these tensions in the realm of missions indicative of the complex nature of the realities we face. These are not binary choices or “either-or” scenarios. Rather, we are called to navigate the world, holding these tensions in balance, while wrestling with where God has called us, both as individuals and as part of a larger organization or tribe.

Secondly, it is important to clarify that some of the following statements are generalized observations. They may not resonate universally across all cultures or communities. They are, however, reflective of the challenges and experiences regularly arising in our conversations, and thus, merit consideration.

So let’s explore some of these emerging tensions below.

Western Missions: A Change in Direction?

• Western churches appear to be shifting away from traditional methods of sending missionaries. In the post-Covid world, Western agencies have retracted from numerous countries.
• However, local movements within these countries are witnessing extraordinary growth and discipleship, especially in countries that are traditionally closed to Western influence.

​This duality raises a compelling question: Is the locus of Christian missions shifting? And if so, how do Western organizations fit into this new paradigm?

The Mobilization Pipeline: Drying Up or Primed for Change?

• Traditional pipelines within mobilization are seemingly becoming less effective than before.
• Yet, the upcoming generation(s) seem uniquely poised to make a significant global impact.

These young hearts yearn to enact meaningful change in the world, yet there seems to be a noted lack of resiliency within this generation. The notion of ‘packing up your coffin’ and committing one’s life to a singular mission in a foreign land appears to be waning. How do we reconcile this paradox, and what new forms of engagement might emerge?

The Short-term Approach: A Shift in Focus?

• There appears to be a movement toward more intentional, focused missions—a 'scalpel' approach rather than a 'flashlight'.
• The good news is that it appears we are learning lessons from content like When Helping Hurts or Toxic Charity.

​However, as we hopefully navigate towards more sustainable and meaningful impact, does this bring its own set of challenges? What are the implications of this trend, and how does it affect the way missions are designed and executed?

The Core of Our Identity: Mission or God?

• In our zeal to serve, there’s a profound question emerging: Has our identity become more intertwined with the mission rather than with God Himself?
• This is a sobering reflection for anyone involved in missions. It calls us back to the foundation of our faith and prompts us to continually evaluate where our true devotion lies.

A Summary of these Shifts

In sharing these tensions, this post is an invitation for all of us to grapple with the changes we perceive, to ask challenging questions, and to prayerfully seek God’s direction in this evolving landscape. After all, we are participants in God’s grand narrative, called to faithfully serve while continually adapting to the changing tides of our world. 

Did we miss other tensions that you are facing?  Are there other perspectives or thoughts that you would like to share? Please join our conversations at Missions Made Simple as we would love to hear your thoughts and perspectives.

And if you, by chance, have insights or have navigated these tensions successfully, please share your wisdom with us!  

This is a space of exploration, and your voice matters. Let’s journey through these changes and uncertainties together, with open hearts and a steadfast faith.

ServiceReef is pleased to announce new functionality to manage personal fundraising pages.  

Just a few things you are now able to do:

• Create a standard fundraising letter text
• Set standard text to required or editable by participant
• Allow users to edit their personal fundraising page
• Require approvals for changes to personal fundraising pages

Learn more about personal fundraising pages and management here.