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Two students may leave Honduras equally motivated and "changed," but the ones who returns to their old group of friends without staying in touch with their Honduras friends or joining a group with similar interests is unlikely to seem much difference after a few months. The ones who stay in touch and get involved in a social justice or mission group on campus will often end up making even more radical changes than they talked about in Honduras. So I think the young person who does a STM trip for only one or two weeks would need even more support in making sure those weaker impulses translate into action.

Kurt

Should STMs only work with career missionaries?
Might there be better outcomes for STMs that coordinate with a church's own career missionaries? It seems that when our church has sent teams (as approved from the field) to serve our own missionaries, there has been a marked increase in prayer, care, and partnering in their long term ministry.
- Becky Scoon

Dear Becky,

I think this is a very good idea for several reasons. When I worked with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, I always told the churches supporting us that they should come down and take a critical look at what we were doing. When we give to ministries in our own community, we look at who is doing good work and who isn't. We should do the same with missions. I think many churches might be surprised by what they find—some pleasantly and some not so.

If STM trips were to work with missionaries the church already supports, they would understand better what the missionaries are doing and how to better support them. I would be especially pleased if churches came more for a visit than to impose ideas on the missionary. Many times churches dictate, "We want to do a Vacation Bible school," or promote the trip around all the things the group will accomplish (for example, "We will be evangelizing eight hours a day"). A better approach would to show humility, a willingness to learn more than do, and to see the trip as the first step in being a better support to career missionaries.

- Kurt

Might the problem be hedonistic youth? Should we limit STMs to older adults?
In my observation of teens, and even those in their earlier 20s, they appear to have minds like sieves—nothing stays with them for long. Even long ago in my own 20s (don't even ask when), my values and worldview were so unstructured that I had the personality of Jell-O — I took whatever form my mold of the moment happened to provide. I would be curious to see if, after these kids have a chance to grow up a little, their heart for missions grow also.
- Sandy Brownlee

Maybe you are looking at short-term investments the wrong way. Most of us are pretty hedonistic in our 20s; we want all that the U.S. has to offer. I went on STM in my late 20s as a cheap way to have a safe adventure. After one later in life, the lens of my life changed. If you do a survey of short-term mission trips, check out the long term returns of the older adults.
Mary McGuire, Houston, Tex.

Dear Sandy and Mary,

Actually, the median age in my study was between 45 and 56, and only 9 percent were under 25, so the results suggest it is older adults who did not change as much as they would have liked.

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July (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49