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Even so, I would not conclude that such trips are worthless. Rather, I would still be impressed with the dramatic changes that temporarily occurred, and I would focus attention on the activities back home that churches must engage in to ensure that dramatic positive changes are sustained. A church that sends youth to Mexico, while ignoring Mexican immigrants all around, may be undercutting the very likelihood of sustained positive results in the lives of its youth. A church, on the other hand, which fosters the sorts of interethnic service and witness at home that it practices abroad may find that desired results in the lives of youth are more likely to be sustained over the course of time.

Yes, there is often naïve and unfounded optimism about the long-term results of STM. But in the midst of this heterogeneous, entrepreneurial grass-roots movement are many strategic ways of doing short-term mission, which, I suspect, bear lasting fruit. It is these that need to receive our attention. Back to you, Kurt.

All the best,

Bob

* * *

Dear Robert,

You make lots of good points. This is fun, and I will do my best to respond.

You are very right to point out that my research so far looked only at one type of short-term missions in one country. That's why I am now carrying out similar research in Haiti, Kenya, Thailand, and Honduras with four different types of groups. It is also why I have spent quite a bit of time the last few months looking at other people's research to see if my findings are exceptional or the norm. What I have found regarding North American participants is somewhat discouraging. Your two research projects, with seminary and high school students, my study, the Purvis study (the one I mentioned in my last note) and nearly every study which has applied pre- and post-trip tests to STM participants (see the STM bibliography on my web page) has found that there is little or no lasting change in areas like spiritual maturity, cross-cultural awareness, ethnocentrism, and other hoped-for results of STM.

But I think we already know this about ourselves; it's common sense. We get very excited about something and sincerely want to make big changes but find it hard to follow through in the long term. It would actually be surprising if a one-week STM experience were any different.

The encouraging thing is that we know how to make these commitments last. It's not about how good the orientation is before they go, and it's only somewhat about the experience itself. The key to long-lasting change is having structures in place to help us stay motivated and excited about our goals. What we need to keep us on track in meeting our goals—to do devotions daily or exercise four times a week—is accountability and encouragement. Monthly meetings with our groups after returning to the U.S. newsletters about the progress and needs of the people we visited, Bible studies on the country or theme of our trip, are just a few of the ideas that can translate a one-week experience into life-lasting changes in prayer, giving, and lifestyle. Sadly, very few STM experiences are currently emphasizing this sort of follow up. This is where I believe we should begin experimenting and see how STM participants are changed.

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July (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49