Making a Case for Short-Term Mission Trips

For the past few years, I have been leading annual mission trips to Casa de Esperanza in Caranavi, Bolivia. This trip has quickly become one of the highlights of my year. So much so that last year I brought my then 11-year-old son to participate. In just a couple of months, I will be headed there again. While I am deeply grateful for that, I also know there are people in the church and outside the church who have concerns about this type of trip.

As a millennial (or “elder millennial,” as I’ve been called), I am aware that my generation is particularly skeptical about short term missions, and I am actually grateful for that. Whether from personal experience or things they have observed, many question whether there is real, lasting benefit from these trips.

As someone who was born and raised in Guatemala, and who served as a translator for American teams that visited every summer, I have seen firsthand things that were ineffective, if not at times harmful, to the communities being visited. So even as I make a case for short term missions, I want to acknowledge that they have often been done in unhelpful ways. At times they have created dependence or fostered a subtle sense of paternalism. Good intentions have had unintended consequences, not only in the communities served but also in the hearts of those serving.

With that said, I do believe there are good reasons for the church to participate in short term missions. But the process must be thoughtful, grounded, and shaped by Scripture.

1. Mission Trips can be an expression of the Great Commission

A mission trip can only bear fruit when the Great Commission is at the heart of it. While the Great Commission is far greater than a trip, short term missions should be seen as one tool in the larger toolbox.

We see in Acts that the Great Commission unfolds as the church is sent out and multiplied. The early church regularly sent people out for seasons of ministry, not as isolated efforts, but as part of a larger strategy of church planting and discipleship. Believers were raised up, sent out, and then remained connected to the life of the church.

In that sense, we could say the early church understood something about “short term missions,” not as standalone events, but as part of a broader, church-centered mission.

In the same way, our trips today should never exist on their own. They should always be connected to the life and strategy of the local church.

As a pastor, I want my people not only to hear the gospel, but to believe it, apply it, and share it. That will primarily happen in our everyday context. But there is something uniquely strengthening about seeing that same gospel at work in a completely different setting. It reminds us that the message we hold is not local, but global. As Matthew 28:19–20 reminds us, we are called to “make disciples of all nations,” and even short term efforts can serve that greater calling when rightly ordered.

2. Mission Trips can strengthen the receiving local church

Mission trips should only be done in partnership with a local church. I would argue this is the only context in which they will be truly meaningful.

One of the ways mission trips have fallen short is when well-intentioned teams go somewhere without any real connection to a local church. This can create the illusion of impact. A team may build something, feed people, or meet immediate needs. But if there is no local body to continue the work, to disciple those who respond to the gospel, and to shepherd people long term, then the fruit does not last.

On the other hand, when a team understands that it is not the savior, but a servant to those already laboring in that place, the local church is strengthened. This is especially true when the local church leads and the visiting team follows.

It is crucial, especially for us as Americans, to remember that God has already placed faithful believers in that community. They know the culture, the needs, and the people far better than we do. When we come alongside them as servants and not directors, we become a help rather than a hindrance. In that way, we function as a kind of support, strengthening what God is already doing.

A receiving church is also strengthened through relationships. While projects may be useful, they are not the main point. If the goal were simply to complete a project, it would often be more efficient to send money and hire skilled labor. But that is not the goal.The goal is fellowship.

When believers from different places share life together, worship together, and labor side by side, both are strengthened. What Hebrews 10:24–25 calls us to, stirring one another up to love and good works, begins to take shape in a tangible way. True and lasting fellowship leaves a deeper impact than any project ever could.

3. Mission Trips can strengthen the sending local church

In the same way that mission trips can strengthen the receiving church, they can also strengthen the sending church.

Those who go often return changed. Stepping outside of familiar routines has a way of exposing assumptions and reordering priorities. Seeing the faith of believers in a different context, often with fewer resources and greater challenges, can be both humbling and deeply encouraging.

We see this pattern again in Acts 14:27, when Paul and Barnabas returned and “declared all that God had done with them.” Their going did not isolate them from the church. It became a means of strengthening it. What God did through a few became a source of encouragement for many.

In the same way, when those who are sent return and share what they have seen, the whole church benefits. Faith is stirred as people hear of God’s work in other places. Prayer becomes more informed and more earnest. There is often a renewed desire to participate, whether by going, giving, or supporting.

These trips can also serve as a kind of recalibration for the sending church. They remind us that the mission is not something that happens “over there,” but something we are all called into. As John 20:21 says, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” That sending includes our neighborhoods just as much as the nations.

When a church understands this, short term mission trips are no longer seen as isolated experiences for a few, but as part of the discipleship of the whole body. They help cultivate a church that prays more, gives more, and lives with a greater awareness of the gospel’s reach.

In the end, a church that sends well is often a church that lives on mission well. And that may be one of the clearest signs that these trips, when done thoughtfully and biblically, are worth it. 

This summer, I will be leading a Grace Partnership team to Caranavi, Bolivia, and another team will be going to Barranquilla, Colombia. So the question is, when will you join us in one of our Summer mission trips? May I encourage you to consider and pray about it?