Study Questions Whether Short-Term Missions Make a Difference

DO SHORT-TERM MISSION TRIPS WORK?

Missionaries don't keep giving after they return; hosts prefer money to guests, Calvin sociologist finds.

Many American church goers are familiar with the concept of short-term mission trips--brief group missionary journeys to bring aid and assistance to people and places in need of help. But do these trips--a staple of church youth groups around the country--really work? A recent study by a Calvin College professor of sociology and third-world development, Kurt Ver Beek, indicates that the trips don't have a lasting impact on either the missionaries or the people they're helping. It would be rash to stop doing mission trips on the basis of a single study--the study's author admits that others may disagree with his findings--but the report does raise some tough but necessary questions about how would-be missionaries can put their time and money to the most effective use.

For those looking for more information on typical mission trips, this Guide to Short-term Missions has a great deal of information about such projects, and the many considerations that go into planning one.