A quick Google search on short-term missions generated an amazingly descriptive AI overview. According to AI, the purposes for going on a short-term mission trip include personal and spiritual growth, community service, and cultural exposure, along with providing opportunities for sharing faith, developing skills, and potentially finding a longer-term role in international missions.  

A more detailed look at AI’s stated purpose of short-term mission trips includes:  

• Fostering one’s relationship with God 
• Opportunity for self-reflection and growth as individuals step outside their comfort zone 
• Expanded worldview and opportunities to form relationships with people from diverse backgrounds, leading to empathy and understanding for others 
• Providing assistance and encouragement to those involved in the local ministry 
• Hands-on service 
• Inspiration to serve and fuel a passion for missions 

Global Connections at Alliance Church would agree with all of that. Good job, AI!  

However, something is missing from the AI description. One of the main purposes of going on an Alliance Church mission trip is to see and experience what God is doing around the world, both domestically and globally. God is working and He is on the move, and His great plan - His great commission - is to use people to spread the gospel. 

Sometimes teams feel overwhelmed by how much work is still to be done. When short-term team members see how God uses His people to bring the gospel to those who haven’t yet heard, there is a sense of urgency that is stirred within. Luke 10:2 speaks to that urgency, stating that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. That urgency is answered in various ways; Christians are called to participate in the great commission. 

Some are called to go to the ends of the earth and everywhere in between with the news of salvation. Some are called to welcome the foreigner. Some are called to support financially. And some (maybe all) are called to send and pray for those who are sent. Romans 10:14-15 addresses the plight of those who have not heard and believed the good news. “How can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” 

For those who are called to go on a short-term mission trip, the goal is to support the on-site missionaries and pastors in any way that is a blessing and encouragement to them. During the preparation to go, team members prepare their testimonies in case the occasion to share the gospel arises. However, the typical way for team members to share Christ’s saving love is by showing up, building relationships, and showing a genuine Christ-like love for all. Christ is reflected through His people, and the more Christians an unbeliever meets, the better their understanding of Him.  

Did AI get it right? Almost. The working definition of a short-term team was spot-on, but Christians go on mission trips to bring glory to God and to participate in what He is doing in and through His people around the world. If we leave that part out, we have missed the point.