I personally see a lot of value in working with a local church at home, a mission agency (with experience in short term mission, though not necessarily a short term mission agency), a local missionary and a local pastor. Naturally, this isn’t always possible, but in an ideal situation over the long term, I think it has value. Here’s why:

1) The local church - it’s where everything starts. The church knows its members (ideally) and has earned the right to work with them and encourage them as they head into ministry. This is the primary ingredient.
2) A mission agency always has an edge in certain things. They have experience and can specialize more than a local church ever can (generally). They can oversee short term projects over the long term - even over multiple generations.
3) The local missionary always has the edge when it comes to communicating with people from his own culture. “National” pastors and ministers can be very good at this, but naturally you can generally communicate better with someone from your own culture, and they understand you better. In a crunch, I would want to have a missionary from a similar culture to communicate with.
4) The “National” pastor or Christian worker will always have the edge when it comes to understanding his/her own culture, and the local situation. Generally speaking. Nothing against missionaries. A local pastor has a long term investment in the community (a missionary may also, but it’s generally shorter - even if only because the missionary arrived later). In a crunch, I would want to have a local pastor there to help deal with the situation.

All four have weaknesses and strengths. I think most of your general negative points can be avoided with a little planning and research.

That being said, I’m not suggesting EVERY mission team should ALWAYS work with all 4. For example, I believe short term mission agencies can train local churches to better send mission teams on their own, with less and less help from the agency. An experienced leader from your local church may be trained by missionaries and national pastors, and be able to be more independent in the future.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could network all these four together more and more, so that we could all share our strengths and minimize our weaknesses? After all, it’s not a competition.

Email me next time you will be in Tijuana and we can discuss this over tacos.

I thought the diologue was pretty simple and we were communicating quite clearly. I just responded to your article above mentioning that I see some big disadvantages by groups who go it alone and therefore, have a tendency to bypass sound missiology that can be gained by a missionary or STMO. Our experience has just simply brought this to the light and I wanted to share this with you and your readers.

God bless,

Mike Fink

I think we are flying past each other here and this is quickly turning into a debate which I’m not interested in pursuing. We have a couple articles that touch on some of these issues that may shed some more light on the topic. Jim Cottrill guest authored one that was just posted here
http://www.moneymissions.com/jim-cottrill/short-term-missions/spearheading-a-mission-trip
and Ben is writing another that will be up shortly.

Since you are so passionate about this subject, maybe you would like to write a post for the site on how missiology is best applied to short term missions? I think we would all like to read it. Shoot me an email if interested.

Best,
Aaron

You mention that STMO’s are more afraid of loosing fincial benefit than pastors. You sound biased Aaron. Maybe that’s true with some. However, like any church or ministry organization, they can’t exist in a vacuum. If they provide a meaning service is it wrong to receive something for this? Even Scripture says that, “Those who minister the Gospel deserve to live by it.” I’m sure you would agree that understanding the culture, customs, language and etc. are important. In the same way that a pastor, doctor or other professional is trained, a missionary and STMO are as well. Wouldn’t you agree that to tap into this wisdom would be wise? Yes, there might be a fee, but once again, just trying to save a dollar isn’t the most important factor in missions, it’s sound missiology. In many cases, the STMO is providing building materials, facilities to stay at, meals, ministry equipment and many other things in their cost. I’m not defending STMO’s my any means, but I will say loud and clear that any short term mission group should put as a high priority their understanding of missiology, the local customs, culture and etc. This can’t be done by just a pre-trip visit. It comes by living in and experiencing a culture. So to sum up, it all comes down to sound missiology and the need to acquire it. What we see in most short term mission groups, who go it alone, is a lack of it. How they get it isn’t the question, it’s whether or not they do and most don’t even know they don’t have it or need it. In most cases, its the STMO or a local missionary that is in the best position to provide that even if they must charge a fee for it.

First of all, thank you for your comment. I see from your website that you have a short term missions organization so it’s great to get your opinion on all this.

Sounds like you have had some bad experiences working with local pastors. I have too, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that it is never a better option than working with a missionary or short term missions organization. Some groups really don’t need us to guide them. A couple quick points 1) There are lots of pastors here who regularly work with mission trippers from the states and know how to teach and organize them, explain cultural differences, etc. 2) There are many groups who receive training from retired missionaries in their church and focus on “sound missiology.” Some fly leadership down months in advance to meet with the locals and discuss community needs as well as cultural issues to be aware of.

Other stuff:

You say “Many pastors will just let them do anything because they don’t want to offend and risk the possibility of loosing some financial benefit.” Wow, that was quite a statement. I believe short term missions organizations are much more concerned with losing financial benefit from a group than local pastors are. STMOs depend almost entirely on mission trip fees for their income. I regularly speak with leadership in one organization who refers to groups as ‘theirs’ and say things like “[local pastor or missionary] stole our group.”

You also said “To [work directly with a pastor] is leaving out all the wisdom God has provided.” Do you really believe that?

To reiterate the point of the article, I don’t think working with a local pastor is inherently better than the other options. I believe it works great for some groups and can be disastrous for others. The same goes for working with STMOs and missionaries.

Please rethink your position on missions without any guidance from a missionary or agency. It’s like trying to drive a car without any help. It might look easy, however, much damage is and can be done. Most of the time, missionaries who are long term and agencies as well, have made it their profession to learn the culture. To just - go it alone - is leaving out all the wisdom God has provided. It might save a few dollars, but it’s very foolish.

Laura: Thanks for the perspective from your end. The combo could definitely work best for some teams but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it the best possible setup. I know a lot of churches for example who need to at least start out with one of the “Fortune 500 Ministries” (YWAM, Teen Mania, Adventures in Missions, etc.). They need the stability and organization only those guys provide.
[off topic: I cringe whenever I hear of one church being the main supporter for an orphanage. I've heard "ABC orphanage in Mexico closed because XYZ church in the U.S. dropped them from their budget" too many times.]

I was hoping to get more information on forming a small missonary organization. Missionary work is something I have been interested in for a few years now after attending many missionaries in Tijauana, Mexico. I was hoping to start something similar, but needed some ideas. Thanks again!

Myriah