College Union

Short Term Missions Strategy:
From First Steps through Evaluation

When I led my first Short Term Mission team in 1989 no one told me how to do it – thu leaving me with no idea how to evaluate it. I only said “Yes” because as a new Christian nothing was more obvious than the need to “go and serve.” The only strategy I had was to lead something vaguely similar to the mission trip one year prior which had served to change the entire direction of my life!

With the explosion of Short Term Missions has come some great practitioners and thinkers to sharpen our strategy and reasoning for Short Term Missions. And because you are on this website you must already believe the college years are a crucial and powerful moment to experience the transformative power of an engaging missions experience.

Here are several connections that may contribute to your strategic approach to missions as a leader in collegiate ministry:

1. While we work with a group one step beyond youth ministry, much of the discussion from the youth ministry realm regarding Short Term Missions has a great deal to contribute to our context. The following article touches on the effectiveness of short term trips, “action and reflection”, and debriefing:
   Christian Post Article

2. A Canadian group has done some great work to create some “best practices. Here is a PDF of their document. You may want to scroll to the second page to get the core of the document.
   “A Code of Best Practices”

3. De-briefing and re-acclimation to the being back in the US is crucial if our students are going to integrate their missions experience into their lives. The following article addresses debriefing, which is especially important for more intense cross-cultural experiences:
   A “Traveling Team” Article

4. For people not present at “Refresh 2006”, here are some helpful materials for different stages of the Short Term Missions team process:
   Application & Getting Started
   Team Building & Team Covenant
   Ethics and Qualities of a Good Team

Greg Haseloff is in his 7^th year as Director of the Wesley Foundation at Texas Tech.