Short Term Missions

If you are considering going on your first short term mission trips there are a few questions you should ask yourself and some information that you might need. Short term missions are a relatively new phenomenon in the Christian church and in recent years have become very popular amongst those of college age. Not every mission is a pleasant experience but with a little guidance you should be able to help others while having a life changing experience of your own. Perhaps the most important question you should ask yourself is why are choosing to go one of these short term missions in the first place? For the most part it is safe to assume that most people go on a mission as part of their belief in God and the need to spread his word. However you need to look deeper into yourself to see what the real motive is, perhaps you need to see if this is what you should be doing with your life.

Maybe you just feel the need to be a good Christian and spend your summer break helping others in the world who cannot help themselves, either of these are good reasons. You need to think about the experience you want to have on your mission. Here you should look at the skills you posses as short term missions can involve you in construction projects, teaching, medical help or even evangelism as you spread the word of God among the children with a street ministry. If you are an able builder you might want to consider going on a mission to help build new homes or a school for a community in need. Of course even if you do not posses such skills you help will still be needed and you can still make a tremendous contribution to any project. If you are looking at cross-cultural short term missions you need to decide up front how in depth you want your experience to be. There are several different levels that you can choose from, you can work with those in another area of your own country who speak your language but may belong to a different ethnic group or you can go to another country where they still speak your language. If you have some previous experience you can choose to go where the language and the culture are completely different, the choice is yours to make.

Whichever short term missions you are looking at you need to know that you are compatible with them before you sign up, so make sure you talk with the recruiting person so that you know what you are getting into before you buy your plane ticket. Also be aware that needs can change and you need to be flexible enough to accept the changes as they occur, what might have seemed like an emergency when you signed up may have been superseded by something far more important. If you still think short term missions are the way you want to do your part to help out in the world contact Real Impact and we will be more than happy to have you on board and help you get started doing your part to help those in need.