MARP Short-term Missions

MARP Home Resources      Aging with Spirit      Book Reviews      In the News...      Links      PAGES 08/07      Peace      Poetry      Programs/Trips      Quotes      Wisdom/For Fun Membership Rewards Joining MARP S O O P    Service Locations 2007          U.S. ~ Canada    Short-term Missions    Requests    Reflections/Story

Striving for integrity in short-term mission Note: The following reflection made its first appearance in the Fall 2001 issue of Mennonite Board of Missions Missions NOW magazine. Author, Phil Waite, is pastor of Oak Park Mennonite Church of Chicago, Ill. (which cosponsors a Mennonite Voluntary Service unit) and served as MBM program administrator for Service Adventure from 1994 to 1999. Phil now is a board member for Chicago Opportunities for Peace and Action, which operates DOOR—Chicago. In February 2002, MBM became part of the Mennonite Mission Network in the United States and the Mennonite Church Canada Christian Witness Council. The striving for integrity by those in short-term service and those working with short-term mission continues. The term "short-term mission" evokes many images for Mennonites: Charismatic teams of youth doing street evangelism in a foreign city. Crews painting an inner-city community center. Grandparents working in a food bank. And, sadly, for some it is a picture of short-term missionaries bringing insult and disrespect to host communities. Each of these pictures has been true of short-term programs over the years. While there is no pride in the low points in our short-term history, these pictures create a collage of what has shaped our short-term work for half a century, a collage called striving for integrity. It is this work for integrity, for programs that are complete and honest in their service of the church, that MBM passes on to the Mennonite Mission Network and Christian Witness Council. One dichotomy in mission work during the last century has been a distinction between evangelism and service. In 1996, MBM deliberately chose to use the word mission in naming its new short-term mission department, believing that we are called to share a God of love and justice in both word and deed in a world that so desperately needs both. This continued a concern dating from the earliest days of short-term Voluntary Service more than 50 years ago. In his 1947 report on Voluntary Service, John L. Horst said, "We trust that these units may never stress social service apart from evangelistic emphasis." Integrity. A common misperception is that short-term programs exist for youth and young adults. The MBM collage, however, shows different pictures. MBM has worked hard to include people of all ages in its programs. People of all ages have something to learn and gifts to bring. From programs like Group Venture and Youth Venture for youth, to SOOP (Service Opportunities for Older People) for those with significant life experience, to intergenerational programs like Urban Leadership Quest and Building Teams, MBM has sought to make room for all ages. Integrity. Short-term programs also come in different shapes and sizes. Some nearly one year long, some several days. Some involve intensive, three-month discipleship training; others provide on-site training. Programs have different goals and even different theological frameworks. Most agencies that do short-term mission specialize in one type of program or another. MBM believes it serves the church best by offering programs that reflect the diversity of the church. Integrity. One of the most difficult challenges in doing short-term mission with integrity is creating healthy relationships between short-term missionaries and host communities. MBM programs have not had a perfect record here, but have worked hard at creating programs that respect and honor host communities. MBM openly acknowledges that the primary beneficiaries of short-term programs are the participants in those programs - not the communities receiving them. MBM has developed orientation materials so that participants are cross-culturally sensitive and are aware of the issues of privilege and injustice that shape the mission encounter. MBM has hosted two consultations addressing concerns of host groups as well as needs of congregations. Integrity. Finally, MBM seeks to ensure that its programs serve the interests of long-term mission efforts in service locations, and aren't just hit-and-run mission ambushes so tempting to the instant-everything culture in which we live. The best mission work takes the time to learn a culture and to listen to stories before it can understand what it has to offer. Short-term mission through MBM serves the priorities of long-term mission. MBM also has taken care to see that short-term mission takes place within the context of long-term relationships. Integrity. As we say goodbye to MBM, this legacy of striving for integrity carries on. Indeed, MBM has worked at short-term mission with counterparts at the Commission on Home Ministries and the Commission on Overseas Mission (General Conference Mennonite Church) for 16 and six years respectively, at developing and shaping program. Short-term programs in the Mennonite Mission Network and the Christian Witness Council have a head start in working together at putting together pictures that portray a collage of integrity.