Steve Van Zanen

This is just the sort of vigorous conversation that I was hoping would follow my original post.  Some excellent points have been made.  Beginning with a love for those who don't yet know Christ (which is inspired by God's love for us) and engaging with them in an incarnational way is certainly key.  Each Christian has a responsibility to witness where they are and along the way of life.  Fundamentally, the mission is one: locally and globally, within cultures and across them.  And there is lots more cross-cultural work to be done locally than ever before.  I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from engaging in witness where they are while they wait vainly to be fully prepared.  That will never come.  Reliance on the Spirit is vital even as we engage in constant learning of the content of faith and the methods of sharing it. 

I guess the genesis of the original post is a concern that some want to make missions out to be something simple or easy.  Especially when crossing cultures, which is much of mission work now, it isn't.  And there is a qualitative difference, it seems to be, between the short term missionary who travels to a place where she doesn't speak the language or understand the culture, and the person who has invested deeply and over decades in understanding the uniqueness of the people with whom she is sharing the Gospel.

Thanks for a lively exchange.

The idea of a cross-cultural or transnational partnership is gaining some traction as an alternative to one off STM visits.  This can be a real advance it seems to me.  But, there are significant potential pitfalls to be avoided as well.  As Lou said, money that is sent without adequate supervision and structure does very little good.  In fact, it can do a lot of harm.  When we were living in Romania the average monthly income was around $100.  One of my students figured out that one year at Notre Dame would cost more than her father made in a lifetime.  So, what appears to be a small amount of money to Americans and Canadians can really distort the system in many parts of the world.  For LOTS more on global partnerships you can take a look here.  Steve

Not at all.  The idea is to improve them.  That can be done with better orientation and even more so with better debriefing and follow up.  My last post suggests that STM visits are best done as part of long term relationship between a church here and a church or community there.  That kind of partnership, rather than a trip here and a trip there divorced from any long term strategy, is a much better way to go, in my view.

This doesn't sound like shouting to me.  It sounds like an important lesson was learned and applied well.  Thanks. 

After writing the above, my Sunday flight was cancelled and I rebooked for 7:55 Wednesday morning. That was also cancelled, but I did get out a little later Wednesday morning on the second flight out of Heathrow. Meanwhile I had the chance to meet with a former student and my Hungarian language teacher from Romania who now lives in Cambridge, England. There are blessings to be found even in our frustrations!

There certainly is a great variety for how churches are organized in this area. I don't have a good sense for what the percentages are. However, it is certainly true that having the deacons deal with requests for financial support of missions is much more common in Canada than the States. The idea of a missions committee or GO team is now developing in Canadian CRCs, but it is a recent phenomenon.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for your very thoughtful and thorough explanation of how your church goes about short term missions.  Participating in projects determined to be of value by the partner, repeated connection rather than bopping around, good preparation and debriefing for the team using some of the best resources are all good techniques for making the most of the short term phenomenon.  Maintaining and increasing your commitment to the long-term personnel is also excellent.  This can lead to the whole congregation becoming more alive to what God is doing around the world.  May your tribe increase!