short-term missions: the Great Commission or glorified sightseeing?

That's the title of Evan Sparks' piece in the WSJ...

I would add one more category: whatever the motive, the number one fruit from short-term missions is what it does for those who go. Their worlds and minds are broadened; they question consumerism; they gain empathy; and so on. To some extent, this can be gained through traveling, but a short-term mission trip focuses and deepens the take-aways.

Although the research below brings the extent of this into question, I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say: I went to help minister and evangelize, but it blessed me far more. Or maybe, to quote Jesus, it is indeed more blessed to give than to receive!

This past summer, from evangelical churches nationwide, more than one million of the faithful departed for the mission field, taking up Jesus' "Great Commission" to "go and make disciples of all nations." The churchgoers hoped to convert souls, establish churches and meet other human needs. But they did not intend to serve for years or whole lifetimes...[they] came home after only a week or two....

The billion-dollar question, however, is whether they're worth the cost. Are short-term missions the best way to achieve the goals of Christians? Critics argue that sightseeing often takes up too much of the itinerary, leading some to call short-termers "vacationaries"...

Calvin College sociologist Kurt Ver Beek surveyed U.S. missionaries who built homes in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. After coming down from a post-trip "high," the short-termers did not evince much change in their lives. Only 16% reported "significant positive impact," including in prayer, friendships and financial giving....[And Mr. Ver Beek] found that there was "little or no difference" in the spiritual response of the beneficiaries.

The economic impact of the Honduras trips seems in line with similar missionary stints: Teams spent $30,000 to build a home...that would have cost $2,000 to build with local labor....

Indeed, if you were to ask an economist about short-term missions, many of which involve such manual-labor projects, he would have a simple answer: Ditch the traveling team members and send a check....Using local labor contributes to the local economy and avoids perpetuating a culture of dependency and powerlessness....

...the short-term mission paradigm is of somewhat limited use in meeting the goals of Christian mission. The faithful can do better. First, churches might want to encourage more one- and two-year commitments and fewer one- and two-week jaunts. The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, for example, has only about 1,200 missionaries in its one- to two-year programs, compared with the 30,000 short-termers it sends out every year....

Americans should therefore look to their comparative advantages, one of which is education. The U.S. has hundreds of accredited evangelical seminaries and Bible colleges...We should be bringing more pastors and church leaders to the U.S. to study -- or, even better, figuring out ways to reproduce our religious-education system in the places where it is most needed...

I would add one more: Churches should minister more effectively within international communities at universities. Many of these students will return home-- and be much more effective and "efficient".