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A guide to short term missionsA comprehensive manual for planning an effective mission tripLong and short of itA GUIDE TO SHORT TERM MISSIONS Dr. Leon Greene is a heart specialist from Seattle who has taken part in 20 short-term missions to many different destinations since 1987. Though many involved him in medical work, he has also led teams doing a wide range of ministries. So he’s well qualified to advise on all aspects of short-term missions. As a serial short-termer myself, I was surprised but delighted to read of the significant but calculated risks he takes both for himself and his teams: risks that are generally uncharacteristic of his profession. Although there is a comprehensive A-Z of the worst that could happen to your health in scary diagnostic detail (Appendix E), in the main text Greene advocates for the flexibility, determination, sense of adventure and dependency on God which are the hallmarks of mission trips that radically change lives: both of those ministering and those being ministered to. The author’s multi-faceted defence of short-term mission in the early chapters is cogent and biblically based. He rightly prioritises short-term ministry that complements and enhances long-term mission. He also integrates the diverse gifting of God’s people into his mission vision. Despite being a medical expert with readily applicable skills for many mission contexts, he learnt early on that a hairdresser, accountant, or high school student (his own son) could do equally vital ministry. Despite suffusing the book with anecdotes that amuse as well as inform, and introducing each chapter with his email journal from a trip to Honduras, it remains a manual that is most appropriate for leaders who are preparing missions. The comprehensive scope is quite likely to overwhelm his target readership: ‘anyone who is about to undertake a short-term mission or just considering such an endeavour’ — especially young people, and may add to rather than allay the fears of their parents! On the other hand, it’s great reference material for youth pastors preparing orientation seminars for teams or mission committees seeking to launch new programmes. Nick Cole, © Evangelicals Now - July 2005 |