Toxic Missions: The Beginning of Missions

In the 1950’s and 1960’s short term missions started for the very first time. Before then it was long term missions only, aspiring missionaries said goodbye to their families and left (sometimes forever) to go live with the people groups they felt called to serve. In this episode of Toxic Missions, we’re talking about the beginnings of STM’s (short term missions).

What’s so interesting is when STMs first started there was sooooo much backlash about calling it “mission” trips. How is it a ‘missions trip’ if it’s only a week? Maybe a few months long?

The definition of “Mission” from Marriam Webster is:

“a specific task with which a person or a group is charged. Their mission was to help victims of the disaster. b(1) : a definite military, naval, or aerospace task, a bombing mission, or a space mission. (2) : a flight operation of an aircraft or spacecraft in the performance of a mission, or a mission to Mars.”

So of course there was a lot of backlash, and even now, I’m not really sure “missions trip” is the right term. Maybe ‘vision’ trip, or ‘volunteer’ trip. I think depending on what is done on the trip itself either it is or isn't a good term.

The idea of a short term missionary started in the 1960s, it was inspired by the Peace Corps. The ease of air travel also made a huge difference because now once remote areas are accessible to people with the desire and money. A few organizations, like YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and OM (Operation Mobilization) created trips lasting from a month to a year.

Short term missions were known as a way for young people to grow their faith and self, while also aiding those in need. Many individual churches joined in on the movement.

Wow, so it was based on the wrong reasons in the first place. Based on intrinsic and not extrinsic. It should always be about the people we serve, not about us. It’s a secondary perk. Not a reason. We have a whole podcast/blog on the wrong reasons to go on the field.

Right, STM’s started with the assumption that there would be a lot of personal growth that people would receive by serving “the least of these” but there wasn’t much focus on what happens to those people after the trip is over.

If you would like to study more into this, we highly recommend reading the book: Helping without Hurting in Short-Term Missions. This book has put into texts things that we have been thinking and struggling with lately. We're not done talking about it but incase you wanted to get a head start on it!

Also, the authors assume that you have read Helping Without Hurting first. Which is also beyond helpful.

There's another super helpful Helping Without Hurting in Church Benevolence, which is also great for those involved in church and church leadership.

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Here's the Podcast version. It's the same theme but it's not transcribed so there are various conversations we have on the blog vs on the podcast.