Stop Calling It 'Short-Term' Missions
My heart resonates with the article about the efficacy of short-term missions, especially with the primary goal for numbers of "salvations" with just 1-3 years of sowing the ground. Without long-term discipleship of new converts, I just hope that the short-term efforts will not eventually end up in vain.
This article chimes along with what I just read from page 14 of
The Good and Beautiful Community
(Smith was quoting Dillas Willard) Social activism is not an act but a way of being... It is not that we do a good deed here and there, but that our very lives are deeds. The character of Christ that is infused in us will be a part of every encounter...
(Now in his own words) Too often people engage in social action on a part-time basis--a visit to the soup kitchen, a short-term mission trip--and feel that they have done more than their share in the area of service.
While those are good activities, if they do not flow from a Christlike character, they are merely temporary acts of kindness. Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders.
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