Thursday, August 15, 2013

The difference between short and long term missions.

It kind of hit me yesterday that there are two different mindsets that come with two different types of missions.
There's short short term missions. I've been on a few of those, one to Haiti, one to South Africa, one to Colorado I guess (but that one was more about the missions you can find along the way, rather than the missions you must do at your destination).
Then, there are long term missions. Ones like the one I am on now, where you stay in a place for over six months, living in the community, and discipling continuously.
Not that either mindset is better or worse than the other, but I never realized there was a difference until now.
It's kind of hard to explain until you've experienced both scenarios.
But when I went on all my short term missions, I poured out as much love as I could on each kid and person I came in contact with. We played together and sang together and worshiped and prayed, etc. I keep thinking of Haiti and our community there. Every day we went, we would take all the kids to the park and play ball with them or duck, duck, goose, or tag or something. It was a blast, until I realized how out of shape I was and continually had to stop and catch my breath while the Haitian kids just kept truckin. Needless to say, I always lost.
I mean, you get familiar with their faces and you might even remember their names. My kiddos of the week in Haiti were Macy, Nixon, Nicholas and June. It's been almost two months, and I still remember their names. They were the first to greet me every day and the ones I felt most connected with. But it's different.
Because on a short term mission you have the understanding that you won't probably see these kids again. You can go and have your fun, pour out, get emotional over their situation for awhile, pray for them for awhile, and then go home.
In long term missions, there's really nothing that glorious about it. Because you don't go home at the end of the day. You become a part of their story. You don't get emotional over there situation for a while. And you don't pray for them for a while. You fight for their freedom and pray for their protection CONSTANTLY.
Yesterday, we went to Sir Lowry's, which is a township about two hours away from our base. We go every Wednesday to do ministry there with the kids. At first, my mindset was exactly what it was in Haiti — go, play with the kids, love on them, maybe learn a name, go home.
See the big difference is you don't really care WHICH kid you love, they're all the same (at least that was my mind set). They all need love right?
But then, as the day went on, I watched the JAM staff members very closely. (I always watch them, because I always learn from them the most when they think no one is watching.)
I saw how Tessa would greet a few of them by name. She had a relationship with them it seemed. I watched Ashley especially, since kids ministry seems to be her calling or at least a gifting God has given her. She had kids I could TELL she was closer with than others. She knew their families and asked them for updates on things they had been previously talking about the weeks prior. She knew which ones would misbehave. She knew how to respond to this one when she does this, or that one when he does that.
And eventually, I began to see this as a MINISTRY and not a mission. It began to look a lot like discipleship I've seen happen at home actually.
And when I went home, all night, I couldn't get any sleep because I just kept picturing this little girl's face. I've no idea what her name was even. But from the moment I got there, she clung to me. She spotted me among the visitors, reached out her hand and I pretty much held it the whole time. She couldn't have been older than three but she was cute as a button in her bright lime green jacket and pink rainboots. She kept her hood up the whole time and would rarely smile, but when she did, it was so magnetic, she probably could have asked me anything and I would have given it to her.
And I mean, these kind of things happened in Haiti too, and in South Africa when I came last time. These kinds of things HAPPEN on short mission trips; I'm not saying they don't or discounting that.
But as I sat there, I realized, I will see her again. And the high schoolers at Cape Academy, and the teenagers at IY, I will see them again.
I think we have a tendency on short term missions to subconsciously categorize the people on those mission fields as something different than ourselves. How many times have I heard people say, "But in America," or "But in Haiti." We have this false pretense that kids here are different than us. I don't think we mean to, but we have this elitist attitude of "we are doing so much for them." When a team comes in and plays with a bunch of kids, we go home at the end of the day feeling so uplifted and proud of ourselves. I know I did. I left Haiti with the mindset of "Wow, thanks God for using me. Good work today!"
But here in a long term missions field, it's more about INVESTMENT. These kids aren't just faces and blips on my life timeline. And in order to feel proud of ourselves or of God, we actually have to see REAL lifechange. These kids are my investment of the kingdom. I have X amount of influence and X amount of love that I can give out before I need refilled. I invest that influence. I invest that love in those I think I can most push.
On a short term mission field, you love everyone. It doesn't matter who the kid is, you love on them. That's an awesome attitude to have, but it's different than now.
Now, in a long term mission field, you love one the way you WISH you could love everyone. Because the fact of the matter is, quantity is not going to save or even affect anyone. Quality is. When you have more time, it's a better tactic to pick a few kids, a few students who you KNOW God has sent to you and you KNOW you can disciple. Yes, we are called to love everyone equally, and I'm not saying that we don't. We do. JAM loves every kid they come in contact with. But I know that everyone on the team, everyone on the staff has certain kids, certain students that they spend more time with. They invest in them more than the others, not out of favoritism, but because God has brought them to us, and ultimately, if we want to impact a community, the best way to do that is to invest in those in the community who can make an impact.
So yeah, that's been God's lesson of the day yesterday.

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