I was just looking at a poll on Christianity Today asking about whether you would go on a short-term missions trip to a dangerous location. The poll was being conducted in light of the recent kidnapings of the South Korean missionaries in Afghanistan. We recently experienced this because we were on Mindanao when a Catholic priest was captured and the initial rescue team sent resulted in ten beheadings. We went because we definitely felt God call us to go.
One of the responses to the question was “No, short-term missions does more harm than good.”
I have heard that sentiment before but was surprised to see it be one of the proposed answers to this poll.
I’d like to know what you think about short term missions. Is it good? Or does it do more harm than good? Good or bad, why do you feel the way you do?