Steve Sanford, New Tribes Missions
www.ntm.org
Personal correspondence; reprinted with permission.
[This book] is full of good advice to young people coming off a short term missions experience. I particularly enjoyed your comparison of the different views of God’s will and your explanation of the ‘dad theory’.
In my role with NTM I work with lots of young people at critical decision making times in their lives. The insights in your book will be helpful to us.
www.ntm.org
Personal correspondence; reprinted with permission.
[This book] is full of good advice to young people coming off a short term missions experience. I particularly enjoyed your comparison of the different views of God’s will and your explanation of the ‘dad theory’.
In my role with NTM I work with lots of young people at critical decision making times in their lives. The insights in your book will be helpful to us.
Rob Browne, Executive Director, Youthreach International
www.youthreach.org.
I finished the book and loved it. Could have read twice as much and enjoyed it just as much but you were concise and to the point for a reason and I do appreciate that. I particularly appreciated the Ignatian Spirituality/Discernment Model. Being a Lectio Divina fan myself I though it was spot on and quite practical as a discernment tool. . . I am going to order a bunch of copies of this book as part of our Debriefing Resource Pack.
www.youthreach.org.
I finished the book and loved it. Could have read twice as much and enjoyed it just as much but you were concise and to the point for a reason and I do appreciate that. I particularly appreciated the Ignatian Spirituality/Discernment Model. Being a Lectio Divina fan myself I though it was spot on and quite practical as a discernment tool. . . I am going to order a bunch of copies of this book as part of our Debriefing Resource Pack.
Tom Miller, Intern Supervisor, Global Aid Network.
www.gainusa.org
Personal correspondence; reprinted with permission.
I wanted to thank for the copy of Now What? that you passed on to me at the SOE conference in Dallas. I read it in nearly one sitting and found it to be very practical and biblically true. I was thinking to myself how wonderful it must be to be able to see people so easily after a STM and be able to take them through the sort of follow-through you are able to do at ACU.
I am in the planning phases of putting up a weblog on follow-through after mission trips for goers and senders. Its purpose will be to provide access to resources that would be helpful to sending groups so that they can come up with good ideas and design a good plan for their own mission follow-through. I was wondering if I could reference your book on the site?
(published with permission)
www.gainusa.org
Personal correspondence; reprinted with permission.
I wanted to thank for the copy of Now What? that you passed on to me at the SOE conference in Dallas. I read it in nearly one sitting and found it to be very practical and biblically true. I was thinking to myself how wonderful it must be to be able to see people so easily after a STM and be able to take them through the sort of follow-through you are able to do at ACU.
I am in the planning phases of putting up a weblog on follow-through after mission trips for goers and senders. Its purpose will be to provide access to resources that would be helpful to sending groups so that they can come up with good ideas and design a good plan for their own mission follow-through. I was wondering if I could reference your book on the site?
(published with permission)
Dr. Troy Stuart, Administrator for Chiang Rai International Christian School.
Personal correspondence; reprinted with permission.
I have finished reading through your book. This summer I had skimmed over it but have recently taken time to read through it carefully. Great job!
Here are a few of my own reactions/comments.
I particularly liked chapter 2 and chapter 6. I thought chapter two painted a realistic picture of the genuine struggle people have with discernment and did a great job of presenting the core issues of a complex subject in simple, easy to understand terms. Although this subject is fraught with challenging nuances, most Christians aren't pressing in on those details. I think realistically most Christians operate on a more general level of thinking like you've described and could make much more sense out of this issue with a book like yours than they could out of some theological tome.
In addition to the overall framework for chapter 6, here are a couple of things I really liked, especially when I think about students I worked with in campus ministry and when I think about some of the missionaries I've met here who are into more prophetic type ministries. I liked the paragraph on page 46 "As we continue . . ." I think this helps bring home the major theme of your book - the overall goal is to cultivate a relationship with our Father that leads to spiritual maturity. I think this helps so much in keeping the focus on God rather than keeping the focus on me. I also really liked what you said on page 52 about Jesus' prayers focusing on submission to God's will as a counter to focusing our prayers on revelation.
One other element of the book I liked is it doesn't at all come across as pushing an agenda that everyone should become a foreign missionary. I think that several of the exercises could benefit friends I have in the states to just consider how they can become better at discerning how God is stirring them to become more like Christ and more spiritually mature as they live out their current vocation and life in their families.
Personal correspondence; reprinted with permission.
I have finished reading through your book. This summer I had skimmed over it but have recently taken time to read through it carefully. Great job!
Here are a few of my own reactions/comments.
I particularly liked chapter 2 and chapter 6. I thought chapter two painted a realistic picture of the genuine struggle people have with discernment and did a great job of presenting the core issues of a complex subject in simple, easy to understand terms. Although this subject is fraught with challenging nuances, most Christians aren't pressing in on those details. I think realistically most Christians operate on a more general level of thinking like you've described and could make much more sense out of this issue with a book like yours than they could out of some theological tome.
In addition to the overall framework for chapter 6, here are a couple of things I really liked, especially when I think about students I worked with in campus ministry and when I think about some of the missionaries I've met here who are into more prophetic type ministries. I liked the paragraph on page 46 "As we continue . . ." I think this helps bring home the major theme of your book - the overall goal is to cultivate a relationship with our Father that leads to spiritual maturity. I think this helps so much in keeping the focus on God rather than keeping the focus on me. I also really liked what you said on page 52 about Jesus' prayers focusing on submission to God's will as a counter to focusing our prayers on revelation.
One other element of the book I liked is it doesn't at all come across as pushing an agenda that everyone should become a foreign missionary. I think that several of the exercises could benefit friends I have in the states to just consider how they can become better at discerning how God is stirring them to become more like Christ and more spiritually mature as they live out their current vocation and life in their families.
HOW TO PREVENT WASTING A MISSION TRIP by Dan Bouchelle, Director, Missions Resource Network
http://dbouchelle.blogspot.com/2013/08/now-what-how-to-prevent-wasting-mission.html
My elder buddy, Steve Rogers, is fond of saying, "There is a big difference between having twenty years of experience and having one year of experience twenty times." Steve is right. Not all experience leads to meaningful learning. This is certainly true when it comes to ministry and doubly true with cross-cultural short term mission trips.
Americans spend about $2 billion dollars each year on short term mission trips, and that trend seems to still be growing. This doesn’t even begin to count the money spent on study abroad programs in Christian Universities. But, what good comes from all the travel and cross-cultural experience? That is harder to calculate.
People come back saying things like, “That was an unforgettable experience!” and “I’ll never be the same!” But, give it two or three years, and a high percentage of people have forgotten most of what was impactful and have returned to identical lives. Few churches intend to promote mere religious tourism, but without good preparation on the front end and good follow through upon return, that may be all all that happens in the long run.
I’m not interested in stopping or discouraging short term missions. I’ve seen them serve a critical purpose and have had my life changed by the experience. My interest is in making sure short term missions serve the long term mission of God and produce good commensurate with their expense. In order for that to happen, the people who go need to be prepared for what they are going to do, need to do something helpful while there, and need to debrief in meaningful ways upon their return. That is how short term experience turns to long term benefit.
As my friend, Chris Flanders says, “Learning does not come from experience, but from reflection on experience.” Unfortunately, few churches have good systems in place to help their people process their short term missions experiences.
That is why I’m thrilled that Gary Green has recently published a little book designed just for this purpose. Gary is one of the co-leaders of World Wide Witness—a short term missions program at Abilene Christian University. Gary served as a missionary in Venezuela before returning to teach missions at ACU and co-lead WWW with Larry Henderson. Every year, they prepare dozens of students to spend several months in various countries and help them debrief that experience. Gary was frustrated by the lack of materials available to help the debriefing process. So, he wrote his own. I read it yesterday and was thrilled. You can find it here or here.
At 73 pages, this little book is the perfect size to provide guidance without intimidating anyone. It covers the critical issues and is written in an approachable style which can serve seasoned adults as well as students in church youth groups.
If I was still in congregational ministry, I would try to make it policy that anyone going with the church on a mission trip read the first two chapters and process them with the group before they left and then work through the rest of the book in groups upon their return. As important as telling their story to the church is, this is probably more important.
If you work with short term missions, you absolutely need to help your people prepare both before they go and debrief after they return. You can do that on your own if you like. But, if you’d like some help from someone who has extensive experience (with lots of reflection) and missions expertise, check out Gary’s helpful guide.
Posted 22nd August by Dan Bouchelle
http://dbouchelle.blogspot.com/2013/08/now-what-how-to-prevent-wasting-mission.html
My elder buddy, Steve Rogers, is fond of saying, "There is a big difference between having twenty years of experience and having one year of experience twenty times." Steve is right. Not all experience leads to meaningful learning. This is certainly true when it comes to ministry and doubly true with cross-cultural short term mission trips.
Americans spend about $2 billion dollars each year on short term mission trips, and that trend seems to still be growing. This doesn’t even begin to count the money spent on study abroad programs in Christian Universities. But, what good comes from all the travel and cross-cultural experience? That is harder to calculate.
People come back saying things like, “That was an unforgettable experience!” and “I’ll never be the same!” But, give it two or three years, and a high percentage of people have forgotten most of what was impactful and have returned to identical lives. Few churches intend to promote mere religious tourism, but without good preparation on the front end and good follow through upon return, that may be all all that happens in the long run.
I’m not interested in stopping or discouraging short term missions. I’ve seen them serve a critical purpose and have had my life changed by the experience. My interest is in making sure short term missions serve the long term mission of God and produce good commensurate with their expense. In order for that to happen, the people who go need to be prepared for what they are going to do, need to do something helpful while there, and need to debrief in meaningful ways upon their return. That is how short term experience turns to long term benefit.
As my friend, Chris Flanders says, “Learning does not come from experience, but from reflection on experience.” Unfortunately, few churches have good systems in place to help their people process their short term missions experiences.
That is why I’m thrilled that Gary Green has recently published a little book designed just for this purpose. Gary is one of the co-leaders of World Wide Witness—a short term missions program at Abilene Christian University. Gary served as a missionary in Venezuela before returning to teach missions at ACU and co-lead WWW with Larry Henderson. Every year, they prepare dozens of students to spend several months in various countries and help them debrief that experience. Gary was frustrated by the lack of materials available to help the debriefing process. So, he wrote his own. I read it yesterday and was thrilled. You can find it here or here.
At 73 pages, this little book is the perfect size to provide guidance without intimidating anyone. It covers the critical issues and is written in an approachable style which can serve seasoned adults as well as students in church youth groups.
If I was still in congregational ministry, I would try to make it policy that anyone going with the church on a mission trip read the first two chapters and process them with the group before they left and then work through the rest of the book in groups upon their return. As important as telling their story to the church is, this is probably more important.
If you work with short term missions, you absolutely need to help your people prepare both before they go and debrief after they return. You can do that on your own if you like. But, if you’d like some help from someone who has extensive experience (with lots of reflection) and missions expertise, check out Gary’s helpful guide.
Posted 22nd August by Dan Bouchelle
"Authors from Churches of Christ", Christian Chronicle, December 2013
Green, founder and director of the WorldWide Witness program at Abilene Christian University in Texas, offers a workbook of Scriptural studies and reflection questions to help participants move from short-term missions to long-term maturity. -
See more at: http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/authors-from-churches-of-christ?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2754173&ObjectID=4431544&Object#sthash.WV0Gh6HY.dpuf
Green, founder and director of the WorldWide Witness program at Abilene Christian University in Texas, offers a workbook of Scriptural studies and reflection questions to help participants move from short-term missions to long-term maturity. -
See more at: http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/authors-from-churches-of-christ?A=SearchResult&SearchID=2754173&ObjectID=4431544&Object#sthash.WV0Gh6HY.dpuf
News release from Abilene Christian University.
http://www.acu.edu/news/2013/131205-green-offers-reflection-for-short-term-missions.html
http://www.acu.edu/news/2013/131205-green-offers-reflection-for-short-term-missions.html
