Release your people to use their skills to serve others

Here is a email I sent to a missions leader to help her with concerns about missions trips.


"Dear C _____,


You raised important concerns about short term mission experiences that focus on work projects. Yes, the danger exists that these projects take jobs from locals. I have often felt the same way. 


Here are some "arguments" to consider why short term mission experiences that include a work component can be a win-win:


1. Work trips are effective when you partner with local builders to accomplish a project. This way, local workers are not left out nor do they lose out financially. This is a key goal of OMS work trips.


2. When you involve locals, you also create opportunities to build deep relationships with them and find ways to share Christ. OMS trips include opportunities for prayer and devotionals that are tied to faith sharing. In some cases local workers have the opportunity to hear the gospel that they would otherwise not have. And, trip participants receive the opportunity to build deep relationships with locals and share Christ and encourage them. Your national partners have new relationships to follow-up and opportunities disciple people after the work team departs. Work teams return to their home context with a greater motivation to share Christ with family and friends.


3. In some cases, a ministry can't afford to hire and work solely with locals. Having the occasional work team visit and assist a project becomes a real momentum builder for finishing a project. 


4. Finally, consider that most economies, especially the US, are globally connected on multiple levels. Many of the products or merchandise I purchase here have been made in another country. Perhaps some or much of that money I paid goes to another part of the world, thus causing my local or national economy to lose out. Despite this, I still buy things made somewhere else. Does this one make sense and hold weight in this discussion? 


There is so much anecdotal evidence to support work trips as one type of trip a church uses in its broader short term mission trip strategy. I was really encouraged to hear you say you could easily mobilize a work team trip at ______. If we build in the above guardrails, we could stand back and watch some really awesome things happen with the ______ church family. Go for it.



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Recently, I spent my lunch time with a senior leader in our organization. It was one of the best working lunches I’ve had in a long time. In fact, I can’t remember a time like this, when someone above me poured into me. For too many of us, times spent with senior leaders are filled with anxiety. Or, we're beaten down afterward and feel like in order to get clean from the experience, we need to take a long, hot shower. Please! For your sake, and the sake of your team, learn from what I am sharing and put some of these into practice the next opportunity you have to pour into your team. 1. He gave me his full time and attention. He didn’t check his phone (or Apple watch) the entire time we met. No blurting sounds either, to interrupt our lunch. In fact, I didn’t know he had a phone. He listened intently to what I had to say. He asked follow-up questions often. He looked me in the eyes often when he spoke to me, which said to me he had just the right amount of self-confidence. 2. He bought me lunch. That is kindness in action, since I invited him to lunch and was profuse in my attempts to buy him lunch. 3. He offered up a sum of money to invest in my leadership development. Very impressive. This said to me he not only believed in me as a leader but that he sees a future for me in the organization. When someone does that it causes you to think, “I want to be here for a while.” I came away thinking I have a opportunity to help write our story. 4. He asked about my family. I know there’s debate about how personal you should get with co-workers. But in this instance, man to man, I appreciated his interest how my wife and I were doing with our transition to this new job and how our kids were doing. 5. He challenged me. As he politely inquired about one area of life, I was stuck and he knew it. He politely suggested a reason for this and then challenged me by carefully suggesting a way to become unstuck. Very smart move on his part. Friends, this isn't rocket science here. Life is about making good memories. This was one of them for me. I hope you take steps now to intentionally pour into someone and make a forever positive memory for them.