The not-for-profit sector is being reshaped by Generation Y who have a preference for services and ministries that they can support hands-on.
Andrew Robinson who has spent the past year as a short-term missionary in Johannesburg says that his generation sees "oversees travel as a right and living overseas as part of their education'.
"A lot of my non-Christian friends from uni have spent time helping out in overseas aid projects."
This trend will inevitably reignite debate about the place of short-termers in overseas missions like CMS.
The Rev Celia Toose from CMS NSW Mission Education section agrees that many in the 18 to 30 aged group would prefer to ‘get their hands dirty’ than merely give money.
As a result, she says, the pressure has been building on CMS for some years to address the concerns of the younger generations.
She surveyed CMS supporters in this age group and found that ‘they really want to do something… but they need direction’.
“They are asking: How can we better equipped to be of service?”
The response from CMS
In response CMS will be running a new program at Summer School this year for 18 to 30 year olds called ‘gen 9:37’.
This is a reference both to the younger generation and Matthew 9:37 ‘the harvest is plentiful but the workers few’.
As part of this program, CMS will be running interactive seminars on the three hottest mission topics for this age group.
Top of the list for many will be ‘The great debate: long term v short term’ involving Mark Grieve, a long-term missionary in Johannesburg, and Andrew Robinson who has spent this year completing ministry training with Mark.
Andrew is pleased to hear about the gen 9:37 initiative as a sign CMS NSW wants to grow it commitment to short-termers such as himself.
“I think its fair to say that short-term has not been a priority for CMS NSW," he says, "but I can also see that they are now taking it more seriously."
Nevertheless Andrew points out that the term "short-term' describes a very broad group from those who stay just a few weeks " effectively tacking some mission work onto their overseas holiday - to someone like himself who will end up being in South Africa for two years.
"I have never seen myself as a missionary, I am trainee. I am just there trying to learn from my South African bosses and Mark."
As a result, he wonders if there is a place for a MTS style program within CMS to more formally recognise "the missionary trainee'.
"It is logistically difficult for mission agencies and [receiving] churches to provide support for lots of young people who may only commit to a few weeks," he says.
"However those short-termers [who stay for an extended time] have needs that are more in common with the long-term missionary than those who are on a four week mission trip."
The strengths of long-term
John Bales, General Secretary of CMS NSW, makes it fairly clear that for CMS long-term missionaries are the main game.
“It takes time to develop the language skills and build up relationships,” he says.
However he adds that ‘within that context’ short-termers can "come in and give the work a boost’.
“That’s the ideal,” says John. “Helping to support our long-term missionaries.”
Mark Grieve has been running both a university ministry and homeless ministry in Johannesburg for the past three years and agrees with John Bales’ assessment that ministries need a long term commitment to bear fruit.
“It has been three years of building up the foundations, building up the relationships.”
When Mark returns in April, he says they will be ready to plant a new church on the other side of the campus into a poorer area where many of the Black students live.
The strengths of short-term
When Andrew Robinson first thought about short-term mission he was thinking in terms of weeks not years.
But when he made enquiries in South Africa he was told not to bother unless he could commit to a longer training process.
This was the best thing he could have been told, says Andrew.
"A non Christian friend said to me, "At least working with the homeless is rewarding'. It might seem like that if you just visit for a month" but after a while I dreaded being there sometimes."
Andrew says that the one year placement has been a time of extraordinary personal growth.
"The homeless ministry is where I have been stretched and challenged the most. If I wasn't doing it because of God’s love and imperative, it would be really hard. You pour effort into people and they end up worse than before. You give everything and you get very little back. To keep forgiving, it's tough. I now understand in a big way what God did for us."
In his second year, Andrew hopes to confirm if he wants to be in ministry long-term.
"Most MTS programs are two years for a good reason: one year is a cycle of ministry."
Illustrating how valuable short-termers can be in supporting long-term missionaries, Mark Grieves describes Andrew Robinson time in Johannesburg as a ‘God-send’.
“It has been great timing,” said Mark who is on leave six months leave in Australia. “He is running the whole thing until April…
More specifically Mark has seen more students coming to meetings and the ministry grow during Andrew’s year helping with the campus work.
Take the first step
While Mark Grieve describes Andrew as ‘a very able guy, a real self-starter’, he says it is his attitude that makes Andrew such an ideal short-term missionary.
He says that short-term missionaries do not need any particular skills or talents, rather the key is that they go ‘with a servant attitude’.
Mark recently had another short-termer who ‘was not really a Bible-study leading type of guy’ but was ‘willing to do anything’.
It turned out this short-termer had skills in IT that proved very useful to Mark’s ministry, and he was also able to build up relationships with the students.
“You shouldn’t go thinking that in a couple of months you can change the world,” Mark says. “Humility is what is really valuable.”
However John Bales from CMS NSW also says prospective short-term missionaries need the support of their home church.
Mark Grieve adds that it is unrealistic to expect to raise funds once in you are in the field, and that it is important that short-termers are open to staying longer if needed.
Andrew Robinson says there is "a lot of hype' about short-term mission and as a result he says some people his age do not give their mission trip enough thought.
"There is a place for the four week stint but you need to think strategically about the right context," he says.
"You need to ask the long-term missionary the hard questions, such as "Am I going to be a drain on you?' Some missionaries will be set up for short-termers and will be able to use you, others will not. You need to investigate the context."
"Johannesburg has been the right context for me because language isn’t so much an issue," he said. "I can make a reasonable contribution in English, building real relationships with people and having serious conversations about the gospel."
