AC TO THE MAX: STeM (Short Term Equipping Missions): Part 1

In my experience, there are two distinctly different kinds of short-term missions experiences. There are those experiences that train, equip, and challenge students greatly in their Christian walks and in how they view the world, and there are those missions experiences that offer great emotional moments, without much real evidence of life change in students. I mean, most of us probably know someone who has been on a short-term mission, come back home, and literally never been the same, their lives radically caught on fire for Christ. Honestly, my current life path is a direct result of a work God began in my life during a short-term mission to Ecuador in the summer of 2002. At the same time, we can probably all identify students who have been on a short-term mission, come home, and immediately reverted back to their old lifestyles. My friend and former professor, Terry Linhart, offers some incredible insight into this phenomenon in this article. The point is, simply doing short-term missions is not a guaranteed factor in life change.

Most of my July was spent doing short-term missions work. J-Life hosted a training event called "STeM," which stands for "Short Term Equipping Missions." You'll probably notice immediately, even from the name, that there is a specific focus in what we are trying to accomplish. At J-Life, it is never our goal to run a one-time program that leaves students and young leaders going home with not much more than a bunch of warm fuzzies inside. Here, short-term missions is done differently, and I've learned a lot from J-Life's STeM model.

What does it look like?

Well, we ran two STeMs this July. Both teams, each with about 60 young leaders, came to Camp Eden at separate times for 4 days of intense training on short-term missions. Throughout this training, they were coached in the purpose of the mission, as well as essentially trained and equipped on how to run their own short-term mission back with their youth groups. Throughout the training, it was made clear that one had not officially completed the STeM training until they had run their own short-term mission back in their communities.

After four days of training, the groups were sent out into several communities for five days of short-term missions work. This was the practical part of the training, as they had to put into practice what they had learned over the course of the training. Finally, the teams all came back to Camp Eden for a day of reflection and debriefing of the mission.

What's so great about this model?

The thing I like about this model is that in no way does it assume consumption on the part of the young Christian leader. Throughout the training, there is no loop hole to allow a student to think that the mission is about having a great one-time experience, where ministering to "the least of these" can simply be checked off a list and then forgotten. Essential to the training is the idea of a missional lifestyle, and each young trainee is called out to lead others in their own communities in such missional living.

Results?

The results really speak for themselves. I just received word from one of the STeM trainees who recently passed the training on to her youth and led them on a mission to Swaziland. Later this month, I will be heading to Zimbabwe to assist some of the STeM trainees from Zim with their own STeM in their home community in Harare. By investing in 120 leaders for two weeks during STeM, it appears that the missional lifestyle and the importance of leading others in missions has taken root. There will surely be many more stories like these to come throughout the year.

And in fact, there is much more that I have to share about STeM, but for now I'll leave you with a few pictures.