Short-Term Missions Survey Results – Part 2
Yesterday, I revealed the results to the first two questions on my short-term missions survey.
Today, let’s look at the responses to the third question of the survey.
Here’s the question along with the responses:
What is your biggest problem with going on a short-term missions trip?
- The cost
- Time
- Time
- Cost – so much money spent just for travel/paying third parties to arrange
- The potential of getting sick
- Ensuring that the resources (time, talents, and finances) are being stewarded properly
- Disjointed ministry efforts not connected enough with local, ongoing work
- Feeling like not providing something sustainable
- I have some health issues that might be a concern in a 3rd world setting
- I have no problem with it
- Finding time
- The unknown
- Confidence that I could be a good chaperone for the teenagers I was with
- Schedule
- The ability to immerse myself in the local culture
- That it’s “short term”. Want to build longer self-sustaining relationships
- Clarity of purpose, follow-up, consistency
- Health
- The cost
- Time off work (don’t have many vacation days), and finding one that interests me (I have trouble reasoning a trip far away to help when people need help all around. I would like to be involved in a day or multiple day community service act, like getting together a massive labor force and fixing up a row of houses in a city or town.
- Feeling like I want to do more
- Taking care of my family, and have a local business, currently difficult to leave
- Coming home and leaving all those new relationships we had built behind. It’s heartbreaking.
- Nothing
- There’s a lot of work left undone, and it’s easy to focus more on the work than on the people. I think people ought to be our priority, even though the work is important, too.
- No clue what they are. Sorry!
- Managing the cost
- Time, I guess
- I’m looking forward to going on my first trip in May 2015
- Lack of follow-up and practical care for the people there
- It ended
- Time
- Raising funds
- Lack of long-term relationship
- Don’t like the fund-raising aspect – people should pay their own ways
- Planning since I was the leader on most
- Using what little vacation time I have left (if any) after family obligations
- There is work in your own back (yard)
- I do not sense God’s leading
- I have been on 4 ow – no problems really. It was just getting on the first one that was hard. I sponsored so many other people all my life and finally took the time (to) actually go on one myself. Now it is part of my life every year.
It amazing to read the responses. Cost is obviously a factor, and time seems like an even bigger factor among survey respondents. Many people talked about follow-up and long-term relationships.
What do you think about the responses? I’d love to read your thoughts.
If you didn’t take the survey yet, please click here to add your responses.