Een zendingstrip of een zendingsbediening

Er zijn nogal wat zendingsorganisaties die korte termijn zending aanbieden. Je kunt daar dan twee weken of drie maanden snuffelen aan het "zendingsleven". Of zoals iemand eens tegen mij zei: "ik wil wel eens zien hoe het gaat op een missiepost". Nu, zo had ik mijn eigen woonkamer nog niet gezien. Korte termijn zending is een gevolg van de snelle tijd waarin we leven. Veel jonge mensen willen iets van alles meemaken. Je zou iets kunnen missen, toch. En daarom doe een beetje van alles. Er zitten verschillende kanten aan een dergelijke trip. Voordat ik in een volgende post daar zelf iets over wil zeggen, eerst een reactie die ik vond in het meest recente e-zine Encounters:

Short-term mission. Probably this is one of my hobby horses, but I do despair that now we spend more money and more energy in getting people doing what I would call baptised tourism than into the slog of long-term mission. I realize that there are some situations where someone can contribute helpfully in a short time, especially in supporting long-termers in some clearly defined way. I also understand that for some people such a trip is life changing, and that most long-termers nowadays have done a short term visit previously. However, I think the balance is completely out of kilter. Moreover, even if most long-termers now have done short term, most short termers don't go on to become long termers, and research says that after five years a high proportion of short termers have lost all interest. It seems that many short term trips are a variation on an adventure holiday, with a vaguely Christian twist. Vast quantities of Christian money are diverted to support this. Is this right? Also, biblical mission must involve the kind of incarnational lifestyle which by definition cannot be achieved in a short trip. We should make short trips clearly observational and learning trips, and not use the term 'mission' in them. We need to help individuals and churches understand that really significant mission still requires long-term investment, learning a language, trying to understand a culture, growing to know and be known and trusted… In our impatient culture, we need to recapture the importance of 'a long obedience in the same direction'. And we also need a thorough review of how we prepare people who do go on short-term trips, and how we follow through afterwards so that a higher proportion of them will develop a lifelong global heart and mind, and be catalysts in their churches and communities.