How Short-Term Missions Started 3 Churches

I think everyone should do at least one short-term mission trip at some point. Not only can these trips have a powerful impact on the people who go, but they can also leave a lasting impact on the places they visit.

When short-term missions is done well, it doesn't have to be about what a team can accomplish in a few weeks. It can be about investing into what God is already doing and contributing to a vision that will continue long after the team goes home.

Here's what I mean.

The Outreach Nobody Wanted to Repeat

For the past 15 years, YWAM Nuremberg has consistently sent outreach teams to Ethiopia. Year after year, teams returned to support long-term projects and ministries and to serve alongside people who were already investing in their communities.

But not every outreach was easy, and not every team came home feeling successful.

One particular team had a really difficult outreach. They spent time in tribal areas of southern Ethiopia, teaching and training new believers. One of the things they did was a simple, practical training on evangelism.

Then the outreach ended.

The team came home discouraged and frustrated. There had been so many challenges that they were more than ready to be finished and go home.

After that trip, there wasn't exactly a line of people excited to sign up for the next Ethiopia outreach. Then COVID happened, and for a while, we stopped sending teams altogether.

As far as the team knew, that was the end of the story.

But God wasn't finished.

The Seeds Kept Growing

While we weren't sending teams, the believers who had been trained during that difficult outreach kept sharing what they had learned.

They began sharing the gospel with their neighbors and investing in the people around them. The seeds that had been planted during that outreach were still growing, even though the original team was thousands of kilometers away.

Last year, I was part of a team that finally went back to southern Ethiopia.

And we discovered something incredible.

Those believers had started three new churches.

Three churches.

The team that had done the evangelism training didn't know they were helping start three churches. In fact, they probably went home wondering whether their outreach had made much of a difference at all.

But God saw what they couldn't see.

You Don't Always Get to See the Fruit

I think this is one of the most important things to remember about missions.

We often want to see the results of what we do. We want to know that the person we prayed for actually came to Jesus. We want to see the church grow. We want to know that the outreach was worth it.

But sometimes, we don't get to see the fruit.

Sometimes you share the gospel with someone and never find out what happened next. Sometimes you pray for someone and never hear from them again. Sometimes you spend weeks serving somewhere and come home wondering whether anything actually changed.

That doesn't mean nothing happened.

You might be planting a seed that someone else will water years later. You might be encouraging someone who will go on to reach hundreds of people. You might teach one person something that they will pass on to an entire community.

You may never know the full impact of your obedience.

But God does.

This Is Why Short-Term Missions Matter

Short-term missions isn't about going somewhere for a few weeks and trying to save the world before your flight home.

It's about joining what God is already doing.

When teams serve alongside long-term missionaries and local believers, they can encourage, equip, teach, pray, and invest in things that will continue long after the team leaves.

That difficult outreach in Ethiopia didn't look like a huge success at the time. But years later, we were able to see some of the fruit.

Three churches had been started.

Lives, families, and entire communities were being changed.

Not because of one outreach, but because people had faithfully invested in what God was doing over many years.

You Don't Know What God Will Do With Your Yes

Maybe you're wondering whether a few weeks of missions could really make a difference.

It can.

You might not see the results. You might not get the satisfying ending. You might come home wondering whether your trip accomplished anything at all.

But you don't know what God might do with your yes.

Jesus told His followers to "go and make disciples of all nations." That's not a command reserved for a few professional missionaries. It's an invitation for all of us to participate in what God is doing around the world.

Some people will go for years. Others will go for a few weeks. Some will pray, some will give, and some will go.

We all have a part to play.

At YWAM Nuremberg, our five-month Discipleship Training School is our primary short-term missions opportunity. It's a chance to spend five months learning what it means to follow Jesus and then putting that into practice as you go and serve others.

You may never know what God does with your yes.

But you can trust Him with the fruit.

So if you've been wondering whether you should go on a mission trip, maybe it's time to say yes.

The nations are waiting. Let's go!