discovering missions - Southern Nazarene University

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128 Volunteerism in Mission
home. This standard recognizes that cementing long-term changes as a result
of people’s short-term experiences usually necessitates post-trip follow-up.
Longer-term Short-term Volunteers
As the numbers of participants on short-term mission trips have increased
over the last few decades, remarkable things happened. One was that short-term
volunteers began saying, “I don’t want to go home after two weeks or a summer.
I have a skill and time and money. I want to come back as soon as possible.”
Those short-termers began returning to mission fields to serve as volunteers for
periods of up to two years. A positive thing for the career missionary is that
midterm volunteers, as Miriam Adeney has called them, need less direct supervision
than a team that will be on-site for only one week. The longer time frame
gives more opportunities for the volunteer to learn culture and language. Thus,
those midterm volunteers can usually assume more significant ministry roles
than is possible for those who are on a field for only a few days.
Retirees
In many countries, people are able to retire from the work force while continuing
to receive an income. Like the retiree previously mentioned who shared
his dream with the missionary, other retirees are asking: “Is that all there is to
life?” As people retire, they are faced with deciding what to do with the productive
years they feel are still ahead of them. In an Evangelical Missions Quarterly
article titled “Boomers, Busters, and Missions,” Ken Baker noted that
numbers of American evangelicals 50 years of age or older are giving themselves
to a second career in missions. 12
Precareer Volunteers
Spending a year or two in volunteer mission service has attracted college
and university students wanting to do hands-on cross-cultural ministry before
beginning their careers and families. The U.S. government fanned interest in
volunteerism with its creation of the Peace Corps and Americorps. In Britain,
taking a “gap year” during one’s university years has been a long tradition.
Those kinds of programs gave young adults a way to see the world while helping
their fellow human beings. The government programs, plus the example
provided by young Mormon volunteers, gave churches and mission agencies
models for providing young adults in-depth mission experiences. Thus, in addition
to those going to a mission field as volunteers for one to two years right
after they graduate and before they launch into their career, some are taking a
semester or even a year off during college to serve as mission volunteers.
There are pros and cons to sending young adult volunteers to serve along-