Taking Your First Short-term Mission Trip

3. What level of cross-cultural experience do you want or need?
There could be two answers to this question. The cross-cultural level you want may not be the cross-cultural level you need. One of the most common mistakes people make in short-term missions is starting out with a cross-cultural experience they simply aren’t ready for.

Here are some steps of cross-cultural difficulty to think through. Notice that as you add additional elements, the stress heightens and the demands increase.

Basic levels of cross-cultural barriers may include only one or two stress factors. For instance, a project in the Appalachian mountains involving construction work in poor coal mining communities is a good place to start. You will have the cross-cultural barriers of educational level and income level. You could go to an Indian reservation in the United States and add even another barrier between you and those you serve—an ethnic level. You will speak the same language for the most part, but this is a great cross-cultural experience for beginning your short-term missions experience.

Now add to that mix the stress of traveling to another country where they may or may not speak your language. Perhaps you might want to consider being a member of a larger team on your first overseas or international project where your lodging is in a camp or dormitory setting. Here you have a safe place to retreat to in the evenings where you can speak with people who speak your language and the food is familiar. This type of setting is a smart way to go with a junior high or high school group for the first time.

The next level of difficulty is traveling as a smaller group to a foreign country and living within the community of those you serve. You still have your teammates close by to provide familiarity with your own language and customs, but you are more fully immersed into the culture in terms of where you work, what you eat, how you communicate, and what you do in your free time.

The most demanding type of experience is when you are either on your own or in a small group and you live in the home of a national family who cannot speak your language, nor can you speak theirs! It would not be wise to sign up for a two-week trip of this nature if you have not tested your ability to handle cross-cultural barriers in less intense experiences.

There are other questions to consider about yourself, but these issues at least give you something to think about as you plan.