Recommended Readings on short-term mission

Two recent articles on short-term missions provide helpful conversation starters about missiological issues related to the practice of short-term missions.

United Methodist Communications published a piece by Rev. Dan Wunderlich entitled "How to do short-term missions the right way." The piece offers seven suggestions for those (Americans) planning short-term mission trips: learn the issues, check your perspective, do the research, pick the right project, consider not going, train your team, and tell a responsible story.

UM & Global contributor Rev. Lisa Beth White has written a response to Rev. Wunderlich's piece entitled "Balancing the why and the how of short-term missions." Rev. White adds another layer to Rev. Wunderlich's recommendations by raising the question of motivation in short-term missions and connecting it to The United Methodist Church's mission document, "Grace Upon Grace."

Both pieces are sure to be useful in local church settings, classrooms, and other arenas in which United Methodists are seeking to conduct mission in faithful, fair, and fruitful ways.