Short-term Teams Yield Long-term Impact

By Heath Hubbard

Have you heard horror stories of short-term mission trips? Several short-term teams painting the same fence on consecutive trips? Photo opportunities for Instagram but no real ministry? Stories about how the trip didn’t help a missionary or the field? While those cases certainly exist, I want to tell you about the impact short-term teams have had in Tokyo, Japan. For a short-term missions trip to be successful, the team must effectively impact three areas: the area of ministry, the long-term missionaries on the ground, and the people taking the trip. When all those areas are positively affected, we see exciting things occur.

Impact on the Field

In Japan, we look for ways short-term teams can introduce people to Christianity or influence them to take the next step in their relationship with God. We want to impact people with the gospel. Typically, team members can’t speak the language, but they can use their gifts to reach out to people and create new opportunities in our community. Things like English conversation events, speaking English at the train station, music, and drama attract people who may otherwise never hear the gospel. Frequently, the impact is experienced for many weeks, and often months, after the team departs.

A man walked into our church. He’d received a flyer in 2018. He wanted to visit but lost the flyer. This year (2019), he accepted a flyer from someone else at the train station and was excited to connect with the church. He now serves in our kids’ and worship ministries—the result of a flyer he received from a short-term worker. Two years of meeting people at the train station led to this man attending church and becoming involved in ministry.

Two years ago, we launched a small group that eventually developed into our church. While speaking English at the train station, our short-term summer interns met a man who agreed to visit our Bible study. When our church launched, he came and now attends weekly.
He has indicated he believes in Jesus, but isn’t sure if he wants to follow Him quite yet. Without short-term workers at the train station, looking for people with whom to speak English and inviting them to our bilingual Bible studies and church, this man would not have been exposed to the gospel.

This past summer, long after our summer interns left, a man showed up with a flyer he’d received at the train station. He asked if they were at the service. Though the interns had returned to America, their impact had not ended.

The ETEAM ministry that served Hope Alive church last summer did homestays with families of people who were not Christians. On the third day of their homestay, the families brought their students to a church service. The students shared the gospel with the crowd. One woman, who had been studying the Bible, raised her hand when they asked who believed in Jesus. Though she has not fully decided to follow God, we see the impact those students had because they shared the true reason for why they came to Japan—to tell people about Jesus.

A young man who became a Christian and was baptized last year gave his testimony. He credited the impact the short-termers had on his life for helping him realize he wanted to follow God.
Short-term missions can, in fact, have a lasting impact on people to visit church, grow in their faith, and even follow God.

Impact on the Missionaries

Living on the other side of the world is exciting at times. At other times, it can feel really lonely. The summer is full of short-term teams and summer interns. Our family especially appreciates how these students interact with missionary kids. For our children, short-termer arrivals feel like Christmas. The teams typically bring snacks or gummies from America; but more than that, they bring love for our kids and spend time with them.

As missionaries, we get to share our ministry with teams and college students. We give them opportunities to dream, plan, and pray with us. We challenge the students to pray big, specific prayers for God to do big things while they are here. That also challenges us as missionaries to continue to pray big prayers.

The boost of energy teams and interns give to the Hope Alive team is irreplaceable. They provide excitement and new ways of thinking, but most of all, they are more laborers to serve alongside. Our whole family is sad to see the teams go, because of the fun we had and the ministry we shared. All the families ministering at Hope Alive are encouraged by the short-term teams and individuals who come to Japan. It’s definitely a win for us—personally and for our ministry. We continue to talk with many of our interns for years after they leave. Career missionaries on the ground help further the impact of short-term missions.

Impact on the Students

In the summer of 2001, I stood on a hill in Brazil as missionary Curt Holland—now director of field ministry personnel at IM—shared the need for all people all over the world to hear the gospel. I was blown away by the need I saw. I am a missionary today for many reasons, but largely for that specific moment when I gained a glimpse of a larger world in need of Jesus.

I don’t know of anything more moving than when we take students to a lookout here in Japan. Buildings and apartments and skyscrapers stretch as far as eyes can see. We remind the students 99.7% of the people in those buildings will never hear of Jesus and will die without Him. It moves me to share that. It’s impactful for the students who gain a picture of the reality of people who have never heard. They take that picture of lostness, along with people they met and faces they remember, as a huge impression of the need. The impact on them as possible career missionaries is huge.

We worked with people like Annabelle, who came first as an ETEAM student and then a summer intern last year and is returning this year as a missionary to Japan. Tristen served with us for two summers and is pursuing a degree to return to Japan as a church planter. Some of those impacted become missionaries. Some are the best prayer partners and financial partners we have. They feel called to different areas of ministry or different careers, but they are moved to pray and partner like never before.

The short-term trip really does make for long-term impact on all involved—the field, the missionary, and the students. We praise God for how He has used short-term trips in Japan and how He will continue to use high school and college students to make His name known among the nations. We praise the Lord for the boost of encouragement they give us missionaries and the lifechanging impact God, in turn, makes in the students’ lives.

So, please, pray about how your church can move people to be involved in short-term missions for long-term impact. If you are interested in serving in Japan for a summer or a short time, please let us know!

About the Writer: Heath Hubbard and his wife Joni have been career missionaries to Japan since 2010. They serve at Hope Alive church in Tokyo. Hear more about the work in Japan: iminc.org/im-tv/japan/