Mission Teams...Challenges and Struggles...

I will be honest with you, I have such reservations about short term mission teams. I see the harm that they can do and I wonder at times whether I should be involved with them. On the other hand, we are here living full time in Haiti and have spent many years organizing and leading short term teams. I know these teams also work within the hearts of team members and do more than the immediate service they provide on the ground.

We "try" to be strategic in how we do teams. Our whole focus is not coming in and changing a community and teaching them how to think like an American. Our focus is in coming alongside and assisting a community in their calling and their focus. This is why here in Haiti we work alongside two different pastors to help disciple, promote education, medical, and mental health services in their communities. We actually are in the background to a great extent within these communities and we want to remain that way. We do not "want" the village to think and believe the American/foreigner has come in and now we have money or resources or all the answers.  We don't have all the answers or nearly enough resources. And evangelism as well...we support the pastors and local community members in evangelism. I actually filter emails with potential team members that dislike this element. They want to come for a week and personally bring people to the Lord. But...without language and cultural understanding, I actually do not promote traveling missionaries to evangelize on our mission teams. Yes, they can share their story, but even Billy Graham was known to talk about the challenges of revival and dropping in to evangelize without discipleship.

In Latin America, and in Guatemala in particular, we come alongside volunteer fire fighters that graciously give their time and even sacrifice their lives to serve their own community. This is one thing that some of my providers struggle with. They may be a doctor, but I am asking them to be the "assistant" to a local paramedic. The goal is not for us to come in to "do" and receive some glory for saving the day. The goal is for us to assist and serve without being the person that is patted on the back for doing a good thing. We want the community to see the local fire fighter serving and remember that local resource which is there day in and day out in their community. We do not want them to remember the foreigner that came and helped them and then left the following week. We "assist" in the promotion of needs during our short term trips, but that is a small part of what we do in these communities. Our involvement does not stop there. We remain in the background with ongoing projects that we assist with while we are away. We hope to promote long term sustainability and social change through connections within the local community.

But I will be honest and say, this is not easy and we often fall short. This is not how my previous teams over the years were gathered or how they operated. We went into orphanages and brought supplies. We loved on the children. We "thought" we were doing a good thing. After all, we came and gave love. Aren't we told "and the greatest of these is LOVE"?  We loved, but we fell short on really evaluating the consequences of what we were doing. With medical teams, we "ran" a station and yes, had a translator. Each translator was trained to not give their opinion. After all, they are just a translator. They were trained to simply translate word for word and you better believe that if they did more than that, the provider (US doctor) would be offended that they did not do their job correctly. We provided, but we fell short on fully evaluating the actual needs of the community or population.

We put people up in a decent place. In fact, I was told, you have to provide comfort for teams or they will not come back. You have to provide good food and a nice place to stay. hmm...yes maybe. 

 But I have always admired the words of David Livingstone (missionary to Africa).

If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want men who will come if there is no road at all.

So, in Haiti, we go where there is no road. And at least part of each team hikes in to a very remote village. We sleep on the ground. We have no electricity in the villages. We bring a filter to drink water out of the river. We serve with people in a way that I really never imagined.

So much of my previous service revolved around doing, and doing, and doing some more. We brought in thousands upon thousands of dollars of medications and supplies. But what exactly were we doing? Very shortly after moving to Haiti I began to ask this question. We are treating for parasites over and over again, but people still do not drink clean water and--in fact--do not even have enough water to drink at all. We are providing prescription medications for one week and yes, maybe they are better for that week, but then what?  We are starting people on long term medications that they can never afford and are not even available in this country. Yes, they can possibly come back to that same clinic for the next team, but what are we doing to promote services that are sustainable within the country? Most ministry organizations have little plan for sustainability outside of them doing it. When that organization stops bringing in teams or stops providing money, the whole thing would collapse. And don't even get me started on "but we're teaching them about Jesus" mentality. Really? Really? Most people here in Haiti actually know about Jesus and they will love Jesus as long as you keep providing medicine or food or schooling. In fact, a ministry we were involved in "required" that the students attend their church or they would be kicked out of school. But guess what? During the summer when the school session was out, you only had a small handful of people attending that church compared to hundreds during the school year.  It's like we're inadvertently dangling this carrot and expecting people to jump for it. And I know that is not our intent and it certainly was not my intent. These are not easy questions and there is not ONE answer.

I was left with many unanswered questions. I still do not have all the answers and I'm sure I never will, but I do believe that the Lord called us into a season of observing. A season of reflecting and not serving as aggressively. We took a break from teams for a period of time and re-evaluated and re-grouped. We took some time for self care and began praying about teams. We opened our eyes and ears in order to learn from others. I am sorry to say that after over 20 years of international work, it took less then a year on the actual mission field to open my eyes a little wider. Wide enough for us to wake up and make a few changes. We no longer bring teams to orphanages to "love on" the children simply because it makes the team members feel warm and fuzzy inside.

The way I see short term mission teams and in turn the way I organize short term teams is very different. The way I see the "orphan crisis" and the approach I take in regards to orphanages and adoption is also entirely different. We still do two teams a year to Guatemala, one team a year to Ecuador, and a few filter into Haiti each year with us. We still do want and need people to literally come and serve. We NEED your support and your prayers while you are here as well- not only for the community, but selfishly for our family as well. It has been humbling and challenging to ask for support in new ways. When people literally come, they see first hand. Unless people come, it is hard to generate support. But we don't want people to come only to have to undo what they have done during that week. The teams we bring may not be as "fun" as holding a baby and handing out supplies. You will not see the distribution of anything you bring because we feel very strongly in supporting the local leadership and having them distribute gradually to their village. Some of these growing pains have been difficult and quite surprising to many people.  It is a continual journey where hopefully we grow and change as the Lord reveals to us new elements we had not seen before. Thank you everyone for your patience, your understandings, your continued prayers, and your ongoing support!

PS: If you are so called to donate to our efforts on the field--including sustainability of missionaries and trauma trainings--you can send a check to:  

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.

P.O. Box B

Marietta, GA  30061

(Designate for Ron and Linda Sheppard #546)

Or you can donate online at:   www.WorldOutreach.org/donations (just select our name from the list and follow the prompts).

Or you can even donate with Bill Pay via your online banking.

World Outreach Ministries, Inc.

(Designate for Ron and Linda Sheppard #546)

P.O. Box B

Marietta, GA  30061