In a room of nearly 300 people representing various organizations, I asked each table to give a letter grade to the present state of short-term missions. The grades were pretty dismal, mostly Cs and Ds.

I’d been invited to facilitate and emcee a gathering of youth ministry-oriented mission organizations that the National Network of Youth Ministers had assembled to have an honest discussion about the state of short-term mission trips. Kurt Ver Beek at Calvin College recently had released some research on the effectiveness of missions that was causing much conversation. Azusa Pacific University, which for years had sent large numbers of groups into Mexico during Spring Break on mission, also had released a documentary that raised many questions about the alleged impact of their own trips.

After a few days of conversation and hearing from great presenters such as Kurt Ver Beek, Sherwood Lingenfelter, Robert Priest and others, we did some brainstorming around directions. After filling walls with countless Post-It Notes scribbled with ideas and insights, one person made a profound comment. “Of all the people we have here in the room, not one of us represents a nation or community that receives short-term teams.” There was silence in the room. We were trying to fix something without taking into account the intended beneficiaries of our efforts.

That gathering took place a decade ago, and I often wonder how much our conversations actually matriculated into some form of action. I can’t speak for the rest, but in conversation with the leadership at YouthWorks (recently YS became part of a family of ministries of which YouthWorks is a member), they told me about the impact of that weekend on their journeys of growing their skills toward community development—not just the spiritual formation of the teenagers going on the trip. This was a profound shift in their perspective that has produced some amazing results not only in the 30,000 teenagers and adults who serve with them each summer, but also the 70+ communities who receive them.

Here are some things we’ve learned that might help begin the process of becoming receiver oriented in your mission and service projects.

Recognize and Honor What God Is Already Doing in a Community

Most short-term mission trips are not going into areas where churches have not already been established. It’s important for teenagers to know they are coming alongside men and women in the church who already are doing God’s work where they are going. If possible, try to schedule time to meet those people and join them as opposed to doing it all yourself. I’ve seen Sunday school teachers watching from across the street as American teens led children. When asked why they weren’t involved, they responded that they weren’t asked and they wanted the Americans to feel they were doing something on their own. Big mistake!

Find out the True Needs of the Community

This seems obvious, but so often short-term mission projects center on what they can do for the community versus what the community actually needs. As Americans, we are steeped in a culture oriented to find and solve problems. Sometimes we can solve problems that aren’t perceived as problems by those we are serving. I remember a building project in Haiti that put many construction workers out of work because the free labor the American’s provided left them jobless and their families without income. Sometimes helping can hurt. Be mindful.

Look for Ways to Celebrate and Explore the Culture You Visit

When visiting a new culture, it’s easy to focus on the differences as negatives. If teenagers come home and tell stories of how awful the conditions were and point out the different approach to living, then we have failed in exposing them to another culture. Several years ago, I helped Wycliffe design some trips that focused on language learning. The people in the city were so amazed that the teenagers wanted to learn their language, they felt honored. It made me realize how important it is to celebrate and learn from other cultures.

Be Sure to Learn More about Living for Jesus Through the Eyes of Another Culture

The paradigm of the American church bringing the gospel to those without is a concept long discarded by mission movements. (India and Africa send out more missionaries per capita than American!). Rather than looking for what we bring, orient students to look for ways to understand Christian living through the eyes of those Christians in the culture you visit. We need to breathe in from our brothers and sisters so we can see Christ more clearly.

Consider Calling Your Trips Mission Discovery Rather than Short-Term Trips

In doing so, we change the posture from bringing and delivering to that of learning what God is doing elsewhere. By calling them discovery trips the goals and outcomes are much different than the service that is done for the receivers. When students report back to the church about the trip, it should be more about what they learned about what God is doing in the world, how other Christians are following Jesus, what is amazing about a culture different than their own, and how long-term missions look rather than what they did while they were there.One of the greatest qualities we can develop in students is that of humility, and mission and service trips can be essential in forming that value. Being a learner and being receiver-focused can further students’ journeys toward selflessness where they truly learn to lose their lives in order to find them. Trips such as this are great ways to see this transformation, but let’s not focus so much on the senders that we neglect those to whom we are going.