Should the Goal of All Missions be Short Term Missions?

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It seems that it is quite fashionable to bash the effectiveness of short term missions…

While Blimey Cow does make some good points in that rather sarcastic video, painting all short term missions as a waste of time and money is rather narrow minded …

What actually prompted this post was reading the missions statement of a church planting team going to Nicaragua. Their goal is to be in a location in Nicaragua for a short period of time, replace themselves in the newly planted church with local leadership, and then move on to another location.

I found that team’s mission and goals to be quite inspirational in it’s ability to be multiplied, and the heavy emphasis on training and mobilising local leadership.

Biblical Models of Short Term Missionaries

While I completely understand the need for long term missionaries to serve in missions organisations around the world (I have been in YWAM now for 14- years, which I guess would be considered long term) there is also a place for short term missionaries.

Jesus’ ministry on earth only lasted 3-years. During that time Jesus never stayed in one place long, and never established a permanent or “long term” ministry location. By many people’s definitions that would be considered “short-term”, but no once can deny the impact and effectiveness of his ministry, can they?

Paul never stayed long in any one location. During Paul’s many years of ministry he never stayed long in any one location. His travels took him all over the Mediterranean and most of what we now know of Paul is his letters written to churches after he had left them. Would current short term missions critics consider Paul’s travel to be joy riding, an excuse to travel the known world, or a “vacation”?

Short Term Missions Can Serve God’s Kingdom

A well thought out short term missions trip can do great things to help in the advancement of God’s Kingdom. Whether building homes in Haiti, restoring eye-sight in Papua New Guinea, or serving and loving AIDS patients in Africa, short term missionaries have an important role in God’s plan to show his love and compassion to the nations.

Let’s not, as long-term missionaries or critics of short-term missions, dismiss the idea out of hand. Instead let’s look at how God wants to use short term mission and what our role is in making it effective for the nation or location being served by the short-term missionaries, and also something that can inspire the participants to desire a long term role in missions…

003 TAM – Happy Canada Day, Ministry Media Kits, and YWAM Webinars

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Welcome to episode 3 of the Accidental Missionary Podcast, “Happy Canada Day!”.

YWAM International Ministry Communication Tools

Part of what I feel God has called me to do is to help other YWAM centres and ministries with their communications. This week I talk about using Media and Press Kits for ministries and how they help communicate what God is doing in and through different ministries.

YWAM Webinars

To help us communicate better as a mission we like to pursue the use of many different technologies, including webinar services and online media.

YWAM Teaching Reasources

Canada Clips

Molson Canadian – I Am Canadian Anthem Commercial

Edmonton Oilers Fans sing O Canada

Does Your Ministry have a Press or Media Kit?

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A media or press kit is important for any ministry’s communication strategy, but do you have one? Actually, do you know what a press kit is? Wikipedia defines it as such:

A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use. They are often distributed to announce a release or for a news conference.

Quill Pen TipPress or media kits can also be a resource used by media organisations when they want to find out more about your organisation. This information can be used for background for a story or when information is needed quickly. After doing a quick search I actually found that I can not find any YWAM locations that have an up to date press or media kit (if I missed one, please let me know in the comments below).

What should your Media / Press Kit Include?

What should be included in your organisations digital press kit varies depending on who you ask and what the kit is for. Here is what I believe should be included in a press kit for your ministry:

  1. Short description of your ministry (under 30 words)
  2. Medium description of your ministry (about 100 words)
  3. Long description of your ministry (200 – 500 words)
  4. High quality Logo images for print and web
  5. Short “Elevator pitch” type video about your ministry (30-60 seconds)
  6. Extended promotional video
  7. Contact Information
  8. Biographies of ministry leaders including photos of individuals
  9. Outside endorsements
  10. Previous media stories

What your press kit includes depends also on what it is for. What I listed above was for your overall ministry press kit, but you can also produce press kits for special events or products. Some of the additional items you may wish to include in this type of press kits are:

  • Print brochure for download and sharing
  • Tour schedule
  • Sample downloads of music tracks if the product is a CD
  • A sample chapter if the product is a book

Update (June 27)

After some discussion over on Facebook here are two other items that have been requested by media organisations contacting YWAM ministry locations:

  • High quality / resolution images of ministry in action
  • Downloadable interview style sound bytes for radio (no music or background sounds)

Samples of Christian Non-Profit Media Press Kit Items

There are a few good examples that I found online of quality digital media press elements. I will grab some examples to show here, and include links to the digital kits below:

Sample short promo video

Introduction to Samaritan’s Purse.

Sample extended promo video

Mercy Ministries Promo Video

Sample print brochure for a ministry tour

Other resources for developing your Media Press Kit

Resources to help you create your digital media kit

Ministry digital press kits

Photo by Anonymous Account

002 TAM – Innovation in Missions, Virtual Missionary Staff

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Thank you for downloading the second episode of The Accidental Missionary Podcast.

This week I talk a bit about my band geekiness and former glory as a “second trumpet”. I also talk about the Youth With A Mission breed of YWAM Goats in Uganda that David Hamilton mentions in the latest teaching podcast that I edited and posted in the YWAM Podcast Network teaching podcast.

I also explore how we can potentially use virtual staff in our ministry locations. Many of the smaller, or more remote ministry locations in Youth With A Mission can be greatly served by remote staff who have easier access to technology and communications tools. I want to challenge other YWAM locations to aske themselves about how can they serve the greater body of YWAM in this way …

Links:

The Importance of Writing in Missions Communication

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Bryan Bishop begins this talk by asking if most people would say that they love or hate writing? His answer, both!

Watch his one hour talk on the importance of writing in missions to find out why his answer was both, and to gain a greater understanding of why communication in mission is so important:

So, do you love or hate writing?