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Receiving Short-term Teams with a Long-term Commitment
By Mark Orfila
In certain circles it’s fashionable to
deride summer missions teams as
“missions tourism.” One recent headline
in the Christian Science Monitor
read: “Rise of Sunshine Samaritans:
On a Mission or Holiday?” In my years
on the mission field, I’ve seen enough
to know that the cynicism is often justified.
However, after several years
of hosting teams from The University
of Arizona Chi Alpha, I can honestly
say that they’re one bunch who has
beaten the missions tourism trap. I’m
convinced that a big factor—if not the
biggest—is their strategy just to keep
pounding the same place year after
year. Following the war in Kosovo, the
group at the U of A made a five-year
commitment to send teams here. They
fulfilled that commitment two years
ago, but they’re still at it. In fact, I’m
trying to get this article written and
get out of here so I can pick up this
year’s U of A team at the airport this
afternoon!
Here are three ways in which their
long-term commitment to send us
short-term teams has enhanced their
effectiveness (OK, I know enough to
know that three alliterated points is
totally uncool, but this time it just fit
so well I couldn’t resist! Just go easy
on me; I’m a 40-year-old XA alum!):
Continuity of relationships: Just
about everything that is accomplished
here in Kosovo happens in the context
of relationship. By coming back
year after year, the U of A guys have
managed to build
solid friendships with people here
in Deçan—believers and unbelievers
alike—which puts the students in a position
to make a real impact on the
lives of the locals. For example, the
waiters and other workers at the hotel
where our teams stay eagerly anticipate
their arrival every year. In fact,
some members of the staff have even
invited the students to their homes,
which has opened up wonderful opportunities
for sharing the gospel. Creating a context for call to
longer-term service: Kosovo has a
way of getting hold of the hearts of
students who come here with U of A
teams. Two such students were Kara
Piepmeyer and Patrick Vo, who after
coming here with summer teams,
decided to return and serve for a
longer period of time. Each of them
ended up being a huge treasure to
me personally and to the work of the
Kingdom here. Jesus’ only prayer request
was laborers for the harvest.
Repeated exposure and short-term
experience in the harvest helps sensitize
students to God’s call to join
His global agenda. Cultural orientation: A culturally
insensitive team can easily do
more harm than good. Of course
we always provide a careful orientation
to our teams, but there’s no
teacher like experience! Naturally
there is turnover on the teams every
year, but the new guys benefit
from the experiences of their classmates
who have gone to the same
place before them. The student who
is leading the team that I’m picking
up today has never been
to Kosovo, but I know that she will
have received a significant amount
of Kosovo-specific cultural training
from her fellow students before she
ever gets here.
Recently I have been challenging
other non-XA teams who have visited
us to seriously consider adopting
XA’s paradigm of making a
five-year commitment to a specific
place. Watching the work of the U
of A teams over the years has persuaded
me that if you really want
your short-term program to make an
impact, this is the way!
Mark Orfila is a long term Assemblies
of God World Missionary in
Kosovo and is a Chi Alpha Alumnus
from Ole Mississippi University.
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