They're popular, they're challenging and enlightening...but are they a good idea? Short-term mission trips have become a key strategy for churches to engage in missions, and to engage thier people in missions. Yet sometimes we do not stop to ask ourselves why we're doing them and if we are doing them the right way.

Fraser Scott and Bright Hope World's Southeast Asia Partnership Facilitator Emma Stokes take a long hard look at short-term mission trips and ask why we're doing them, whether they are giving us the results we're wanting and - most importantly - who we're actually doing them for. They discuss some of the key considerations in doing such trips well, and some of the key pitfalls to avoid.

Resources discussed in the podcast include:

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (Amazon)
Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help, And How to Reverse It by Robert D Lupton (Amazon)
The Next Mile: Short-Term Missions for the Long Haul by Brian J Heerwagen (Amazon)

Send feedback or questions to podcast@brighthopeworld.com.

Professor Umlaut Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

14 - The Four Stages of Poverty Alleviation