I was talking to a friend of mine. He was a missionary for many years and is still semi-active in that role. However, upon returning to the US, he looked into the possibility of serving as a Missions Pastor. That was something I had thought about at least on a couple of occasions. What he discovered was that those where he applied were looking for someone very different than himself for that role. My friend was in his 60s. The churches were looking, essentially, for youth pastors to take their young people on short-term mission trips.

Now, my friend in his 60s could have done some of that pretty well. Overseas, he would receive young mission teams from the US. He would keep them busy in terms of ministry as well as fun. That was not a role I envied of him. The largest STM group from the US I ever fully oversaw in the Philippines was four. Frankly, since the ministry work that Celia and I do is very specialized, we really need STMers who have specialized skills, rather than young, excited, and ready to learn.

But that does make me wonder what a Missions Pastor should be doing. I recall when I was studying up on Missionary Member Care (MMC), the belief of many mission organizations that the local churches should select and evaluate missions candidates, and take part in the responsibility for training and caring for missionaries. Sometimes I do wonder whether this info is correct. Do mission organizations really assume that local churches have the skills to evaluate, train, and care for missionaries and missionary candidates? Maybe so, although sometimes I have seen a relationship between mission agencies and churches that seems a bit more… antagonistic. I do know that in the seminary in which I serve, there is indeed a real expectation. At our school, we want a formal recommendation for the student candidate to receive training. We also expect the church to be part of the training process.

My own experience with missions pastors is quite limited. The most driven church for missions that I have been involved in had no missions pastor. It was large enough to support one. More than half of the budget went to support mission work. They even had their own mission agency of sorts through which they supported long-term missionaries from the church. The thing was that the senior pastor, associate pastor, administrative pastor, and board of elders were committed to missions. Because of this, apparently, a missions pastor was superfluous. The church we presently attend while in the US, does have a missions pastor. I feel that his role is more linked to supporting the mission efforts of the church in its broadest sense rather than being simply a coordinator for STM. However, my friend’s assessment that churches see missions pastors as STM coordinators for youth is probably correct in most cases. A friend I had known years ago, a missions pastor, was exactly that. He planned, organized, and led short-term mission trips for his church, and that was pretty much the sum of his work.

I could be wrong, but I think this issue is a matter of church philosophy. One of the branches of the church growth movement is the “Missional Church Movement.” While in many ways it is a commendable movement where the church recognizes itself as a missional structure, it has sometimes (often) gone in a direction that could be seen as “anti-missional.” Such churches in recognizing their own missional role, have decided that mission agencies and other sodality structures of missions are unnecessary, and long-term missionaries are likewise unneeded. Churches can take the place of both through the efforts of short-term mission teams.

I am not against short-term missions. I would even argue that it can be beneficial for long-term missions strategy IF the people who go have skills and drive to support such strategies coordinated by long-term or local personnel. Beyond that, it can (of course) motivate the home church and home members, and build international fellowship. But limiting a missions program and strategy in a local church to STM truly is anemic. If a church is large enough to support funding a coordinator of short-term missions full-time, it should have a vision to support a missions pastor who supports a fuller missions vision.

But in my, somewhat limited, experience, if the senior pastor does not commit to missions, the overall missional vision of the church will slowly degrade.