We’ve all heard the arguments for and against short-term missions. I don’t plan to rehash all of that. But let’s look closer at one of the biggest arguments made by proponents of short-term missions: Short-term missions trips lead to greater long-term missions engagement.

Admittedly, substantiating this claim can be hard. We run into chicken-or-egg arguments and a plethora of variables. But we do have witnesses we can call to the stand—the short-term missions trip participants themselves. While these accounts can be viewed as merely anecdotal, they are testimonies of God’s work in the lives of His people that we, their brothers and sisters in Christ, should view as substantial.

We are going to look specifically at RP Missions trips. But we can’t talk about RP Missions without talking about RPGM Explore. And to do that, we need to look first at the bigger picture: the RP Global Missions Funnel. I introduced the funnel in the RP Witness some time ago. This article is going to be the first in a series looking closer at the funnel and its layers. The first two layers are RPGM Explore and Short-Term.

RPGM EXPLORE

RPGM Explore was introduced in 2021 as the RP Missions program was being revamped post-Covid. The vision for RPGM Explore was to create a course that not only helped to prepare trip goers to go with an appropriate frame of mind, but maybe more importantly to prepare them to return from their trips to their home churches and communities.

At the time this was created, the trips themselves were very tentative as travel was still unreliable in many parts of the world. So, the idea to create a stand-alone course was hatched. This resulted in a course that—while being very effective as a training tool for trip participants—was much bigger than that.

Simply put, RPGM Explore is an online community of learners developing a personal and church vision for taking the gospel to the nations. It is a course for anyone who wants to learn about being a globally minded Christian. It is a course that helps open one’s eyes to the need for every Christ-follower to be involved in God’s global purposes. The course goes on to help participants find ways to get involved even if that person never sets foot in a foreign land.

In addition to RP Missions trip participants, we have had RPGM board members, congregational missions advocates (CMAs), elders, and other church members join the many RPGM Explore cohorts available. We have also been experimenting with ways to offer the course in-person within congregations. I have yet to talk to anyone who has taken RPGM Explore who wasn’t significantly impacted by it in some way.

RP MISSIONS

If you don’t need to go on a short-term missions trip to become a better globally minded Christian, does going on a trip substantially increase your engagement beyond someone who just takes RPGM Explore? Again, this is tough to measure. But all of our long-term missionaries and cross-cultural laborers on our fields went on short-term trips prior to their long-term service. Many of those trips were RP Missions trips.

What about those who don’t go long term? Let’s ask them. I recently collected some thoughts from a few recent RP Missions trip alumni. Not everyone walked away from their trip sold on the idea of short-term missions—and, honestly, I think these varying views are healthy. But each of them testified that they are now more involved in missions in one form or another.

This comment from Lizzy, one of the 2022 Australia trip participants, stood out to me as it clearly delineates the initial effects of RPGM Explore and then how her RP Missions trip expanded and deepened those lessons:

“Even before I went to Australia, RPGM Explore completely changed the perspective from which I view God’s unfolding plan to redeem His people. I can now see much more clearly how God’s eternal purpose to gather a people from all tribes and languages permeates the entire Bible. But the RP Missions trip itself brought the idea home that ‘all believers around the world are my family’ as I saw this truth beautifully play out firsthand through getting to know the members of the RP Church of Australia.

“After taking the RPGM Explore course, I became the CMA for my congregation. I realized that I had already started doing the work of a missions mobilizer when I shared with my church family what I was learning in the class and encouraged everyone to sign up themselves. But, while I was in Australia, I found another opportunity to promote the unity of the global church when I was invited to be the RPCNA Midwest Presbytery representative for RP Global Alliance. I request articles and news posts about multi-church events in the presbytery to inform and encourage our brethren around the world.”

Another trip alum said that, in part due to RPGM Explore and her trip to Cyprus this past summer, she is very seriously pursuing long-term opportunities abroad.

Still others have started giving to RP Global Missions, become RPGM Explore cohort facilitators, agreed to be RP Missions trip team leads, and started leading prayer times for the global church. This is all from a survey of participants from just the past few years.

While we cannot necessarily present you with an easy formula, we can rejoice together that RP Missions and RPGM Explore are helping RP Global Missions to develop long-term goers, supporters, mobilizers, and prayers. They are also proving to be effective tools as we seek to encourage, empower, and lift up our brothers and sisters living and working abroad as well as equipping participants to be actively engaged in the work of their local churches at home. Thank you to the many of you who have supported these participants through financial gifts and prayer.

Please pray for RP Missions and RP Global Missions as we look to continue deepening the relationship between RP Missions and RP Global Missions. Stay tuned for some changes coming in the near future that will reflect this deepening relationship.

Meet Mikayla Covington

Assistant Coordinator of RP Global Missions

Tell us a bit about yourself, Mikayla. I grew up overseas as a missionary kid. I returned to the US to attend college (Geneva College, ’16; Duquesne University, ’18) and currently live in Grove City, Pa. I’m a member of Rose Point (New Castle, Pa.) RPC. Outside of RP Missions, I work with the pro-life movement by running an international chatline that helps women seeking at-home abortions to find pro-life pregnancy resources in their country. In my free time, I’m earning a PhD in rhetoric and enjoy knitting, sewing, and cycling.

You’re a pretty busy person. Why did you want to add working with RP Missions to your collection of things that you do? I wanted to be able to combine my love of connecting with other people and my heart for missions. When the opportunity came up to work with RP Missions, it was a perfect fit.

What’s your favorite part of your job? My favorite part is getting to see how excited other people can be about missions. It’s easy to feel lonely in this work, so it’s encouraging to connect with like-minded people.

If you had a superpower, what would you choose and why? I would want to be able to speak and understand every language in the world! I just finished the language requirement for my PhD coursework and would love to be able to understand everyone without hours and hours of studying.

How can the RP Witness readers pray for you? I love everything that I do—the pro-life work, the RP Missions work, the doctorate work—but it can be overwhelming sometimes and feel very heavy on my shoulders. I always appreciate prayer for stamina, but also for peace in the knowledge that God is sovereign over all of it.