Short Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence

Serving With Eyes Wide Open

Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence. 
David A. Livermore. Baker Books, P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287. 2006, 188 pages, $12.99.

Reviewed for EMQ by James E. Plueddemann, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, IL.

“The world is crawling with foreigners,” exclaimed a student in one of my cross-cultural communication classes. Cultural intelligence is often missing in the 4 million Americans who travel abroad each year to do short-term mission work. While there are several good resources to help short-term missionaries know how to apply for a passport and where to get yellow-fever shots, Serving with Eyes Wide Open is based on solid research and fills an important gap in the literature. It is a most readable book with many examples to help short-termers understand cultural pitfalls and gain cultural intelligence.

David Livermore begins with a succinct overview of the world and the global Church. It is important for short-term missionaries to realize that the Church outside of the United States is growing rapidly, often faces persecution, recognizes spiritual warfare and is becoming a major sending force. Such an overview may help overcome the “here I am you lucky people” complex.

The next section looks at the motivation for short-term missions. I am impressed with the balance in this section. From his own experience, Livermore points out the shallow motivation that drives many short-term missionaries. He gives sad but humorous examples of what pastors from the United States thought they were teaching and compares it to what the national pastors actually thought of the teaching. He describes misunderstandings between short-termers and host people in the use of time, the urgency of the task and oversimplification of complex situations. He is concerned that too often short-termers parachute into what they perceive as a backward culture, distribute goods and then retreat.

“Open your eyes!” is the continual challenge of this book. Readers will find practical steps for gaining cultural understanding in four areas. Short-term missionaries need to gain knowledge of basic cultural differences. Then using this knowledge they can interpret cues about what is really going on in the other culture. Livermore encourages perseverance as short-termers deal with confusing situations, and gives practical advice on how to behave while applying the above three principles in another culture.

Livermore concludes with a powerful chapter on “The Heart of the Matter,” doing missions out of a genuine love for people and for God. If short-term missionaries can love the people to whom they minister they will treat them with dignity and respect. If they serve because of their love for the Lord, they will avoid a self-serving motivation and focus on genuine service.

Finally I have an accessible book on short-term missions that I can use as a textbook and also give to our youth director as she prepares a group from our church to spend two weeks in Brazil. The book is grounded in research by respected theorists such as Geert Hofstede, Robert Levine, Edward T. Hall and Robert Kohls, yet the book is written for the layperson with compelling examples and insights from practical experience. Many books on short-term missions are either descriptions of the “nuts and bolts” of how to lead a team, or are naïf propaganda extolling the virtues of the so called “next paradigm in world missions.” Serving with Eyes Wide Open is written with a perceptive understanding of the dangers and problems of short-term missions. It also gives a sense of hope by encouraging godly motivation and cultural intelligence.

Other valuable resources for short-term missions:

David Mays of ACMC has put together a valuable CD called, Trip Stuff: Stuff You Need To Know About Doing Mission Trips In Your Church. (April 2006) Contact him at http://www.davidmays.org/.
Elmer, Duane. 2006. Cross-Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility. IVP Books.
Judge, Cindy, 2000. Before You Pack Your Bag, Prepare Your Heart: 12 Bible Studies for Short-Term Mission Preparation. Wheaton: Campfire Resources.