Giving Time, Not Money: Long-term Impacts of Short-term Mission Trips

Abstract

This article expands current knowledge of the impact that brief but intense religious experiences can have on routine behavior by examining the long-term effects of shortterm mission travel on both volunteering and charitable giving. Existing literature addresses only the first few years after travel. Using data from the 2005 Religion and Global Issues Survey, I examine how participation in a domestic or international religious mission trip in high school influences adults' volunteering and giving behavior. I also consider alternate explanations that may account for the relationship between high school mission-trip participation and current giving or volunteering, including demographic factors, religious beliefs and practices, and other forms of civic engagement. I find adolescent participation in a domestic short-term mission trip has a significant, positive influence on the likelihood of volunteering for either a local or an internationally focused organization as an adult. In contrast, adolescent participation in a domestic mission trip has a significant dampening effect on charitable giving to secular organizations. I find no significant associations between international high school trips and adult volunteering and giving when additional factors are taken into account. I discuss the implications of these results for the ways church leaders and scholars think about the mechanisms through which brief, transformative religious experiences influence beliefs and behavior over the course of a lifetime.

What Religion Affords Grassroots NGOs: Frames, Networks, Modes of Action

“…The literature on short‐term missions (Probasco ; ver Beek ; Wuthnow ) has questioned whether short‐term volunteers’ contributions to aid efforts are worth the expense. After all, would it not be more efficient to contribute volunteers’ travel costs toward actual project expenses?…”

The Gift Economy of Direct Transnational Civic Action: How Reciprocity and Inequality Are Managed in Religious “Partnerships”

“…Second, and on the other hand, research has noted the civic and spiritual outcomes due to STM travel (Beyerlein, Adler, and Trinitapoli ; Probasco ; Trinitapoli and Vaisey ). As our delineation of the gift exchange cycle made clear, STM travel involves a great deal of coordination and practical action framed by a repertoire of shared purpose.…”

Contributions, challenges, and emerging patterns of short-term missions

“…Most of the research that seeks to measure the impact of STM upon the traveler, however, focuses on examining how STM affects the beliefs, practices, spiritual growth, and civic engagement of the participant (Beyerlein et al, 2011; Friesen, 2005; Park, 2008; Peterson and Peterson, 1991; Priest et al, 2006; Priest and Priest, 2008; Probasco, 2013; Trinitapoli and Vaisey, 2009; Tuttle, 2000; Ver Beek, 2006, 2008). Some quantitative research studies with reliable and valid instrumentation have found positive and lasting outcomes for participants.…”

“…Probasco (2013) also explored how STM influences the behavior of adolescents in relation to volunteering and charitable giving. Probasco’s research extends previous studies by examining whether positive effects carry over into adulthood or fade over time, thus providing the first long-term look at the effect of a high school mission trip on volunteering and charitable giving as an adult.…”