The Effect of Religious Short-Term Mission Trips on Youth Civic Engagement

Abstract

Religious short-term mission trips are an increasingly popular form of American religious practice, especially among young people. Both organizers and participants often emphasize their transformative nature. However, scholarly efforts to evaluate systematically the social consequences of religious short-term mission trips are lacking. To address this neglect, our article investigates whether going on a religious short-term mission trip significantly differentiates youth who engage in civic actions from those who do not. Based on quantitative analysis of Wave I of the National Survey of Youth Religion (NSYR), we find that, controlling for other important factors, taking a mission trip significantly increases the likelihood of adolescents participating in various forms of civic activity, particularly religious-based volunteer work. Drawing on prior scholarship on religious shortterm mission and similarly focused trips and in-depth interview data from trip participants, we outline several theoretical mechanisms that likely explain the link between taking a mission trip and civic engagement.

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.…”

“…It offered an affordable way for existing organizations to engage foreign populations (Howell ), particularly through a focus on local, social projects (Hefferan ). STM trips can provide localized relief, strengthen foreign organizations’ social programs, organize transnational elite religious networks, and affect U.S. travelers’ domestic civic and religious behaviors after travel is over (Bakker ; Beyerlein, Adler, and Trinitapoli ; DeTemple ; Hefferan ; Howell ; Offutt , ; Priest et al. ; Trinitapoli and Vaisey ; Wuthnow ).…”

“…International STM travel refers to trips of short duration usually organized by religious organizations in the Global North to geographically distant locations in the Global South. STM trips can include volunteer service work, material donations, awareness raising, religious promotion, and/or pursuit of spiritual growth (Beyerlein, Adler, and Trinitapoli ; Howell and Dorr ; Priest et al. ; Trinitapoli and Vaisey ).…”

“…Our research helps to fill in that gap by following advice to “consider civil society formations that…[exist] at multiple levels of engagement” (Bush :1659). The STM travel flow is such a formation, with large potential impact on foreign communities as well as the attitudes and activities of religious American participants (Beyerlein, Adler, and Trinitapoli ; Wuthnow and Lewis ). Our research here shows how multiple aspects of religion, including discursive resources, shared identity, organizational resources, and emergent meaning‐making contribute to producing this transnational civic activity (Schnable ).…”

Göçmen/Müslüman Gençli̇k Ki̇mli̇ği̇ Üzeri̇ne Sosyal Bi̇li̇msel Söylemler

“…In addition to sexual identity, professional identity, national/ethnic identity, and political/ideological identity, religious identity is one of the deepest influences in this diversity. Moreover, significant positive relationships are seen between religious identity and some important life experiences of young people such as volunteering (Van Tienen et al, 2011;Lim & MacGregor, 2012;Lam, 2002), civil society (Wuthnow, R. 2004, Hart & Dekker, 2013, active citizenship (Beyerlein & Adler, 2011) and development (King & Furrow, 2004).…”