Can we honestly speak about short-term mission “partnerships” if one partner is always the giver, and the other always a receiver? What makes a sending church assume they know what is best for the people they want to serve—even when their well-meaning efforts sometimes cause more harm than good? What is it that makes those on the receiving end of foreign teams and resources so afraid to speak up, when they know better than anyone what their communities really need?
Forrest talks with Emmanuel Karegyesa, a Pastor with the Anglican Church of Rwanda, and a community development practitioner with HOPE International in the East and Central Africa Region. Emmanuel is also a writer for the book Re-Imagining Short-Term Missions; in his chapter called “Working Side by Side: A Better Way Forward in Short-Term Missions”, he and his co-author Tom Rakabopa insist that there is great potential for short-term missions--but only if sending churches learn how to truly listen to their hosts—who are the experts on their own cultural contexts—and only if those on the receiving end find the courage to speak up and speak into the lives of their short-term guests.
Emmanuel Karegyesa
Anglican Church of Rwanda
Hope International
Tom Rakabopa
Most of the folks you’ll hear on this podcast are also contributors to a new book called Re-Imagining Short-Term Missions. So if you like what you hear, and want to learn more about what these folks have to say, the book will be a great resource for you.
Website: https://reimaginingstm.com
Publisher's book page: https://wipfandstock.com/9781666712919/re-imagining-short-term-missions
Email: reimaginingstm@gmail.com
Instagram: @reimaginingstm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078703976617