The Mission Trip Myth? — Short-Term Missions and Long-Term Commitment

Executive summary

Short-term mission trips are among the most popular youth engagement activities in Adventism and broader Christianity, with an estimated 1.6 million US church members participating annually. The assumption that these experiences create lasting spiritual transformation and long-term church commitment is deeply embedded in church culture. However, the empirical evidence tells a more sobering story: quantitative studies consistently find no statistically significant increase in long-term religiosit...