Hosts Yasmine Vaughan and Dr. Laura Horvath:
We’re happy to have with us today, Elli Oswald from Faith to Action, to talk about how they share with others best practices in short term missions. In particular, we are eager to have her talk about the importance of ethical missions in regard to safety and protection of children. Elli Oswald is the Executive Director of the Faith to Action Initiative, which seeks to elevate best practices in orphan care, specifically recognizing the importance of family in the life of every child. Prior to this role, she served the Missions Pastor at Bethany Community Church in Seattle. Elli also served on World Vision's Child Development and Rights Technical Team, specializing in community-based care for children deprived of parental care. Thanks for joining us, Elli!
Short term missions are a vital part of the work of organizations supporting missions in the majority world. When done right, short term missions enable people to travel somewhere and engage meaningfully in support of others that lifts and enriches both the missioner and the recipient. Additionally, to put it bluntly, short term missions are often a means to enable usually western partners to ‘tell the story’ to help raise funds to support the local missions on the ground. However, this can lead to all kinds of issues of concern, especially when those missions are focused on orphans and vulnerable children.
Helpful links!
When Helping Hurts in Short Term Missions
7 F2A practices
Changing the Way We Care: A Family Torn
Helpingchildrenworldwide.org