Week 8: Chapter 7 — Working Abroad: Short-Term Missions and Microenterprise Development

1.The authors cite research suggesting that many short-term mission trips primarily benefit the participants rather than the communities they visit — and in some cases actually harm local economies and undermine local leadership. How do you respond to this finding? Does it match your own experience of or observations about short-term trips?

2.Corbett and Fikkert describe the way that Western short-term teams sometimes complete projects (building walls, painting schools) that local workers could have done — thereby depriving local people of income and the dignity of meaningful work. What would a truly 'asset-based' short-term trip look like instead?

3.The chapter introduces microenterprise development (MED) — small loans and business training that help poor entrepreneurs build sustainable livelihoods — as a more development-oriented approach than direct handouts. What makes MED consistent with the book's theological framework? What are its limitations?