Mentorship and Discipleship of OMF Short-Term Mission Volunteers as With-ness and Consociation

Abstract

Short-Term Mission (STM) is a reality that is intertwined and integrated into the fabric of world mission and Christian experience. Many discussions revolving around short-term mission have been descriptive and about best practices. This article moves beyond an appraisal of short-term mission as a phenomenon and instead looks at why and how OMF International, a long-term mission agency, aligned STM with long-term mission, vision and strategy by focusing on the mentorship and discipleship of its STM volunteers. It also looks at with-ness and consociation as a model for mentorship, and discipleship as a means of addressing the opportunities and challenges that STM presents to long-term mission agencies.