The blessing of short-term teams

Short-term teams play a significant role in sharing hope with the least reached. It does not matter if the trip is short or if the ground is hard; every person in the Kingdom is useful. In the Greater Caucasus, God has repeatedly used short-term teams as groundbreakers to prepare the way for long-term Kingdom work.

Breaking ground

Luis* and Sara* live in the country of Georgia, part of the Greater Caucasus spotlight region. They were asked to receive a short-term team from their church sending network in Latin America. It was the first such trip for the denomination, and it was not a small team. More than 20 people signed up.

As Luis and Sara prepared for the visit, they thought about how to effectively use the team’s time and talents. Being relatively new to the region, they had not yet established pathways for short-term teams to serve. They knew that the coming team would be eager to serve and share the gospel — but would have limited language abilities and no context for serving among Muslims and Orthodox Christians. Luis and Sara worried that the team members would arrive and feel like they were not useful or like the trip had not been worth the expense and effort.

They spent months organising the programme, hotels and transportation. During that process, they met Omar,* who worked at one of the hotels and showed them extraordinary kindness. From his name and appearance, they could tell that he was from a least-reached Muslim community that they had been praying to connect with.

When the short-term team arrived and went to that hotel, Omar served them warmly. The team showed love and kindness as well. Even though there was a huge language barrier, they all made a special effort to communicate, and by the end, Omar had even learnt some Spanish words.

On the last night, Omar went to their worship time. Beforehand, Luis and Sara had been a little concerned about the worship times and wondered how this would impact Omar and others —expressive worship can sometimes seem odd to people from conservative communities. When Omar entered that worship space, he looked at everyone in wonder. He went to Sara and asked, “Is it OK if I record this?”

Sara felt in her spirit that it was OK, so she said, “Sure.”

Later, after the team had returned to Latin America, Sara wrote to Omar and asked, “What impression did our group leave?”

Omar wrote back, “I’ve never seen this before. There was a light in each of their eyes. It was a light of love that I’ve never seen before. This was a touching experience for me.”

Sara paused before responding. She wondered if this was the right time to explain. At the hotel, Omar had invited Luis and Sara to visit his family, which was a huge answer to prayer. He seemed like a person of peace who would be a bridge to his community. Yet sometimes, without a deep relationship, people in the Caucasus can become reactive after hearing the truth. Sara did not want this door of opportunity to be shut prematurely, but she realised that she needed to explain to Omar what he had seen.

In his mother tongue, she shared Matthew 5:16: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (ESV).

Omar responded positively, saying, “I’m surprised because what is written here is exactly what I saw in them.” He had been deeply touched by the light of Jesus in the team. By just being followers of Jesus, they carried God’s presence with them and pointed people to Jesus. Their witness further opened the door for Luis and Sara to enter this least-reached community and share the truth with Omar and his family.

Divine appointments

On another occasion, Luis and Sara were asked to receive a short-term REACH team. The team spoke only English and was prepared to share the good news with Muslims but not with Orthodox Christians. Luis and Sara felt that God was inviting them to do new things, things that they were not used to, and said yes to the group.

They welcomed the team and decided that their task would be prayer walking and sowing the Word of God. Each morning, they walked and prayed in an area of the city. Then in the afternoon, they returned to the same area and found opportunities, speaking in English, to share the Word of God.

During the outreach, Susan* on the REACH team, connected with a young Muslim student named Asma.* Even after Susan left the city, she stayed in contact with her through social media. But Susan wanted to connect Asma with Sara, as they lived in the same city. So, Susan wrote a letter to Asma, bought a gift for her and gave it to Sara, whom she saw a couple of weeks later in another city. Then she told Asma that her friend Sara would give her the gift.

But it was difficult to connect; one thing after another kept preventing the two from meeting.

About six months later, Luis and Sara felt led to pray at the university in their city. For an hour, they sat in the university coffee shop and prayed for the students, the place, opportunities and access. That same night, Asma finally wrote to Susan and asked for Sara’s contact information because she thought she would have time to meet the following day.

When Sara contacted Asma and asked where she would like to meet, Asma wrote back, “At the university coffee shop.” Luis and Sara were amazed that God had led them to that very spot to prepare the way. The next day, Sara returned to the university coffee shop and was amazed to see that Asma, along with five friends, was sitting at the exact table where she and Luis had prayed the day before.

That was the start of a friendship. Sara met with Asma a couple of times, and Asma introduced her to several of her friends. However, Sara struggled to move the conversation to deeper, spiritual things. Whenever Sara shared anything about faith in Jesus, Asma would put up a wall and say, “My religion is this.” She was not open to talking about spiritual matters. Realising this, Sara decided to take a little step back, but to keep praying and messaging her.

Months passed, and Sara did not hear anything. Then, suddenly, one day she received a message from Asma asking, “Are you available to drink coffee with me?” Sara was surprised. She agreed and met with her, and this time, Asma came alone. That meant that there was a change in trust in the friendship; Asma felt comfortable meeting Sara without other people.

Sara and Asma talked for two hours, getting to know each other better. They talked about life, culture and even religion. Sara shared her testimony of knowing and following Jesus. This time, Asma was open. She was not reactive or defensive about the differences between their beliefs.

During the conversation, Sara asked her, “What made you write to me now, after all this time? I was surprised to hear from you.”

Asma said, “You know what? One day, I was looking at my phone, and I was reminded of you. Something inside me said, ‘You need to write to her and drink a coffee with her.’ I felt that so strongly that I just did it.”

The accumulation of insistent prayer for Asma’s life and community to hear the good news overflowed the cup of God and produced an effect on earth. Sara and Asma left that day with plans to meet again. They have stayed in contact and continue to talk about spiritual things.

Praise God for short-term teams that surprise our faith and challenge our paradigms. Praise God for His invitation to pray and rely on Him to make divine connections and to move people’s hearts. He is always working. May the Lord bring more followers of Jesus — with the skill of simply being sons and daughters of God — to the Caucasus.

*name changed