Missional pilgrimage: A new framework for short-term mission

Abstract

Pilgrimage and short-term mission have both seen a rise in popularity in recent years. Despite its popularity, the goals and expectations associated with short-term mission are often in conflict with the lived experiences of participants who both go on, and receive those doing short-term mission. The liminality and communitas described by participants in short-term mission reflect similar processes found in the practice of pilgrimage. In this article we show the multiple similarities between pilgrimage and short-term mission and suggest a new framework of “missional pilgrimage” as a way of bringing together these lived experiences with the aims of short-term mission. In doing this we do not reduce those who receive short-term mission participants to the “holy center” but rather consider them as fellow pilgrims who journey alongside those being sent in participating in the missio Dei, the mission of God in a wider sense.