Deck: In no way are either forms of service wrong, but there are certain times where one form fits best.
What is short-term service?
Some of the services trips that campus ministry and individual students go on are looking at the shorter-term aspect of the community. This is not a negative thing, because the work that all the staff and students do during those trips, make direct and fast change. Students traveled to Appalachia and New Orleans this past week, where they worked in the community to help put in flooring, plumbing, bathrooms, tiling, caulking and much more.
This allows for students to have opportunities and be a part of the direct service.
What is short-term service? Short-term service is similar to charities and is extremely important after a disaster or emergencies and can have a huge impact in helping the community. Charities such as volunteer work for a week here and there, can and does create change within communities, especially the ones that campus ministry took students to this past spring break.
According to Imva.org, “For many people short-term volunteering is best to begin with because they will have a chance to see if they are suited for this work,” and it also gives the individual a sense of dignity in what they are doing for the community.
What is long-term service?
Long-term service affords those in need with the help to become fully-functioning members of the world community. Whether this means to establish banking practices, schooling or means of individuals acquiring capital, frequently long-term service is not a one-and-done task. If short-term service is the initial response, it is the long-term service that is the systemic, ongoing response that answers to the needs of the people for years to come.
To students, being part of brief blips of long-term service efforts can often seem as if nothing is getting done, but that is hardly the case.
Being part of long-term service tackles the macro issues. Often the people participating in helping the cause and the communities living in these harsh conditions may never see the outcome of the work that has been put in during their lifetime.
Long-term service is vital to the survival of many communities and countries that fall below the poverty line. It is the possibility of justice for so many people around the world—on the margins of society.
