Questions to Ask Before Posting/ Sharing a Missions Story

Looking to share a story from your short-term mission trip, or long-term mission work? Here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself before posting or speaking.

• Whom do I help by telling this story? (Is the purpose of this story or photo to make me look good, or does it benefit others?)

• Whose perspective is highlighted? (Am I the center of the story, or is someone else’s perspective highlighted?)

• Am I correcting stereotypes and myths or contributing to them?

• Should I be telling this story or should someone else? (Can the person featured in the story tell their own story?)

• Am I reducing people to their problems, or am I offering sufficient context?
  
  
• Am I victimizing or empowering?
  
  
• If this story were being written/ told about me, what would I want it to say? Would I want this picture shared?
  
  
• Would I be comfortable telling this story or sharing this photo if the subject of the story or photo was in the room?

• Am I painting myself as a hero/ savior/ rescuer, or am I focusing on the resiliency/ hard work/ gifts of others?

• People and their experiences are multidimensional. Am I striving to cover both despair and joy, lack and abundance, difficulty and graces? Am I telling stories that highlight the strengths of a community? Am I placing the humanity and leadership of affected communities at the center?
  
  Note: I used the following sources to help me create this list: consciousstyleguide.com, rvcseattle.org, dcfpi.org, gettingattention.org, and nonprofitquarterly.org.

To learn more, I highly recommend checking out this guide.