Andrew Jones had a post the other day on “Are Short Term Missions a Waste of Money?.” Andrew has 10 very good responses, which stem from the article in the Washington Post called “Churches Retool Mission Trips.”
Here are some thought provoking and interesting statements from the article:
Critics scornfully call such trips “religious tourism” undertaken by “vacationaries.” Some blunders include a wall built on the children’s soccer field at an orphanage in Brazil that had to be torn down after the visitors left. In Mexico, a church was painted six times during one summer by six different groups. In Ecuador, a church was built but never used because the community said it was not needed.
The curriculum, for example, warns missionaries to think about their attire in conservative countries and what kind of message they’re sending when they bring expensive cameras and other electronics to poverty-stricken villages.
Despite the concerns with trips abroad, their popularity is soaring. Some groups go as far away as China, Thailand and Russia. From a few hundred in the 1960s, the trips have proliferated in recent years. A Princeton University study found that 1.6 million people took short-term mission trips — an average of eight days — in 2005. Estimates of the money spent on these trips is upward of $2.4 billion a year. Vacation destinations are especially popular: Recent research has found that the Bahamas receives one short-term missionary for every 15 residents.
I’ve been on and led about 12-14 short-term missions trips over the last 10 years or so and I have always been an advocate of them. They have always been very transformative experiences for me and the team that I’m with, but I think the article raises some great points, which I and others have been thinking about for a long time.
Are short-term missions good stewardship?
Are they beneficial to the hosting communities?
Are short-term trips more Christian tourism than anything?
What do you think:
Have you been on a short-term mission trip?
Where did you go?
What did you do?
Was it effective?
Was it good stewardship?
In the next day or so I want to talk about one alternative to the “go to a foreign country to build a house” approach to missions. But if you are curious about this topic you can go to Christianity Today where they ran a series “Are Short-Term Missions Good Stewardship?“
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
i’ve been on a few trips to mexico that involved construction and/or vaction bible school type stuff. they always served to open the eyes and hearts of the people on the trip, but they weren’t always the best use of resources. the more focused they were though, the better they were for the intended recipients.
i have had friends and family go on trips all over the world and have seen the whole gamut of results. trips that have concrete goals seem to be the most effective. i’ve had friends and relatives lead multiple trips to mississippi since hurricane katrina and they’ve been able to do a lot of good. a civil engineer friend of mine went on a trip to build a hospital in haiti that had definite results.
trips that have nebulous aims or methods, however, seem to me to be a waste of money. hundreds of people from my church have gone to rwanda in the past few years and most of the people i’ve talked to come back unclear on what they’ve actually done there. they spent a few weeks talking about the great things that could be done when the thousands of dollars they spent would have been better used by long-term missionaries or (even better) local churches to affect long-lasting, focused change in needy areas.
it’s not that short-term missions trips are bad. it often just seems to be a case of the desire to help out overwhelming the thought process of determining how best to utilize resources which seems to be a common issue in almost any church over almost any topic. sometimes the problem is even worse as i’ve seen people who went to africa seemingly so that their testimony would have a bit more cachet. it’s as if some people think that the only missions work that counts occurs by spending a lot of money to take pictures with foreign babies.
Wow…really interesting question, and basic premise by Andrew Jones.
I totally get what he’s saying, and the Bahama figure highlights what’s wrong with the mentality/heart of some that may serve in short term mission trips.
However, I guess I would shy away from discouraging them as a focus for Churches, because I feel that God certainly uses them to work in people’s lives, redeem their motives, faith, perspective, etc.
Even if it’s just a reference point in someone’s life, hopefully the vast contrast in standard of living, freedom, liberty, diet (obesity), and wealth leaves an indelible impact on the vacationary.
Tough question for me really. If we weren’t spending all of those resources on STM’s, where else and how else could they be used in the Kingdom? Presumably a number of other uses would be more effective.
For example, what if the past STM budget/expenditures and pledges at Bel Air Pres had ALL been dedicated to ending homelessness in Los Angeles? Would that not be a stronger more tangible statement of the committment to “make LA the greatest city for Christ”?
However, what about how God decides to sovereignly act in the lives of those on STM’s? Since in fact, all of the world’s resources are God’s, and we’re just stewards, could he not decide to take us across the globe, for us to minister to someone in our own group?
How is the great commission fulfilled? We’re all appointed, right? So obviously not all of us can be long-term missionaries…but what if in the great commission, God intends for us to Evangelize in our OWN downtown vs. that of Calcutta? But if we don’t have a global connectedness to the universal Church body, won’t we lose our perspective as wealthy, US believers? Risk becoming Fundamentalist retreaters? Well, I guess that has already happened to an extent here in the Bible belt…
I don’t know Rhett. REALLY interesting question, though…
Thanks so much for posting!
Jared
ps, I went to Bihar, India. It rocked my world. It was so poor, it made parts of Iraq or the old East Germany look like Santa Barbara. THe people worshiped with such zeal and passion, it rocked and shaped my faith and worship forever. It was amazing in all respects. I linked to my post-trip blog in my trackback…
Kyle and Jared:
Great thoughts! I love what you have to say.
I think we all agree that Short-Term Missions are great…but they have to have an objective, rather than just sending people on tourist trips, etc.
Also, we have all been impacted by our experiences on short term mission trips, which have been impetus’ for transformation in our lives. So they make an impact, but we have to ask ourselves the right questions before we go.
Also, as you mention…what if we used that money that costs to fly all around the world, and used it in the communities around us…there are huge needs? If everyone took care of those around them, then we probably wouldn’t need short term missions…per se.
I think going abroad really opens our eyes in amazing ways, so we can’t discount that. But maybe that’s different than raising money for a mission trip. Maybe that’s just a tourist, or service trip and not a short term mission trip.
I will blog more on this stuff in a day or two.
rhett
A Christian “tourist” trip changed my faith life in a profound way.
Many “nebulous” trips that I’ve gone on to the same commnity in Mexico had nothing but relationships as the goal.
Let’s not build churches where they are not needed and let’s not go with no purpose. But how can we balance the spiritual benefits of just standingin worship wih some folks 3000 miles from where you live with the capitalist instinct to get a return on our investment. My investment has mostly been my time and my airfare money and the return has been the body of Christ as I experience it and my Mexican friends experience it that has stretched way over a border that used to be the boundary of the body of Christ for both of us.
Chuck:
Glad you commented. I have been to Zacatapec which I believe is close to your heart.
I too was transformed by a trip to Mexico when I was a Soph. in college. And the key as you point out is relationships. I went down with Spectrum Ministries which is based out of San Diego. We didn’t build anything…but one amazing thing he had us do (my brother and I) was wash the bare feet of all the boys living in the Tijuana dump…we did that before they bathed them…but I also know that the leader had us do it for more than that reason….but to also teach us a lesson about service and humility.
That trip led to other trips…I led three to Zacatapec, a Habitat for Humanity trip to Northern Ireland, India, etc, etc. And relationships were definitely the best thing about the trip.
One thing that I’ve learned is that Americans go down, wanting to accomplish something. They need that “capitalist instint” fulfilled. But one thing I have been learning and that Enock (our missions pastor) was teaching us, was about the importance of 1) relationships; 2) that we were being transformed as much by being there, than often the community we went to.
WE can never downplay the fact how people’s live our changed by a Christian “tourist” trip. And I think we all agree. Let’s not plant churches where we don’t need them. Let’s not build a house, or paint a wall that doesn’t need it. But let’s be strategic, but let’s also focus on relationships.
When we were down in Brazil a year ago in March I remember helping these guys paint the side of this house. But I never got the sense that that that’s what really needed to be done…but rather, the community felt like they needed to give us something tangible to do. So instead, I asked the community leader if the guys I was working with could just play soccer with the boys in the village…cause that’s what everyone really wanted to do. And that was great. Everyone loved it and some great relationships were really built, and sustained.
I think because people focused on relationships, that’s the reason that 4 of the 20 college students on that trip, went back a year later to live there for 4-6 months. They truly were transformed, and wanted to go work with the community. That has really strengthened our relationships between the churches and people. And we are able to stand together, even though we are thousands of miles apart.
I’ve also learned that part of going is about receiving and not giving. We are often not in the right place spiritually, or our hearts aren’t right to receive…we often just give. There is something very important about having a heart, available to receive the hospitality of others.
rhett
Maybe a question can be:
What does the community need (there), and not what we need, or want to do as missionaries?
Rhett: I think your last comment is an excellent point. A complaint I have heard from a foreign pastor is just that: Americans come and want to do what they want to do, not necessarily what is needed. He attributed it to an unwillingness of missionaries to put themselves under the authority of the local church as far as being there to meet local needs. With a true servant’s heart, one should be willing to put oneself in a position to listen to those who understand the local issues the best. I have been on a recent trip with a team that had that type of attitude and we accomplished what the local pastor team needed. That is the type of service and witness to your Christian faith you want to leave behind.
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