Mission trips are also self-serving because they only treat symptoms of poverty without targeting the cause. This is usually because western nations are behind the cause.
Haiti, for example, has been hurt by the U. From the trade embargoes, to the military occupations, to the U. Targeting the cause could look like supporting Haitian businesses and lobbying politicians to stop exports to Haiti. All the money spent on sending missionaries could be given directly to people in the region.
Missions can be harmful in other ways. Renee Bach was a U. This led to the death of children in five years. She felt entitled to help these children because God supposedly called her to it, but she killed them in the process.
They use their image as godly, selfless people to get away with abusing those very children they claim to help, just like Bach did. John 15 says that without remaining with God, we can do nothing. You can know that trips that are on board with a godly purpose and are being led by the Holy Spirit are trips that will make a difference for the better.
That said, we are not the heroes, no matter how much good we do. Both leaders and participants must not be in it for their own purposes, but for the purposes of God. One thing that prayer especially does is protect participants from certain dangers, spiritual attacks, and even natural disasters. So, when prayer is not an essential part of trip planning, participants may suffer the consequences.
When I was in Guatemala, we went right after Mt. Fuego erupted, yet we were able to share the hope we had with shaken farmers because we had prayer partners back home praying for us and we ourselves had invested in hours of prayer. On the second trip, we arrived right before the coronavirus pandemic hit Rome, Italy, just in time to share the gospel openly before everyone was forced to spend over three months cooped up in their apartments alone.
I believe this timing was only accomplished because my leaders prayed about the timing of our trip. In this world, we will have tribulation, but Jesus has conquered the world. But, when we look at mission work in the Bible, especially the work of Jesus and even the apostle Paul, we can see that short and long-term missions are good and effective. In John , Jesus tells his disciples that he has to go through the land of Samaria. At this time, Jews usually traveled around Samaria because they hated them so much.
After this happened, the woman believed in Jesus and ran into her town, a place where she was likely to have a bad reputation. Despite this, she shared the good news Jesus had shared with her, and from her testimony, she told the whole community about how Jesus knew everything about her and asked if he could be the true Messiah. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
Many more believed because of what he said. This may not seem like a story of a mission trip, but it is the very definition of a mission trip. And it only took a few days. In Luke , it talks about how Jesus sent out 72 of his disciples and followers in pairs to the towns and villages he was about to go. They were sent to prepare the way for him and do miracles in his name.
Before they left, however, he said this:. This is why we obey God when we go on mission trips, we want to become the workers for his abundant harvest. When anyone is sent out into the mission field for any reason, it is because someone prayed to the Lord of the harvest for them, and in the same way, we are to pray for more workers to go. After this, Jesus gave the 72 a specific mission which included them traveling with nothing but the clothes on their backs, praying for peace over the houses and people they visited, and healing the sick.
Finally, they were to proclaim the kingdom of heaven. Jesus knew all that happened on this trip for the 72, and he goes on to tell them not to just rejoice because of the miracles that have happened, but because their names are written heaven. What a beautiful reminder. Our mission trips become effective and good not just because of miracles or our works, but because God has saved us and others, and written our names in the book of life. Yet, God still accomplished his plans. Jonah was still bitter about it, but how much more will God do in and through us when we follow his call to go wherever he leads us and obey him on mission trips as well in the rest of our lives?
From her side, Sally defended missionary work and sharing the Gospel as central tenets of her faith. I thought of that episode recently when I heard of the young American missionary, John Allen Chau, who was tragically killed by a protected tribe off the coast of India. When missionaries go to proselytize, especially in countries like Hindu-majority India, there is a fundamental clash of central religious tenets: Christians believe as Jesus said, that their way is the only way and that other ways result in languishing in hell, whereas Hindus believe that all religions, sincerely followed, lead to the same God.
It is undeniable that missionaries and Catholic nuns do some fine, selfless work in poor, undeveloped areas of the world. The problems though with missionary work lie in a the "White Savior" complex inherent in missionary work and b when cynics wonder sometimes about the underlying motives — to convert impoverished, vulnerable populations to Christianity.
But these same Hindu critics are often in denial of one reason their own impoverished religious compatriots switch religions: casteist discrimination and ill treatment by their co-religionists.
Religion, especially in the 21st century, is a dicey topic with all its historical implications.
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