Every year schools and churches organize mission trips. Every family must decide whether to participate- or not. Any one mission trip may not be the right one for everyone as we all have to prayerfully consider our stewardship of God's gifts, time, finances and resources. Families often get a lot of pressure to send their child on a mission trip. I think this is wrong. I am not in any way condemning mission trips- I just think not all mission trips are created equal and every family's circumstances and considerations are different. I would never condemn someone for going on a particular mission trip or not going. I would, however, be critical of organizations and families who take the task of choosing a mission trip lightly. Organizations can easily spend $30,000 or more on a mission trip. That is a lot of resources. A lot of responsibility.
My children went to a Christian School. The founders of that school had a vision for a Senior mission trip that would be a culmination of the students' Christian education. For many years, those trips were to very impoverished areas in South America. The student's were able to experience a completely different culture, language and level of poverty they would not have been able to experience back home. They experienced God's provision and direction every year in too many ways to list. They served people who otherwise would not have received help and could not help themselves. They came back home broken hearted for the least and the lost.
Then, during one of my children's senior year, some kids and parents became uncomfortable with a mission trip out of the country and very hurriedly put together a mission trip to Alaska where they helped a middle class church with some maintenance projects like painting. It was a beautiful trip, the kids enjoyed it, but it didn't seem as purposeful. It didn't seem to change any hearts. In the five years since then, the annual trip has been to Hawaii to serve another middle class church (that owns a nearby golf course!) I have to wonder if that's the best use of over $30,000 in resources for a Christian organization. We opted not to send our children (they completely agreed with us) on these mission trips but received quite a bit of back lash from teachers and students. There was a whole lot of pressure on students and families to participate even though the cost was around $1500-$2000 each in a school with students from diverse economic backgrounds.
My hope is that Christian schools and organizations will become more intentional and purposeful in planning mission trips and that students and families will be allowed to prayerfully and thoughtfully consider whether their children should participate. I found the following considerations helpful in deciding whether our children should participate in school Mission trips.
Things to Consider when Deciding on a Christian Mission Trip
Not all mission trips are created equal. Some mission trips will have more value than others. We are all called to be good stewards of our gifts, money, resources and time. When considering a Christian mission trip it helps to consider the following questions:
VALUE FOR THOSE BEING SERVED
1. Are you serving a need that cannot be met by the people locally- due to a lack of manpower, finances, or other resources?
1. Are you serving a need that cannot be met by the people locally- due to a lack of manpower, finances, or other resources?
2. If you take the money you are spending on the trip (collectively as a group) and donate it to the local organizations you are serving could they accomplish more? Could they hire local workers to serve the need and create jobs for their own people? Would you actually be taking away jobs from local citizens that would be paid to to the work you are doing for free? Are you denying local people the chance to step up and help each other if they have the resources and time?
3. Are you serving a greater or lesser need? Great needs would include providing health care, creating shelter for the homeless, providing food, teaching sustainable skills so the people can help themselves, spreading the message of the Good News of the Kingdom of God to a people without hope and love while showing them they are loved by God? Helping a people who have no other options of help from their own communities or government?
Lesser needs (This is NOT to say they aren't worth doing, just as a gauge in determining the value of a mission trip for you or your organization): painting, landscaping, cleaning, serving an organization that has plenty of local manpower, finances and resources already
VALUE FOR THOSE SERVING
1. Will those serving experience a different culture? language? religion? level of poverty? oppression? than what they can experience locally?
2. Will their hearts be broken for people who are poor, homeless, hungry, oppressed, suffering, hopeless, forgotten?
3. To accomplish their goals will God need to provide something? ( strength, finances, courage, logisticss, safety, faith, etc.) If you can accomplish everything without the movement of God than the work MAY not be from God- or it may be- just one of many considerations.
4. Will they return with a greater appreciation for their blessings, a desire to serve those less fortunate, greater compassion
1. Will those serving experience a different culture? language? religion? level of poverty? oppression? than what they can experience locally?
2. Will their hearts be broken for people who are poor, homeless, hungry, oppressed, suffering, hopeless, forgotten?
3. To accomplish their goals will God need to provide something? ( strength, finances, courage, logisticss, safety, faith, etc.) If you can accomplish everything without the movement of God than the work MAY not be from God- or it may be- just one of many considerations.
4. Will they return with a greater appreciation for their blessings, a desire to serve those less fortunate, greater compassion
Of course we can and should ALWAYS be serving God every day wherever we are. But if you have the opportunity to choose from several mission trips I think it helps to determine your goals. If you are looking primarily at the place you want to go, the activities you want to do, your comfort level, as the primary consideration that is ok!- as long as you are honest about your primary goals. If your primary goal is to follow God where He wants you to go and serve people most in need than that's awesome! If your primary goal is the first, than your primary question is where do we want to go and secondly- how can we serve once we are there? If your primary goal is the latter than your primary question is who do we want to serve and the second question is where must we go to serve them?
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