ARTICLE: Churches Retool Mission Trips, by Jacqueline L. Salmon, Washington Post, 05 July 2008

I am in no way trying to be critical of mission trips but I am glad that they are getting looked at seriously. I have long been concerned that these trips were more about the doing the work than the people the work was being done for. When I think of the money spent to high school students to another country and compare that to the work that is actually accomplished, I can’t help but think that money could be put to better use; perhaps it could be used to support a long-term missionary or two. Maybe the money could simply be donated and pay locals to do the work the youth had planned to do.

When we send youth we are essentially sending unskilled labor to a country to do unskilled labor jobs. The youth will learn a little about how to build a house or paint a church but, coming from mainly affluent families, they will return home, go to college, and get jobs where they will never be expected to build a house. Meanwhile, how many of these youth come from communities that have active Habitat for Humanity projects in need of work?

I freely admit that I am much more understanding of those who go to remote locations in third world countries. While their trips may not be the most effective method of delivering aid, I cannot question their dedication and sacrifice. I have no doubt their hearts are in the right place. But those who go to the Bahamas, New York, or Los Angeles really concern me. I hear of churches in Mississippi, yes, my home state, which send youth missionaries to New York City to work in a soup kitchen. Come on now. It is as if there is not work to be done in Mississippi that can be accomplished with local commutes. I simply have to assume the reason for these trips is because there is better shopping and more plays in New York than in the Mississippi Delta.

There are other lessons to be learned and taught. Sending the youth to some of these locations, especially the third world remote locations, certainly changes their outlook on the world and may yield an even greater impact later in the lives of these people. Work also gets done even if it is not always efficient.

Perhaps drawing attention to this will result in churches thinking more about what they do and how they do it. The most disturbing part of the article to me is that permanent missionaries are declining. Thinking about what could be accomplished with the money currently spent on these vacationaries may result in redirected mission funds.