Category Archives: Missions

Missions: The Mission Trip Myth

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“We went on a mission trip to Mexico.”
Translation: We did some Christian service projects in Mexico.
“I’ve done missions every summer in China.”
Translation: I’ve traveled to China every summer and done good things there.
Folks, 99% of what today is called a mission trip “ain’t even” a mission trip. They are good works, wonderful service projects, exciting moments of faith building… but they aren’t missions. Most should be called “service trips.”
So what? What does it matter what we call them? Well, the fact is, the money that U.S. Christians give to missions is shrinking at an incredible pace, and one of the major culprits is the “mission trip.” For one thing, funds that were once spent on foreign missions are now spent on youth trips. In addition, these “mission trips” convince our people that money sent to orphans homes, money sent to Habitat for Humanity or money sent to the Red Cross is “missions” money.
We need to get back in the business of providing the funds that church planters around the world need. If we want our children to have a faith building experience building houses, there are homes in our community that need building. If we want to do service projects, they are all around us. If we want our kids to experience other cultures, let’s say that and give them the opportunity to travel. But let’s not steal from missions to do those things.
The congregation I attend once gave 50% of its budget to missions, but that was a LONG time ago. The same sort of thing can be said for so many of our churches. What can be done to restore missions to a place of prominence in our congregations?

Missions: A working definition

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missions (noun) Efforts done by the church to establish new congregations, especially in other cultures, but particularly in areas where no congregations exist.
Well, after a few days at the Harding lectures, I’m ready to write again. I’m sure you’re relieved.
I want to share a few ideas about missions. Since I don’t like long posts, I’ll break them up into several posts over the next few days. (We’ll see what the definition of “few” is)
When I talk about missions, I have something specific in mind. Last year at our church, one of our elders, a Bible professor at ACU, said something like, “Since benevolence is a mission of the church, we should include that in our missions budget.” Ouch! As Syndrome from “The Incredibles” would say “When everything is missions, nothing is.”
Admittedly, it’s a contrived term. But we need something to refer to church planting in other cultures, and by convention we’ve chosen the word missions. Many activities can go into that goal, but “missionary activity” is about starting new churches.
As I’ve noted before, our brotherhood has become a bit embarrassed by that. We’d rather build houses, feed the poor, start schools… do the things that our non-Christian neighbors will also laud and applaud. But there has to be a place, a prominent place, in the work of the church for the effort of establishing churches where there presently are none.
That’s a start. I’d like to hear your thoughts on what missions are, what role they have in the life of the church, and whether or not they have a place in the twenty-first century church.

Helping Our Heroes

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The congregation where I attend is having a special offering this Sunday for something called “Helping Our Heroes.” If you’re familiar with this, then you know it’s all about getting a list of missionaries around the world and sending them care packages, letting them know that we love and support them, letting them know we appreciate their sacrifice and what it means to our kingdom.
Yeah, right. No, that’s not what our congregation is talking about, nor is it what most Christians think of when they think of “our heroes.” This outpouring of love and support is for those serving in the American military.
Wouldn’t it be neat if there were something in the Bible that said: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”?
I respect what those in the military have chosen to do, even if I don’t agree with how they’ve chosen to live out their Christianity. I respect those that want to show them a gesture of love. But the day that the church makes those people our heroes is the day we’ve lost sight of who we are and what we are about.

A both/and mission trip

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Something happened to missions in the church. I don’t know if it’s a symptom or a cause (probably both), but you see it in our mission trips. When we returned from Argentina, I was soon invited to go on a mission trip to Mexico. It wasn’t until it was almost time to go that I realized that the whole trip was going to be about building houses. That’s all the kids would do. Very limited interaction with the local members. Almost no interaction with outsiders. No sharing their faith verbally (I’m trying to choose my words carefully).

We have a generation, or seemingly several generations, that gives little importance to verbal proclamation of the gospel. Yes, we preach with our actions. I know the phrase “I’d rather see a sermon than hear one.” But honestly, people need both. Samuel Shoemaker, instrumental in the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous, wrote: “A good life can testify to the belief in some kind of Higher Power… I do not know any mere example that can quite tell people that we believe God spoke in Christ to all men forever, or that Christ is His incarnate Son, or that the cross saves you and me from sin, or that the Resurrection is the crowning article of faith for us Christians.” (Extraordinary Living for Ordinary Men, p. 71) We live out the gospel, but it takes our words to explain it.

I work for Herald of Truth, a non-profit that does mass media ministry around the world. A few years ago, the leaders of our group toyed with the idea of becoming a relief organization. Why? Because it’s easy to raise money for relief. Show people a picture of a hungry child, and they’ll give you money. Talk about wanting to take that child’s family the message that will transform them and their people forever, and people yawn. After the tsunami in 2005, money poured in to help that area. A missionary to that area sighed and said, “Why can’t we even raise a fraction of that for Bibles?”

When we tell our kids that they are going to do missions, then the only tool we train them to use is a hammer, we are affecting their idea of evangelism for the rest of their life. Why not create opportunities for our kids to share their faith through their actions and their words? Must it be either or?

In college, I went on a 5-day mission trip to Hartford, Connecticut. We worked in a soup kitchen. Volunteered with retarded kids. But we also canvassed a neighborhood, inviting people to a seminar at the newly planted church in that area. It can be done.

Let’s recapture missions in the church. Let’s teach our people about evangelism. Let’s turn our mission trips back into mission trips.