Why All The Bother?
A friend once said to me, “I’m sure the travel agencies and airlines love all these mission trips. You go there, they come here, people flying all over the world. Why don’t you work here, and the people who live there work there? The same things would get done, and it wouldn’t cost anything!”
The attitude expressed in that statement is probably far more prevalent than we realize. After all, aren’t there Christians in other lands? Don’t they know the needs of their own people? They know the language and the culture. They won’t need hotels or a bus. The food and water won’t make them sick. And they will be there far longer than the 7 or 10 days we can devote to a particular project. So why all the travel? Why do there what we often don’t do here?
These questions, of course, are valid. They get right to the core issues in short-term missions. If we can counter that attitude in a meaningful way, perhaps the costs are justified. If we cannot, perhaps we should stay home!
Let me suggest several things that happen when we travel to different cultures to engage in missions:
- We are taken out of our comfort zone and away from our support structure, and find ourselves more vulnerable and hence more dependent on God
- We are removed from our past failures and reputation, and become more open to attempting new and daring things for God
- We find ourselves in the minority—at least culturally and linguistically—and develop a respect, appreciation, and tolerance for others that often opens new opportunities to minister
- The costs—money, time, and effort—mean we have invested in tangible ways, making us more determined to be effective and more focused on bringing lasting change
- The limited focus—short time, specific area—make our project seem doable, whereas “living a Christian life” is often undirected and seems too general.
- In the target area, we gain the attention of the community in a way the locals usually cannot; we are a novelty or sensation that brings opportunities to minister
- We bring new methods and ideas, creating yet other new opportunities to ministry
- We often bring money and resources unavailable to the locals
- We demonstrate to other churches and communities that we care enough to pay the costs to come
Missions is a wonderful demonstration of synergy, in which the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. When we combine our simple efforts with the efforts of receiving churches with a view to impact a community, God blesses the effort with His presence and grace. To experience that unique mix of my effort, their effort, and His energy—especially in the context of cross-cultural missions—is worth much more than the cost of a motel room or airline ticket.