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Occasional Missionaries; Accidental Tourists

...Several years ago, one of my closest friends went to England with his family to hand out the Jesus Video to Muslims. It's his story, not mine, so I won't tell it. It was, in short, a bad experience. From top to bottom. I could tell that a real interest and enthusiasm had been drowned in the realities of a flawed project designed to involve Americans in missions. I doubt that my friend would ever undertake this again.

But then, in all honesty, was taking videos to England, at the cost of thousands of dollars, really the best way for my friend to support missions to Muslims in England or elsewhere? Was taking his family to England the best way for him to be excited and involved? I believe that supporting existing work with the funding he devoted to the trip, financing more translations of the Jesus movie, being involved in spreading the word about this ministry to millions would be more appropriate. I believe that, in hindsight, he would probably agree.

Our current mindset, however, is that the "mission trip experience" should be for my friend and his family. They will get such a blessing. He will get so much out of it. And he did, but not what I believe he expected or intended. I believe such experiences could easily be multiplied, and it would be increasingly obvious that the cause of missions is not served very well by large numbers of short term mission trips often primarily justified by their effects on the missionary and the sending church. The cause would be significantly furthered by a higher level of missions awareness, more targeted support, linking up resources with needs, and a greater understanding of how to encourage and rejoice in church planting and church growth movements around the world.

I believe missions is a key part of a Christian's discipleship in this world, especially for American Christians living in such a blessed land and time. Short term trips can be part of that discipleship, but perhaps there are many ways to follow Christ around the world without taking money that could build churches and support local pastors and sending it to the airlines.