Comments on: kris10 says mission trips are a crock

By: Raffy

Raffy — Mon, 10 Jun 2002 17:45:58 +0000

God*******t! Sorry for the profanity, Pau, but reading that ****** ****** post about missions and third world countries really got on my ***** nerves.

How old is she, five? She needs to read her Bible more before she can call herself a Christian.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 10 Jun 2002 13:04:49 +0000

I’ve gone past contemplating a missions trip to Mexico in December – I’m going. And it’s not because of the money – it’s because of the people.

When you have services in a church that’s made of cardboard and suddenly some American Christians want to come and bless you with an actual church made of wood and concrete, I’m all for it.

I know I haven’t been called to be a missionary in some far off country like the Philippines or China. I’ve got a field here at home that needs a willing missionary. But I think a missions trip to Mexico would put principles like faith and belief in the miraculous – principles we American Christians have taken for granted because we’re saturated with so much religion in the States – in a much sharper perspective.

By: dawn

dawn — Mon, 10 Jun 2002 12:30:57 +0000

While she went about her comments in a completely wrong and un-loving way, there may be some underlying truths about some missions. I think she may be confused between the Burnham’s mission to the Philippines which became their home after 16 years (I think that’s the number I heard today(?)), and the one-two week mission trips that are at least partially vacation oriented.

IMO, there is validity in wondering how much we help when we spend $700-900 to fly to Honduras (a personal example) to do manual labor – when that money could employ one of the 66% of the unemployed population in that country to do the same work.

On the other hand, monetary handouts don’t show that we really love the people we’re sending it to – it shows we don’t want to get our hands dirty.

I think as Christians from the Western/developed countries of the world we must be careful about how we spend our dollars and time when we go on missions trips, and we don’t always do that so well on short trips.

I don’t have experience with long-term missions, but would pray that resources would be used in an excellent manner befitting our Lord Jesus Christ.