June 17, 2010 | Short Term Missions

Do We Need to Cease Going on Mission Trips?

Writing
in Sojourners, Troy Jackson declared that it’s time to declare a
moratorium on short-term mission trips. He makes the following points:

According to
Wycliffe Associates, approximately 1,600,000 Americans participate
in
mission trips each year. Assuming a cost of approximately $1,500 per
person for the average trip, American Christians are raising and
spending more than $2 billion each year on mission trips around the
world.
In some cases, the mission trips reinforce Western paternalism
while adding to dependency by indigenous peoples.
Far too many fail to
provide any lasting economic development for the destination nation.
Ironically, many of those who are so committed to investing
thousands
of dollars to bring the good news of Jesus to another part of the
world
are vigorously supporting a harsh crackdown on undocumented
immigrants
in the United States.

Given all this, Jackson has a proposal to make:

Declare a Mission Trip Moratorium. Still raise the $2 billion,
but invest that money in economic development and community development
projects led by the indigenous peoples themselves.

Interesting. As one who has written on some excesses with short
term missions (see: “Are
mission trips faddish?“), I agree with the notion that much of what
Americans do on their mission trips could be done better.

Point 2 is
one big reason why – paternalism is often a problem. And point 3 is true,
many mission trips do nothing economically for the country (many of
them are ministry-focused, so that’s not a goal of the trip, leaving one
to ask the question, “Is Jackson’s point that only those mission trips
that focus on economic development are viable?”.

Read the rest of the article by our executive director: Is It Time to Declare a Mission Trip Moratorium?