Pet Peeve about "Mission Trips"

[Ralar]

A horse, a ugly dress and now an accordion. God sure does pick odd thing to give as gifts...

I wonder if s/he has any motorcoaches to gift.

[becky4201]

Our church participates in a Backyard Mission Trip along with 24 other local churches. We partner with the city's government & for one day do local projects; spreading mulch in the parks, clearing out brush from vacant lots, tearing down flood-damaged buildings, as well as small home repair projects that the homeowners actually request help with. We completed 100+ projects this spring. Over 1000 volunteers participated.

[treehugger]

I don't think short-term mission trips do any good really, as far as actually helping the people they think they are "ministering" to. Does it perhaps provide an eye-opening experience for the volunteers? Absolutely.

I think longer term missions that have the end goal being where the local people are self-suffient is a much better way of helping. To reference the hospital my dad started:

The hospital was founded in a very remote location. Twenty years ago, it was the closest hospital around for an almost 8 hour drive (on very treacherous roads) - obviously, transportation and roads have improved greatly in Guatemala over the past twenty years. But at the time, most people in the rural mountain areas died from lack of healthcare. My dad was not a doctor - but he had a degree in business and management. Only Guatemalan doctors and nurses were hired, but because the hospital was so far out in the middle of nowhere, the turnover rate was high. Dad started a nurses training program - so local girls were able to become nurses, and the hospital funded training for several local pharmacists and lab technicians. Doctors were almost impossible to keep, but at the very end, Dad finally found a doctor who was willing to take a huge pay cut and commit to staying in the area and running the hospital. My parents left shortly after. The hospital is now self-sufficient and completely staffed by local personnel. I believe there are still surgeons and dentists who come from North America to do surgery and stuff like that - but I know for a fact that there are many non-Christian doctors who come to volunteer their time, so it is not a ploy to suck poor people into religion.

I hate that most missions end up demeaning and dehumanizing the people they set out to "serve" - and I hate that most of the time, it just ends up being the white guy who has to stay for forever because the focus of the mission is to proselytize and creates a culture of dependancy. That is not helping, it is hindering progress.

[HereticHick]

OddMountain, I'm totally with you. I'm from a small town in the NC Smokies, and the phrase "mission trip to Appalachia" always makes me cringe.

I used to joke when I heard someone say that and say something like "Great, are you going to my paint my parent's house?" but honestly, it always makes me feel uncomfortable & vaguely insulted.

And you know those "Hope for the Hopeless" tshirts that the SOS Ministries folks wear? (that is the group the Duggars go to Central America with). Can you imagine how mortifying it would be to spot "missionaries" appearing in your town wearing those shirts?

[Ralar]

OddMountain, I'm totally with you. I'm from a small town in the NC Smokies, and the phrase "mission trip to Appalachia" always makes me cringe.

I used to joke when I heard someone say that and say something like "Great, are you going to my paint my parent's house?" but honestly, it always makes me feel uncomfortable & vaguely insulted.

And you know those "Hope for the Hopeless" tshirts that the SOS Ministries folks wear? (that is the group the Duggars go to Central America with). Can you imagine how mortifying it would be to spot "missionaries" appearing in your town wearing those shirts?

Missions in/to Appalachia:

http://www.ccxwv.org/

https://www.facebook.com/communitycrossing

Much of the staff appears to be young fundy-lite couples moving towards the right.

[Gerialc]

talbot.edu/degrees/master-of-divinity/m_div-messianic/

Ugh, I was not aware that Biola offered a Masters in Messianic Jewish Studies. I know a lot of people who've attended/attend Biola, and I'm aware of some of the struggles of Biola Queer Underground, but I had no idea the school did this sort of thing. I thought the school was place for hipster fundie-lites, not a seminary for faux-Jews. Sorry for going off-topic, but this really rubbed me the wrong way.

[formergothardite]

Huh. Looks like ASP sends teens to NC. I have a friend who lives in Avery County, one of the places they send teens to. It seems to cost around $300 per person to come and do a week mission through them. It looks like part of this money is spent feeding and housing the teens. And for $49 you can get a t-shirt saying that you are an Angel in Blue Jeans.

[Miss M]

I hope Miss M reads this and takes it into consideration before planning anymore trips to go "help" the people of the Appalachians. Last year one of my cousins went on one of these "mission" trips to the Appalachian mountains and I was the big meanie in the family for refusing to donate to her cause. She gathered tons of used clothes and toys to go dump on them, though. She came back to stories and pictures and got invited to three churches to share her story. :roll:

I said in another post "I get it, I really do", and the trips I went on were 14 and 15 years ago, I don't do mission trips or anything having to do with church anymore.

[FeministShrew]

Anybody want to take a mission trip to Upstate SC & build a new back deck for me? You can replace the fuel pump on my truck while you're at it.

I'll even let you pray for me! :lol:

Seriously, though, last year when my I was trying to take care of my wheelchair-bound mom, I could have really used help building a wheelchair ramp. I live 2 blocks from the local Southern Baptist church I used to attend (& am still technically a member of) and most of my neighbors go there or to some other church. They saw the struggles I had getting Mama in & out of the house, yet not one offered to help with a ramp. But the preacher & many of the members take several "mission trips" every year, always asking for donations. It's all just a bunch of bullshit to me.

[jenny_islander]

My little Episcopal church was the object of a mission trip the other day. We had enough money to either fulfill our commitments to helping the needy in our community or fix the dangerous rotted-out railings on the deck and other trouble spots around the parish hall, which incidentally we make available to local non-profits that don't have much money as part of our ministry. So a mission team from a more prosperous congregation came and fixed the deck.

ETA: That's the kind of mission trip that I don't have a problem with. The local people have the idea and the will, but not the means. Like the village in a dry part of Africa (cannot remember the name of the country) that wrote a grant proposal for an artesian shaft or wind-driven well pump or something else that was going to make life much easier--but they could not spare enough man-hours from producing their own food to put the equipment in place, so they asked a mission team to come and do the labor.

[Librul]

One of my FB friends is currently posting pics of her adult son in Africa on a mission trip, hugging little dark chilluns with the caption saying, "here's Darling Son, being Jesus to the poor children of Africa". Being Jesus??! seriously? I suspect the children have more to teach Darling Son than they have to learn from him. The egos of those people who dabble in mission "work" is monumental. They are empty vessels, waiting to be filled by the great white missionary.

[Persinette]

Oooh! I went on a fake Key West "mission trip" by accident once!

Back in college my boyfriend (who I later married) invited to me to go to Key West with him for spring break--his parents (super fundie) were "guest preaching" (well his dad anyway, no talking in church for the ladies of course!) at a Plymouth Brethren church and said we could come and stay in the parsonage (which actually meant "sleep on the enclosed back porch in separate tents along with my boyfriend's little brother, but whatever...) Anyway, one day his dad asked us if we wanted to go snorkeling, and when I said "yes," he pulled out boxes of gross dollar store candy and told us to go into town and sell it. I thought he was kidding, but my bf was like, "nope, he did this on every single family vacation when we were kids...anything we wanted to do it was, 'sell candy.'" Then, his dad tells me to tell people that I'm "selling the candy to fund a mission trip." And I was totally in shock at this point because I was on vacation and I wanted to go snorkeling--I didn't even believe in the idea of "mission trips" (other than non-religious medical/humanitarian aid stuff)...so his dad loads us up with candy and then he yells for my boyfriend's mom and asks her where the gospel tracts were and at that point I was like, "hell no..." and grabbed my boyfriend and the candy before it could get any weirder. Turns out, that if you go to bars selling candy during spring break in Key West, nobody actually cares/asks what the money is for anyway...but I ended up selling the stupid candy, but I refused to use the "mission trip" excuse. I also learned that when my ex was a kid, his parents made up a fake Christian school and made the kids sell candy and say they were raising money for that school. :o

Also: The blog is not nearly as active or snarkable as it used to be, but a couple of years ago an acquaintance of mine posted this link on fb joshandsara.net/index.htm (I hope the link is broken correctly...this is my first time posting one here, so apologies if I messed up) Missionaries to Italy. ITALY. I'm pretty sure they've heard of Jesus over there....

[freesarah88]

Huh. Looks like ASP sends teens to NC. I have a friend who lives in Avery County, one of the places they send teens to. It seems to cost around $300 per person to come and do a week mission through them. It looks like part of this money is spent feeding and housing the teens. And for $49 you can get a t-shirt saying that you are an Angel in Blue Jeans.

In Avery County? Seriously? That is a very Bible-belty place. There are plenty of church people there. They don't really need any extra help.

[Jenny]

While in college, I participated in a few one-night two-day mission trips with the United Methodist Student Movement. although it's been about 10 years ago, I remember these trips as a chance to do something for those in need. On one trip we cooked and served dinner at a Ronald McDonald House, and the next morning painted a room at the homeless shelter. On another trip we helped the kids at a State Children's Home prepare for a talent show. I don't recall us doing any proselytizing, which I wouldn't have been comfortable with anyway.

[bananacat]

Reading this thread pulled me out of lurkdom because it hits very close to home, especially when talking about mission trips to Appalachia. I grew up in very rural, very poor West Virginia and I despise those mission trips. They do much more harm than good by helping to foster what I see as almost a self-esteem issue there. So many people already believe that they are not good enough to do anything, not smart enough to get an education, and just can't take care of themselves. Then the sweet souls who are better, know more, and are willing to take care of them rush in, do a half-assed job, give a truckload of hand-me-downs and leave everyone feeling like our best isn't good enough to please the "good people" of the country so they have to sweep in to take care of us.

My grandmother would routinely turn mission groups away, but it broke her heart when they visited and offered to do work. Why do they not see how offensive this is? My grandmother was proud of her little house in the holler, and then groups of teenagers would descend on her and basically tell her that her road, yard, roof, porch, etc., was ugly and uncared for and because she was obviously too impoverished or old to take care of it herself they would gladly do it.

We had a neighbor who was one of the old, broken-down miners that a previous poster wrote about. He, with financial and labor help from many neighbors, built himself a small, one-room house. It was tidy, tiny, and probably something that 99% of the country would sniff at, but it was his and he was warm, dry, and proud. He was always inviting neighbors in for (instant) coffee because he had a place that was his. Then the missionaries came and reroofed and resided it because they were offended by it and decided it wasn't good enough. They left him ashamed of his home and himself. Good job missionaries!

I now live in another state and one of the local churches sends mission groups and trucks of secondhand crap to the county where I grew up. I am very vocal about my feelings regarding this, but I'm generally written off as not understanding the situation there. There is only one friend whom I think I have "converted," and it was probably a combination of my anti-mission testimony and her husband's, who grew up getting (and despising) Christmas baskets from local churches every year.

I honestly think this is the entire point of missions trips. They get to look down their noses and pity you, which makes them feel superior AND makes them feel like are wonderful godly people because they helped someone lesser than them. They don't even see the recipients as other people, just as props to make them feel good or to make teens learn A Very Special Message. It's always done in a condescending way, and never done for the intention of actually helping people who need or want help.

[bananacat]

Our church participates in a Backyard Mission Trip along with 24 other local churches. We partner with the city's government & for one day do local projects; spreading mulch in the parks, clearing out brush from vacant lots, tearing down flood-damaged buildings, as well as small home repair projects that the homeowners actually request help with. We completed 100+ projects this spring. Over 1000 volunteers participated.

Well aren't you special. Let me give you this shiny medal and all this praise that you are clearly fishing for. :roll:

[DarkAnts]

I have a friend who has gone to Guatemala several times as a volunteer doctor. She had one extended stay of a few months where she volunteered in a low/no cost clinic. She calls these trips spanish immersion trips because she is learning valuable language skills. These trips help her learn to talk to her spanish speaking patients. She never calls the trips a mission or charity. She sees the value that others are offering her. I wish more people would see their trips this way. You can learn valuable skills from those you are suppose to be helping if you approach the trip with that mindset.

[already hungover]

I noticed none of you heathen bastards have donated to my mission trip. May the hex be on your immortal soul that right at this minute there are people filling the museums of Europe without anyone there to share the word of god with them and aid them in, like, taking pictures of their whole group in front of the eiffel tower, or exactly which flavors compliment other flavors at that gelati shop in Florence by the Duomo and stuff. And it's YOUR fault.

Yeah, people are also sitting on the beach in Bora Bora but evidently, Satan is working in the hearts of my friends and family to keep them from funding my mission there. Pisses me right off. I'm sure there are tons of heathens on the beach. They probably wear bathing suits - OR WORSE.

[Black Aliss]

Sort of like adopting an orphan from an undeveloped country, when that child has living family members and the family could be kept intact and live well for years on the adoption costs alone.

This is not a slam against international adoption, just against those situations where a parent has had to surrender a child rather than watch it starve.

[lilwriter85]

A high school friend of mine does missionary work. The last time I saw this friend was two years at another friend's wedding. I would describe my friend as a mainstream Christian type. She does mission trips to Mexico one or two times a year. She assists in building or fixing homes, orphanages, and schools. I can't really snark on my friend's mission trips. But I get the peeves many have stated in this thread.

[Mela99]

I get pissed off at every one where they're more concerned with handing out bibles than food or medicine. Jesus wanted people to eat too, y'know.

[dora]

My husband's cousin is currently on a mission trip to Uganda. I have been asked to like their page on Facebook. I plan on checking it out thoroughly first. The cousin is only about twenty, surely he doesn't have every many useful skills.

On the other hand, a trip overseas, without your parents, can be very educational and character building. I went on a school trip to Japan, and while it didn't improve my language skills any I got a lot out of that trip in terms of maturity and self reliance.

I would rather support someone going on VSA, who has skills of some sort. I would do it myself if I didn't have kids (I am a qualified ESL teacher.)

I have friends who area missionaries in Thailand. They work with HIV positive people. God is behind what they do, but not what they do, they get stuck in and do actual jobs for which they are trained and qualified. Helping people in this life is more important than lecturing them about the next.

[DifferentGurl]

ETA: That's the kind of mission trip that I don't have a problem with. The local people have the idea and the will, but not the means. Like the village in a dry part of Africa (cannot remember the name of the country) that wrote a grant proposal for an artesian shaft or wind-driven well pump or something else that was going to make life much easier--but they could not spare enough man-hours from producing their own food to put the equipment in place, so they asked a mission team to come and do the labor.

Exactly. Sometimes, they really don't have people man-hours to do stuff like help build a school. Like those that mention earlier, there should be more self-sufficiency like hiring locals, but sometimes they can't spare the time or there aren't enough. That said, I wish there was a way to help train people towards self-sufficiency. I think "Room to Read" encourages the people to help build the school and maybe even some put money towards it.

I still want to volunteer overbroad, but definitely not like a mission trip where it's all about preaching about Jesus. I want to help people. I will still volunteer at home, but I want to volunteer overbroad. And from what I read here, I will not try to see them as "lesser". If anything, I will try to see them as fellow human beings.

[Shirley MacLaine]

Well aren't you special. Let me give you this shiny medal and all this praise that you are clearly fishing for. :roll:

I mean, I dunno, I'm pretty fucking down on mission trips but isn't that exactly the kind of community-oriented work churches should be doing? I mean, sticking to their own communities...

[salex]

. I also learned that when my ex was a kid, his parents made up a fake Christian school and made the kids sell candy and say they were raising money for that school. :o

Is this man your father in law? Is he still like this?

I read that Fred Phelps used to send his kids out selling candy all the time (with, apparently quotas for them and beatings for failing to meet said quotas)