We got an email with the header "Do Short-Term Missions = Christian Tourism?" It turned out to be an advertisement. Still, it raises an interesting question.
There are tons of organizations that offer short-term mission projects. It seems like a great way for those who are tied down to their career and family to get to serve God through missions. However, with the wrong motive, it could turn into an all-expenses paid vacation. Plus, it's not like all outreaches are in remote, impoverish lands. Some specifically target major cities that also happen to be hip tourist destinations.
Should the screening process be harsher for short-term missions?
With New York City so full of nonChristians, homeless people, and people involved in the sex industry, is it selfish to go on missions outside of our own city?
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3 comments:
They say bloom where you are planted
do you think it seems perhaps like any other difficulty with ministry? what i mean is that there is always the hard part of trusting in people's motivations and character, which may prove faulty, but putting up restrictions and barriers can keep legalism at the center and not really guarantee a healthy church either. in some ways i wonder if that is what God does with the church, allow it successful, blessed ministry and also times to be humbled by failure. like a family's pains and growth or a plant pruned. more so, we can marvel that God would use us and that He can do so very much despite our shortcomings and distracted vision. He is the One to worship, the head of the body!
Wherever a Christian is in their walk, going to participate in short term missions to a place where you don't speak the language or know the culture can deepen the faith because all you can do is depend on God. God will take the actions of the individual and use them for His Glory.
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