Rethinking missions

Over the course of my 40 years on earth, I have had the privilege of participating in some pretty amazing mission opportunities.  In high school there were trips to Florida, the Outer Banks, New York City, and the Bahamas (yes, really).  Then through college and my adult ministry years there have been opportunities to serve in Phoenix, Kansas City, Seattle, Georgia,Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Ohio, Tennessee,  Antigua (yes, it really was a mission trip), Turkey, and Sudan.  On these trips I sang with choirs, conducted VBS in the inner cities and community parks, roofed homes, painted, replaced windows, hung vinyl siding, went door to door sharing the gospel, worked with a house church in a Muslim nation, prayer walked, preached the gospel at community events, and ministered to missionaries who were taking a break from the field.

I have thousands of pictures and countless more memories commemorating these mission trips.  There are many souvenirs from foreign lands and certificates of appreciation packed away in boxes.  Friendships have been made, communities have been changed, and lives have been radically transformed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I've been part of dozens of services that have presented mission reports and have put together just as many power point slide shows to go along with those times of testimony. 

I covet every opportunity I've had to serve God in such capacities, but I would trade them all in an instant if I thought for one minute that any of these mission trips were a little too heavy on the trip part and not focused enough on the mission at hand.  Unfortunately, I can honestly say that in my heart there were many times that I went for reasons other than to seek and save the lost for God's glory. 

Let's face it, the chance to go to an exotic location or big city to do mission work is incredibly appealing.  I'm sure that the apostle Paul saw some incredible sights on his journeys through Asia Minor and today's missionaries serve in every corner of the world.  I've laid awake at night in excitement, unable to sleep, pondering the travels that awaited me the next few days.  All the different foods I would eat, the new cultures that I would encounter, the adjusting to a new time zone and schedule, and an opportunity to take pictures of places that I might never see again.  There is nothing wrong with that kind of excitement - who wants to dread a mission trip?  If while ministering in Europe or Canada you get a chance to do something fun, have at it! 

But I long for my focus to be squarely on the work of God.  For years as a youth pastor I would choose ministry sites for my students not always based so much on the need of the community but on how convenient it would be for us to transport out students there and whether or not there would be much for us to do when we had free time.  I know that sounds pretty callous but many of those in ministry positions do the same thing (Note: I'm not trying to paint everyone with the same brush; these thoughts are based upon my personal experiences and observations over the years).  Many times I would anticipate what I would get to do once I got there, not what the Lord wanted to do.

So what are we to do?  Should we never book a flight again to India for fear we might enjoy the food too much?  Maybe we should all pile into cramped little buses and drive cross country to some town no one has ever heard of so that we can sleep on floors, eat only cheese and crackers, and scrape paint from dilapidated walls of a county prison while leading choruses of Kum Bay Yah to the inmates each night.  When it comes to sacrificing for mission work, where do we draw the line between what we believe we can do and what we believe God is capable of achieving through us?

I'm certainly no missions expert, yet if I could go back in time I would certainly change some of the itinerary that I passed along as mission work.  So in wracking my brain (which didn't take too long) I came up with some thoughts that might make missions more worthwhile and "legitimate":

• It's all about the gospel.  If that's not your reason, then don't go.
• If there is a genuine need to be met, then meet it.
• Focus first on the intent of your heart, not your intended location.
• Schedule your time to serve/work/share first.  Everything else is just gravy.
• Focus on the people, not just the place.
• Don't force upon a door that God has not opened for you.
• If it's a vacation you want, then don't call it a mission trip.

I've met those serving in the field who do so in extreme conditions without much in the name of creature comforts.  I also know others who serve the same Lord in cities where life is far from hard and technology makes everything so much easier.  The unifying factor for all of those who serve must be to do so for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There are lost people all over the globe and God wants to use us to take the gospel to them.  It's far better to "ooh and ahh" over the lives that God has transformed through our obedient work than over the power point slides of beautiful waterfalls and canyons that we show at an honorary missions banquet.