Mission Trips: A scam?

[Reluctant Skeptic]

(Edited for clarity: Duh, I should have put the summation at the top. Apologies, this is my first post. Please bear with me.)

I guess the summation of all my questions is:

I thought mission work was supposed to be all about the people one missions to, instead of being a mission of self-gratification on the part of the missionary. Is this a new kind of selfish, status-conscious ministry?

I've given to several short-term mission trips that my relatives have wanted to go on over the past 10 years, and I'm beginning to wonder if it's little more than a theological feel-good vacation on someone else's dime.

I'd like to believe in their endeavor, but I've noticed a few things:

1) They can usually well-afford to pay for it themselves.

2) The way they contact me post-mission trip (summary of trip, thank-you note), as opposed to the way they contact me for the money pre-mission trip, leads me to believe that they're not inviting ME or my prayers along for the experience...They're inviting my $100 check along. Because I hear next to nothing in terms of gratitude or how the trip went, what they did, what the experience was like.

3) A couple seem to be playing fast and loose with the fund-raising. My niece, for example, went on a mission trip to China a couple years ago. We sent $100. Wasn't good enough. We had to help with a fund-raiser for her church (my husband and I did most of the grunt work).

Then, I found out the night before the fund-raiser, that she didn't need to raise more money anyway. She'd already raised it all. She said her mom told her they'd spend the money on new school clothing. (Did I mention they go to Disney World every year, and her parents pay full tuition for her private Bible college?)

4) It seems like the cost of the mission trip, if it was sent directly to professional missionaries, would go a lot further to help that area and recruit souls.

Rather than spending $80,000 sending 20 teens to China to illegally proselytize to Chinese students, why not send $80,000 to Equador to build 10,000 houses?

5) In fact, why not spend $500 for a weekend in East St. Louis, Detroit or Compton, missioning to the poor, indigent and uneducated there?

6) Missionaries in Paris? Really?

[McCulloch]

It is a good thing that your church is significantly less demanding than Jesus. If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.

My church is actually just my husband and me, reading the Bible and discussing it in the evenings.

In terms of your quote (I believe the Bible also has something to say about those who do that, too), that was my whole point: Mission-goers who sign up for trips they could well afford to finance themselves, but demur from the opportunity to sell all their possessions, give the money to the poor, and store up treasures in heaven-- on their OWN dime.

Plank, speck, eye, that sort of thing.

So why are you so concerned about what others are doing wrong. Take whatever it is out from your own eye.

Didn't the New Testament say something about assembling yourselves together? Hebrews 10:25

[Reluctant Skeptic]

It is a good thing that your church is significantly less demanding than Jesus. If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.

My church is actually just my husband and me, reading the Bible and discussing it in the evenings.

In terms of your quote (I believe the Bible also has something to say about those who do that, too), that was my whole point: Mission-goers who sign up for trips they could well afford to finance themselves, but demur from the opportunity to sell all their possessions, give the money to the poor, and store up treasures in heaven-- on their OWN dime.

Plank, speck, eye, that sort of thing.

So why are you so concerned about what others are doing wrong. Take whatever it is out from your own eye.

Didn't the New Testament say something about assembling yourselves together? Hebrews 10:25

And yet, you seem to be overly concerned with what I am doing wrong by simply asking this question....I point to your quote regarding selling possessions, giving to poor, etc. I wonder if this is a plank you've yet to remove from your own eye, is all.

Be that as it may, they seem less concerned with planks in my eye, than the money in my wallet, even though they seem to have plenty of it to fund their mission trip/vacation.

I also find it interesting that this seems to be a taboo subject on the Internet.

[McCulloch]

And yet, you seem to be overly concerned with what I am doing wrong by simply asking this question.

You are mistaken. I am not concerned at all with what you are doing. This is a debate forum. You have presented a position which I see as inconsistent and I am debating it.

I point to your quote regarding selling possessions, giving to poor, etc. I wonder if this is a plank you've yet to remove from your own eye, is all.

Maybe, maybe not. It is not relevant. I am not posting my own personal dilemma on a debating forum.

Be that as it may, they seem less concerned with planks in my eye, than the money in my wallet, even though they seem to have plenty of it to fund their mission trip/vacation.

For what it is worth, I believe that you have no obligation to support their mission vacation. If you are a Christian and a church member, I think you can find better ways to be a steward of what you believe God has entrusted you with. If you are not, then it would be better for everyone if you do not encourage them in missionary efforts, no matter how ineffectual.

I also find it interesting that this seems to be a taboo subject on the Internet.

Maybe elsewhere, but it is not taboo here.

[TXatheist]

Rather than spending $80,000 sending 20 teens to China to illegally proselytize to Chinese students, why not send $80,000 to Equador to build 10,000 houses?

8$ for one House?
You seem to live in some sort of dreamworld. Have you ever left our borders? Do you believe that we are some sort of super nation that is the envy of the world.. Giving 8$ for a house?

Dude.... Your not worth a 'Mr'...

Actually, we are a super nation that is the envy of much of the world. And Reluctant Skeptic is not a "dude" nor a "Mr", as she is a female. You would know that if you had read her post.

[Reluctant Skeptic]

Yeah, it turned out not to be the kind of mission trip we thought it was. We thought she was doing something to relieve human suffering, but it turns out....

1) They were proselytizing illegally to all and sundry, under the guise of "teaching English" to the students....
2) Unfortunately, they were then complaining that the students they were given knew little or no English...
3) There was a lot of touring of sites and shopping...
4)....With a heavy emphasis on shopping, since my niece couldn't answer some of the most basic questions we asked her about their culture and sites.
5) Out of about 150 pictures we sat through on her slide show, about 80 percent were of her and her friends making funny faces and goofing off, showing all the maturity of a girl about 13, rather than 19...
6) There was a constant sizing up of the wealth and status of the foreigners they met...
7) And crying conspicuously outside Buddhist temples because "you could tell there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on in there" and "it was so SICKENING to see them bow down in front of their idols!!!"

That last one was an unbelievably negative experience for me. The sheer hate and repulsion in her voice made my heart stop and my blood run cold for the blatant disrespect and lack of sensitivity.

Reading the mission trip company's blog on the last day was also disturbing, talking about how the kids were all "afraid" to come back home...That some were afraid to return to friends and family that might impede their "walk with god" or something like that.

Very culty. Very cultish indeed.