I'm sure I'm opening a can of worms here, but I thought I'd ask for your thoughts about people asking for money for missions trips. When I was growing up, there were some people who devoted their lives to mission work and asked churches to sponsor them. Today, there are mission trips to various places available year round. DH and DS have both gone on trips and we paid all of their expenses ourselves. I do realize that some people can't afford to do that, and I know that some people expect donations since it's for missions. I won't go into a lot of detail, but I have seen quite a bit of abuse with the money. One young man needed 2 or 3 thousand for a trip, but stated that he needed $7,500. He included the cost of all his bills for the 3 months he'd be gone (including charge cards). I also know some people who go on missions trips once a year, and ask for donations each time. I am more than glad to offer prayer for safe travel, and possibly a small useful gift for their trip, but I do not contribute cash.

What do you think? Do you give cash to everyone who asks for donations?

I do not contribute to mission trips. I like to help locally. I don't trust big companies/charities to distribute the money wisely so I help directly.

I too have seem misuse of money from churches/missions, etc...it's sad

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Proud to say I haven't shopped at a Wal-Mart since Sept 2003

Here are my thoughts, having been on such trips myself...

I think it is fine to ask for money from others, and from a religious POV, if one is Christian, the Bible does say that people are to support - with their money - the spreading of the Gospel. We're also to help orphans and widows and some mission trips directly benefit such individuals.

What I also think is that it is helpful when there is some accountability in place. Not just helpful - important.

I don't think how many trips someone goes on is necessarily a factor. It MIGHT be, but doesn't HAVE to be. If someone is especially good at mission work and the ones they are ministering to benefit, then they probably deserve assistance every time they get their passport stamped. I have a relative that does medical mission work in Latin American nations. It is his passion and I believe he is very good at it. He doesn't take those trips for himself because he likes vacations in exotic places. He goes because he legitimately knows people in that area of the world die because of a lack of medical care, and his church organizes trips 2-3 times / year where physicians go assist people in need.

I recently sponsored a teen mission trip to a rather third world nation. I say 'rather' because they were not 'starving in Africa', but they definitely go without the luxuries we do. It was through a church, and we did some religiously-connected activities. We did more service projects and humanitarian work, though. To be honest, I don't know that any specific thing we did changed the life of a single Haitian we encountered. We did good work. Hard work. The kids on our team learned so, so very much about compassion, about how fortunate they are to have access to good medical care, water, electricity, transportation, food preservation, etc. They are changed individuals for the experience.

My cousin's work changes the lives of those he helps, and as a by-product, he has a sense of true purpose. The less-mature, wise, experienced teens I was with were themselves changed, but by themselves probably didn't change the people they gave a bit of relief to... so the benefits were to 'self'... but they were legitimate, deep, and not self-serving.

We did require that the teens pay some of their costs on their own. We organized a number of fundraisers like shoveling snow and raking leaves, projects they began back in October. Then early this spring they sent out letters to close friends and family letting them know they were going to do some relief and evangelistic work and explained what would occur on the trip, and said simply if the recipient of the letter would like to financially support the ministry that they would be grateful for the assistance... but that regardless, their prayers were coveted.

We told the kids to stick to sending them to people with similar religious convictions, etc.

People were extremely generous. Those letters brought in more money than the trip cost. Some of the excess we gave to those we were helping abroad. Some stayed in the church fund for the next time such a trip is planned.

I would not want to support the same person repeatedly going on a trip like the one we took. I think once or twice to open the heart and mind and eyes of those high school kids to the struggles others face both physically and spiritually was a good investment.

I think what you have to ask yourself before making such a donation is what the motives of the individual are (a cool trip overseas with similarly-minded people? Humanitarian work? Evangelism in the faith you practice?) and how effective you think their work will be, and who will benefit. If there are solid positives, who it is or how many other trips they have been on is irrelevant. If it's more about pleasure than God, that is another story.

Normally I would not give money. At the beginning of this year a kid I went to school with who has devoted his life to the church said he wanted to go to Haiti with his church group to help out (someone dropped out). I felt moved that he spoke with such passion about it, I did donate $25 to him. He went and had an amazing experience. I'm glad I donated.

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I've never lied to you. I've always told you some version the of truth.

Once again wowitsdark we are on the exact same wavelength. I have friends that frequently go overseas on mission trips. Most of it is paid for by themselves.

As far as teens and even adults on these mission trips, I agree that short term missions is frequently about the individual and the experience they have. While the work they do is helpful and valid, it does tend to benefit them more.

I have to share a story here.......

I was on a mission board at a church we belonged to. Both of my children had been supported by this congregation for short term missions and had benefited tremendously. Another young individual was wanting to do something similar and it was brought before the board. This kid was not necessarily on the same path that my children appeared to be and there was a question of their motivation. The quote was.."Don't we need to make sure their heart is right first?" Nothing I said would move them from this position. I really thought this kid would benefit tremendously be this experience. I truly felt and had learned from my own children's experience that it wasn't just for the people you are going to serve, but a tremendous learning experience and possible life changing experience. NO, I didn't think it was important to make sure this kids "heart was right". I wasn't long for that board! lol



The organization that my kids went with handled all the finances. The money was sent directly to them, if a child happened to raise more than they needed themselves, it was shared with the other people going on that particular trip. It was a tremendous experience for both of them, and I am eternally grateful that they were able to serve in this manner!!! And eternally grateful to all who supported them financially and through prayer!!!

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Melissa

Well put, Melissa.

I had a friend say, "But there are people HERE who need help, and yet so much money is being spent to go off and help people far away. It doesn't sound like a good monetary decision."

And yet... how much do we pay to send our kids to sports camps?

Or on music lessons?

Or on school trips that last several days and are all about sight-seeing in an historic city with a theme park thrown in for good measure?

I think our kids took away a greater life lesson having gone and served their butts off than they do when, for the same amount of money, we sent them to Chicago to see a Broadway musical, go to a ballgame, see some good museums, etc. I think in twenty years they are going to remember much more about their time spent among the poor than any museum display they encountered.

In our situation, there are long-term individuals working where our kids were, so the work our kids did was 'support' for their efforts. In that regard, they were a piece of a bigger puzzle, and were helpful in the long run / big picture.

One more thing....

While yes, there are local people who also need help, staying in town to help local people would not have been the same. By that, I mean that our youth group teens would have been darting off to ball practice 'because they were in town so they might as well'... or off to a ballgame because it wouldn't be right to skip out on the team if you were just blocks away.... and you'd go home and talk on the phone with your buddies... and you'd be texting a boyfriend... and your friends from school would drive by and wave at you as you were painting that house for that elderly disabled man....

There IS good that people can and SHOULD do locally - it's just DIFFERENT and a more focused experience to go away with a team of others with a shared purpose and none of the distractions of your 'normal life'.

I have heard of "mission trips" where the people go to impoverished areas of the United States (Appalachia for example)---so, one does not have to travel abroad to grow and learn.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the LDS males who are required to go on a two year mission, their families support them. There is little "fund raising" that I have seen.

I'm of the opinion that donating for missions should be something one does from the heart. Whether it's $5 or $500.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Marilyn, we have done that, too (Appalachia).

We try to give our teens a domestic mission trip experience and a foreign one during their time as high schoolers in our church.

What we saw in Appalachia did not compare to our foreign experience. Not by a long shot. While certainly there was poverty we were never immersed in poverty. By that, I mean even the poor individuals there somehow seemed to have video game systems, etc. Their homes were often in bad shape and they were unquestionably without much in the way of resources, but we drove on nice roads to get to those houses and were able to stop at McD's in the evening for a Coke, etc.

Our foreign experience was night and day. Water was very scarce. Electricity was scarcer. There was no relief from the 95 degree heat because there was no AC anywhere - not where we spent our days, and not where we spent our nights. Toilets were not to be flushed. Toilet paper? What's that? Rice. Beans. Rice. Beans. Rice. Beans. Rice. Beans.

There is something to be said for being dropped into a culture that is not your own in any way. Other than the fact that we are all people, we had next to nothing in common with those people. Not language. Not forms of entertainment. Nothing.

In the Appalachian experience, we all had access to the same things - they just couldn't afford it as often as we could. They knew about the movies we wanted to see and might have seen them themselves, etc.. We shared the same language and while there were regional food differences, it was nothing like being served a chicken's foot and told it was a delicacy.

I don't think it's *necessary* for teens to go on those international experiences, but I do think there is value in them that is different than the value they receive from a domestic situation.