Andy Silk, a friend and brother in the Lord, recently wrote the following about his observations while in Kenya doing missions work:
"Its pretty amazing to see the fruit of the missionaries who have come before some as many as 100 years ago. But on the other hand, its troubling to see a church that looks, feels and smells so much of western Christianity."
Andy went on to write, "This brought up an interesting conversation yesterday with a professor from Nigeria. We talked about how the west can help. Short term missions was brought up and quickly became an interesting topic as we discussed how much those brick walls and painting of churches, or vacation bible schools cost. (factor in flights, lodging, and the minimal impact on the culture here, the cost is very high. The told me of a time when 90% of the missionaries were career missionaries, and 10 % were short termers. They said that many of those short termers came back long term.. Now the numbers are reversed. 90% are short term, 10% are career missionaries."
Andy concluded, "These exposure trips/adventure vacations are done in the name of missions, but really are more about the personal development that gets done in the life of the person going, not the person on the ground here in Africa. So, anyway, there were lots of interesting discussions and the question we ended up asking was what will missions look like in 20 years?"
- Andy Silk, CRM Missions Storyteller
Andy travels the world with his camera. His job is to help missionaries tell their stories and God's story. He has traveled all over as a photographer, Christian, journalist and observer. I find that his comments closely mirror my feelings about missions and even my experience after a short-term mission trip to Kenya. I realized that I got much more out of it than the people we had gone to help. While this isn't always bad, it can lead to a wrong mindset if that is all people know of missions. I believe that our primary focus in missions must always be God and not man. Thus, a big part of missions is always the internal process of the missionary and his relationship with God.
The fact that short term mission trips tend to have a bigger impact on those who go then those who receive should not surprise anyone. But the analysis that fewer people are committing to long-term mission after short-term experiences should alarm anyone concerned with spread of the Gospel. Of course, it may all be a matter of timing. For example, I believe that I will one day live in Africa and help disciple leaders and care for orphans there. I first sensed this call while on a short-term trip in Kenya. But I did not go when a group from my church recently went because I did not believe it was the right time. One day, I will likely spend a number of years in Africa. That is all up to God because I serve at the pleasure of The King.
Before deciding to go on a mission’s trip or do any other thing for God, we should always check our motives. Instead of being moved by need or the silent peer pressure and expectations of others, we should only act out of faith and obedience to God.
We should also remember that mission trips are not vacations. Too many treat them as such and in the process lose sight of why they went in the first place. While there is nothing wrong with a vacation, it does have a different focus than a mission’s trip even if you are going to cheer up or befriend a missionary. Vacations are about rest. Mission trips generally have a mission or active goal to obtain.
I tend to agree with Andy’s comments about the churches in Kenya having a very Western feel. This was one of the biggest disappointments that I had when I visited Kenya. In addition to exporting the Gospel, we seemed to have shipped our religious practices too. Kenya would have been better off if it had only learned how to be the Church instead of how to do church. I wish some of the things we communicated had never been adopted. But in the end, God will get what He wants even if religion tends to cloud the real issues. We should be careful in the future to focus on teaching people how to know and follow the example of Christ instead of trying to give them formulas and tips for how to be more religious. I guess that I am focusing on learning now how to live the life that God will want me to share with the world later.
Andy with CRM Africa leader
