Over the years we have been asked from time to time to give to "short term mission trips", for the youth. After watching the mentality of the youth and the content of the mission trip, we decided that this was one kind of ministry to which we would not contribute.
Sending youth out to a foreign country for two weeks is not my idea of missions. Missionaries are people who have dedicated their lives to the work of the Lord, studying long hours, spending much time in prayer to know God intimately before hearing His call to minister to the people they will be serving.
Anyone entering the mission field should know God's Word well, while having a proven record of evangelism in their own communities, learning from the older folks who have walked many years with God.
A missionary should have a good record of serving by preaching, meeting physical needs of those in their sphere of influence and are respectful and obedient to their parents.
I will say this about what I have seen in the modern youth mission trips, they are nothing more than free paid vacations, on the donations of others. First the churches that encourage them, teach the youth to beg others for money to be able to go.
The youth are sending out letters soliciting funds from people in their families that they have not seen in years and would otherwise have no contact with. When the young people are turned down, these same youth have no further contact with them, except an occasional form letter for update, never personally addressing the family it is sent to. These letters have little if any content about the Lord, but have many pictures of the people they enjoy.
There is no need to expose the young people to missions by sending them out before they are mature and ready to serve fervently under all conditions of hardship. When a person is called to missions, there is a dedicatedness in their soul that cannot be quenched by anyone or anything, only then is a person ready to dedicate their lives for full time service.
We have taught the young people to go to mission because they will have fun and lots of people will like them, a sort of fraternity or sorority. The dedication to holiness, the willingness to suffer, the selflessness that is required for missions is not there when a child is getting excited about a trip, rather than driven by the Lord to serve others.
We don't need to "experience" something before considering it, we only have to pray, let the Holy Spirit lead and He will give us what we need when we need it after we have done our homework and have proven we are wanting to really serve the Lord.
Play will not be on the list of priorities at all for the dedicated gospel driven young person, in fact he won't fit in anywhere in the modern church, he will be different, set apart and focused on one thing.....Christ!
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