Away Team Missions

Why do we go on mission trips to the far reaches of the earth?

Why did the youth in my church recently send an "away team" to Florida to fix roofs of homes damaged in last years hurricanes? (This was before Katrina and Rita)

Why do church members raise money each year to send an "away team" to Korea, Russia, Africa, and/or Nicaragua?

There are people in our own community that have needs that aren't being met. Many of our next door neighbors have needs that aren't being met. Are we so occupied with our "away team missions" that we overlook a neighbor in need?

Are we so busy earning money for our mission trip to Madagascar that we step over the guy in the ditch and get busy fund raising? Do we have our eyes focused on that far away place that we totally miss the fact that our co-workers, next-door neighbors, and family members are in need of experiencing the love of Christ?

These thoughts were prompted by an excellent post at A Christian Blog called "Pay it Forward". In that post the author was commenting on how people are more apt to give when they are given a goal:

Pay it forward worked because it gave a person a goal. When you generalize charity, and ask people to give, and ask people to help, they don't really have a goal. Pay it forward gave them that. Find three people and help them. A simple concept, but successful because it was definitive.

Christians have been given a goal too...Jesus said "GO!" "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

We are to go into all the world. There were times Jesus sent his disciples out and their message was rejected. When that happened they were instructed to "shake the dust off" and continue onward.

I have just been wondering if at any time the disciples passed by, or skipped over people, or communities, in order to do their "mission work" at another place? There were no planes, trains or automobiles then, so the disciples had to walk house to house, town to town, on foot. It seems that it was a more thorough way to make sure every single person that could possibly hear the message of Christ was exposed to it.

People have needs, material needs. We have learned this first hand in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Every day people in our own communities go hungry. Christians should be meeting these physical needs, material needs, and meeting the spiritual needs as well by introducing our neighbors to the Gospel.

What if Christians took the Gospel message and chose to "pay it forward" to the very next non-believer they came in contact with. Imagine it, some would reject the message, but some would accept it. That one person who accepts Christ would then "pay it forward" to the next person. Eventually our neighborhood would be saturated. That would spill over into our community, town, city, state, then nation and eventually the entire world.

I fear sometimes that we "leapfrog" over the Samaritan in the ditch to help build that church in Romania. It seems as though we should share with the Samaritan the Good News and then move onward.

I'm not saying stop doing overseas missions, I'm simply pondering if that is literally what Christ meant when He said "Go into all the world...". It almost seems curious that we can raise $5000 for a mission trip to Poland to help build a church, when that same $5000 could help a family in one's own community eat, keep the utilities running, pay for a necessary medical procedure, and all the while allow for an opportunity to share knowledge of Christ's love through action, which is the ultimate goal.

A commenter on the "Pay it Forward" post provided an interesting answer as to why Christian's often choose to minister to those on the other side of the world than to their next door neighbor: accountability.

"...it's much easier to minister to someone that will not look to you for support and leadership next week."

I found that to be an interesting observation. Is it easier to be the loving Christian to the stranger a half world away because, after all, it is only short term? To be the loving Christian to the neighbor next door would be a much longer commitment and that neighbor could actually watch you too. They would look to you to exemplify what being a Christian is. Oh, the pressure! They may even see some flaws....OH NO, not THAAAAT!

I admire missionaries. I do not see myself going abroad as part of an "away team mission". I feel called to be right where I am, at the job I am doing, in the neighborhood where I live, and at the stores where I shop. It is my ambition to lead a quiet life. I want to share Christ with those I know and I pray that I will share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those in my immediate network and that it will have a ripple effect that will be felt around the world. Unfortunately, I am feeling rather convicted about not noticing those in need in my own community. Sometimes "noticing" needs to be intentional.