Short Term Mission Trips

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

Well, thinking of our ministry to Cuba, there are not many skilled construction people there and materials are VERY hard to come by. Additionally, good tools are hard to come by as well. So we've brought down whatever we can including table saws, drills, nails, other hardware, etc. We just count on them for cement and lumber - and then we teach them how to build. So in this case, it's actually better for us to send a team down there. But in addition to that, we also train the local pastors in ministry and that's invaluable.

Cuba may well be an exception Ann, I am sure your trips have accomplished much. I have heard from missionaries in Costa Rica and in Beleze (sp?) that there were many out of work local construction workers who earned less in a year than some "missionaries" spent on their plane tickets for a week.

Then there is the entire witnessing aspect of hiring someone to work for the church. and you can add to that with the local ownership of individuals knowing they participated in the construction. Please don't think I am condemning missions trips, I am not, just encouraging people to look at the value of what they are doing.

 

[annsni]

Cuba may well be an exception Ann, I am sure your trips have accomplished much. I have heard from missionaries in Costa Rica and in Beleze (sp?) that there were many out of work local construction workers who earned less in a year than some "missionaries" spent on their plane tickets for a week.

Then there is the entire witnessing aspect of hiring someone to work for the church. and you can add to that with the local ownership of individuals knowing they participated in the construction. Please don't think I am condemning missions trips, I am not, just encouraging people to look at the value of what they are doing.

Oh, absolutely, I agree. What our guys do is to go and train the local men in building so that they have skills that will help them continue the building while we were not there. If there were local builders who were skilled, I'm sure we'd use them as well - and still go to do the pastor's training.