22 Apr...6:04a

Greetings, everyone...

As a part of operating this missions blog, I wish to, on occassion, provide some 30,000-ft perspectives on missions—especially, short-term missions.  Provided below, is just such a thing.  I hope that this will give you some insight into how we at newhope church endeavor to engage in international missions.

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The International Mission Trip: Is it an Effort to Help, an Effort to Serve, or Both?

My answer (as always) is...it depends.

While I do think that "help" is needed in times of crisis and emergency, I am much more interested in the long-term development of people and in their finding greater measures healing, purpose, and reconciliation in life.  Out of this desire, it has become my life-long ambition to live a missional life of selfless service.  My prayer is that God will continue to forge such things in and through me and in and through all those for which (and withwhom) I serve.

Regarding short-term mission trips, the most common question I get upon returning home from a trip is this:  "So what did you do while you were there?"  Despite what you might think, answering such a question can be a little difficult.   Mostly, I answer with something akin to the following:  "We just spent time with our new Haitian friends…praying and worshiping with them, listening to them, playing with them, and working alongside them."

"How many wells did you dig?"  Ummm....none.

"How many latrines did you construct?"  Ummm...zero.

"How many people did you see come to faith in Jesus?"  I'm really sorry, but I haven't the foggiest of notions.

Sometimes, after I provide such answers, I get a variety of reactions from blank stares, to "That’s nice," to "Well...did you have a good time?"

I understand a little of the frustrations of those asking me about such a trip.  I really do.  We in the U.S. tend to value time, efficiency, and the bottom line over just about anything else.  This can be seen in our Monday morning quarterbacking and in our emphasis on P and L statements, church attendance counts, website stats, and the number of "widgets" produced last month in factory x.  Not that such things aren’t valuable, because they certainly can be, it’s just that many cultures outside the U.S. tend to place a much higher priority on things that aren't typically reflected in the efficiency measures we value so highly in the states.  For instance (and, BTW, this is NOT intended to be a slam on the U.S. [for I LOVE the U.S.!]; rather it is an attempt to illuminate a difference that exists between the U.S. and some of the cultures I've visited in recent years), the Haitians and the Kenyans—two people groups that I have grown to love dearly—place a much higher priority on togetherness, community, and the building of lasting friendships than most of us do in the west.   For those of us experiencing such things for the first or second times, the "shock" of such an exposure can be disconcerting—especially, upon returning home after such a trip.   Re-assimilating back into the culture of central North Carolina after hanging out in Bohoc, Haiti, for a week or so can be quite challenging.  Just ask anyone who’s ever come back from such a trip. :o)

Two years ago, Benji Kelly, Senior Pastor of newhope church, asked me to write a "two-year game plan" for international missions at newhope.   In that document, I wrote what I believed to be "our" missional philosophy.  Below is an excerpt from that work.  The same can be found on the newhope curch website at the following link: http://www.newhopenc.org/Serve/HOPEmissions/International-Missions.aspx.

While there are many ways to engage in mission, it is our intention at newhope church to pursue international missions activity by partnering with very discrete and specific communities as they seek to follow Christ and to do for themselves that which they feel must be done to create flourishing, sustainable communities devoted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The provision of disaster recovery (the rehabilitation that occurs after "the bleeding has stopped") or development resources that are not community based (basically, initiated, driven, AND managed by the community) will fail—PERIOD.   History teaches that this is the case. Once "the bleeding has stopped," the community directly affected must be intimately involved in and with their own rehabilitation and development.  As servants of the King, we must do all that is in our power to come alongside those who are hurting and who are trying to recover and develop themselves; but just as a physical therapist cannot make someone do his or her shoulder exercises, we cannot (nor should we EVER) do for others what they can (and must) do for themselves. To attempt to do otherwise is completely disrespectful, creates dependency, leads to 'unhealthy giving,' and, quite literally, hurts everyone involved.

To be good stewards of that which God has given us—time, talents, gifts, financial resources, etc.—it appears to me to be the most God-honoring when what we have to give is given in the context of a committed relationship, where we come alongside our brothers and our sisters in a specific place as they work together, under community leadership, to follow Christ and to develop from within.

Currently, we at newhope are partnering internationally with the following two communities through The 410 Bridge:  Bohoc, Haiti (where we are right now in this VERY moment), and Kiria, Kenya.  To date, we've visited Kiria twice (July 2010 and July 2011) and Bohoc three times (April 2011, January 2012, and, of course, right now [April 2012]).  It is our intention to do our best to visit both communities at least twice a year for the foreseeable future.

The plan for the rest of this year and then year 2013 is as follows:

Kiria, Kenya (September 2012)
Bohoc, Haiti (Tentatively January 2013)
Bohoc, Haiti (Tentatively April 2013)
Kiria, Kenya (Tentatively June 2013)
Kiria, Kenya (Tentatively September 2013)

As I wrote yesterday, if you're interested in going on an upcoming mission trip, please contact me at hopemissions@newhopenc.org.  Please note that we still have space on the September 2013 trip to Kenya.

If you would like to pray for mission teams or would like to be a part of sending them, please e-mail me as well.  AND...if you would be so kind as to do this, please go to the Prayer Requests blogspot post from last week and consider praying for the team that's right now serving our Master and His people right here in Haiti.

More later...(including, Lord-willing, some pictures!)...

Jezi l'aime ou (Jesus loves you),

Dave
On Behalf of Team Haiti 2012/April