Missions done more for adventure than out of obedience.

The Sunday-school class that passes out American flags and money.

Culturally inappropriate choir tours, drama troupes, youth musicals, puppet shows, clowns, mimes in the park.

Attractional replications of “what works” back home.

One-off drive-by mission trips that assuage the guilt and give a feeling of superiority.

Missionary, these you might roll your eyes at the thought of including short-term groups in your strategic approach to ministry. Church people can be consumeristic, naive, fickle. Their well-intentioned attempts to help can build unhealthy dependency. Their ignorance can jeopardize the ministry you’ve worked hard to build. You may swear off hosting church groups. I know- you didn’t come here to be a baby-sitter and tour guide. But the popular missiology that perpetuates missions-as-event is a result of your interaction (or, lack thereof) with the local church.

It’s your fault.

Those of you who scoff at the involvement of a local church (the same churches that send and support you), it’s time for you to take responsibility. If churches have a bad understanding of what missions is and should be, it’s your fault. How else will they know the reality of what God is doing among people around the world? What church members know about missions is what you’ve taught them. Or what you’ve failed to teach them.

The church is God’s design. Leadership. Accountability. Gifting. Community. Fellowship. Worship. It’s His design for His people, and you don’t get to bypass that structure just because you’re embarrassed by a church group that shows up in your part of the world wearing matching T-shirts. The church cannot be replaced. You can be her servant, but not her substitute.

Romans 12:3 warns us not to think too highly of ourselves. You are expendable. Any Spirit-led “volunteer” missionary can replace your language ability and cultural insight with a google search and a few hours in a smoky bar with a national. You’re not special. And you won’t get far without the direct involvement of the churches that send you.

The way I see it, Christians have been intrepreting the “Great Commission” to be a call to evengelism, and they’ve been responding to that call by doing missions and going on mission trips. These are usually intentional forays into the world, where Christians leave the comfort and safety of their subculture in order to take the gospel to lost people. They prepare a “program” and memorize their gospel presentations. They put together skits and songs. They collect cotton balls and toungue depressors for craft time. They raise money.

The mission trip mindset is one that I’m less and less comfortable with. It’s all about a “come see” event that often resorts to bait-and-switch tactics in order to share our message. I’ve seen people use clowns and puppets, music, sports, even food to get people to come and hear. When I participated in the Summer Missions program at Gano Street Baptist Mission Center in Houston, Texas, I had the opportunity to really help people in need. I remember really trying to learn Spanish so that I could communicate with the people in the neighborhood. We drove a big truck through the slums distribuiting day-old bread that hed been donated. All we had to do was drive slowly and shout out “Pan!” The Spanish word for bread had people running to the truck for something to eat. We gave out clothing to people who need it. There was a huge clothes closet at the mission center, and I was always overwhelmed by people’s gratitude as they left with new clothes to wear to work and school. We played with children during the day so their parents wouldn’t have to leave them alone while they went off to work. In reality, it was glorified babysitting, but we did it because we wanted to love the people of Houston. We really did love the people we were ministering to, but sometime during every act of service we required that the people listen to a presentation of the gospel. For them, it was a hoop they had to jump through in order to receive the help they needed. For them, prayer time was waiting for the “Amen” so they could rush home and fill their stomachs, brush their teeth, or put on their new clothes. We thought we were sharing Jesus. Looking back, I think we were probably standing in His way.

“Let your light so shine before men,” the verse goes, “that they might see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” As I think about it, Gano Street Mission Canter, and many like it around the world have done tremendous work in selflessly ministering to people in need. They’ve done it in Jesus’s name. I just wish they didn’t always feel this need to tack the sermon on to the service. I think that selflessness and altruism and brotherly love are all supernatural things- not natural to humans but a result of God’s intervention. Our good works are evidence of God’s work in our lives, and that incarnational “picture” of Jesus really doesn’t require that we add the caption “This selfless act brought to you by Jesus.” I’m not saying that we souldn’t be quick to mention His name, nor that we sould leave any ambiguity as to why we do the things that we do. I’m just saying that “it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.”

A group of volunteers once came to a major European city on a mission trip. They had prepared a series of dramatic skits that they hoped would allow them to share the gospel with nationals despite the language barrier. You might be familiar with the skits; each portrayed sin as the problem and Jesus as the answer. One used a cardboard box to show how sin can trap us; another showed how people often ignore Jesus throughout their daily routine. Several had actors pantomime smoking and drinking in an attempt at depicting the depravity of unbelievers. You might imagine how the drama troupe was received. Without some cultural and linguistic translation, the Gospel was not communicated. Worst of all, the good news message was somehow changed from “Jesus is Life” to “God hates people who smoke and drink.” For the European audience, it was hardly good news. While they did make the volunteers feel good about their efforts, the trite and cheesy skits only served to reinforce the perception of Christianity as irrelevant and powerless.