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Autumn Payne
Lindsay Hastings
RHET 1311-21
3/30/16
The Importance of Foreign Missions

I believe that foreign missions have the potential to change the world. The heart behind
mission work is selfless service. Participating in a foreign mission trip is a choice to go outside
of your comfort zone in order to bless someone else, receiving nothing in return. But sadly there
are many people who believe that foreign missions are a waste of time. I believe that the
positive effects of foreign missions outweigh the negative. In this essay I will discuss the reasons
some people are against foreign missions and explain why I think they are worth it.
In my life Ive had a great deal of experience with foreign mission work. I was born in
Mexico to American missionaries and lived there for nine years. Since then I have been on three
short term mission trips to the Slovakia and the Dominican Republic. From these experiences I
have learned many things about short term missions and mission work has become very
important to me.
The goal of foreign missions sent by the church is to share ones faith in God with people
in another country, while blessing them through manual labor or service. As you can imagine
sending a group of people to another country can be very complicated. In short term missions
there are three very common problems. These problems include cost, team personality, and
missionary hosting.
On the subject of cost some, are disgusted by the amount of money spent on short term
mission trips. Short term trips can cost thousands of dollars per team member depending on the

trip destination and size of the team. In the case of short term mission trips it is very common to
raise the money rather than pay the entire sum by oneself. Full time missionaries also raise
support to do their work because they are not paid for their service. Because of this many people
feel that the funds raised for short term missions take away from the support that full-time
missionaries require.
To learn more about these subjects I interviewed two different missionaries. Josh
Howard, a missionary currently serving fulltime in Slovakia, and Gail Miller a woman who
served as a missionary in Mexico for almost twenty years. In these interviews both missionaries
told me, that that the issue of short term teams taking away from funds raised for full time
missionaries, is not a common problem. In fact short term teams are actually the primary source
of fundraising for full-time missionaries. One third of funds raised for full time missionaries
come from people who have been on short term mission trips to their country of service. In
addition, missionaries count on short term teams to publicize their mission. Without short term
teams many mission organizations would have no way to voice their need for support. Short term
teams bring publicity to small missions and help get financial support they would not have
received otherwise.
On the subject of team personality, it is often said that American teams can be a nuisance
to missionaries in foreign countries because of their first world expectations and insensitivity to
other cultures. For example, in an article written by missionary Paul Jeffrey we are told: A
United Methodist mission team from South Carolina came to
El Estribo () and insisted on handing out $50 in U.S. money to each family ()
despite objections by local church workers. Jeffrey goes on to say In view of such
insensitivity, some local churches refuse to cooperate with mission teams, and insist on

working only with those development and evangelistic practices that empower the poor
without exposing them to the embarrassing rich.(Jeffrey).
Though these arguments are legitimate, I learned from the missionaries I interviewed
that, in their experience, teams of this kind are a rarity. A mission team is only accepted if they
meet the requirements set by the missionaries the team will be serving. Therefore if the team has
a good team leader, it is unlikely that any unqualified people will make the team. Though a few
unfortunate teams slip through, the majorities of teams are qualified and have been carefully
observed before being accepted (Howard).
On the subject of hosting, I have learned from my sources that hosting a team is a lot of
work. According to missionary Josh Howard, a missionary must do the following things in order
to bring an international team to your country: Find a church, specify the price of the trip, discuss
team responsibilities, receive conformation team members, and specify deadlines for down
payments. After this the missionaries must keep in communication with the team and team leader
through email and skype meetings to answer questions and navigate logistical issues. Because
missionaries already have busy work schedules, preparing to host a team can be very frustrating
and time consuming.
However, missionaries Josh Howard and Gail Miller, though admitting that there is
considerable strain in hosting mission teams, assured me that short term teams are completely
worth all the work put into to receiving them. In fact according to Josh Howard, if churches
stopped sending mission teams, the organization he works with would have to cancel one of their
primary outreaches. Parts of their ministry simply could not function without short term teams.
Missionary Gail Miller told me It is quite obvious that we would not have the money to

accomplish what we have and we would still be working () for many more years if it werent
for the help from the teams who came.
I have learned both from my experiences in foreign missions and my research that short
term mission trips are a blessing to the people being served. For many people living in third
world countries, mission teams bring hope. For example, in 2011 Hurricane Mitch struck South
America. When disasters like this take place, plethoras of mission teams are sent to lend aid. In
such cases the goal of a mission team is not only to help rebuild homes and rescue the injured,
but also to encourage people broken down by tragedy and show them that they are not forgotten.
For example, according missionary Paul Jeffrey in reference to the reaction of the nationals,
When they talk about the visitors, they do not begin by describing the buildings that were built,
but emphasize that they felt accompanied and sustained by the volunteers. At a time of great
trauma, the poor felt important and loved. (Jeffrey). Mission teams serve those in need and
bring hope to people who are suffering. If we stop sending foreign mission teams, we will
become apathetic to the suffering of the world.
For my last point I will give the final reason why I believe foreign missions are so
powerful. We have discussed the blessing and financial support that teams bring, but the main
goal of sharing faith in God is the aspect of foreign missions that is most important to me. The
reason the church desires to tell the world about Jesus. The work done on these trips is done to
show others the love of God. We believe that Jesus, the son of God, gave his life for the world to
take the punishment for the evil we commit. The evil in us separates from God but since Jesus
paid for our sin, we can now have a relationship with God
I believe we were created for a reason. Everyone is searching for something in life to
fulfill them and give them purpose. Most of us fill this need for purpose in striving for success

and making a name for ourselves. But it seems we are never truly satisfied by the goals we set
for ourselves. Once we achieve one goal, we must find another goal in order to give our lives
purpose. I believe accepting this gift and serving God is the one thing that will fill the void in our
lives. This is why the church sends out foreign mission teams. To tell the story of Jesus to those
who have never heard and serve others to show how much God loves them. When people hear
that Jesus gave his life for them, it impacts them greatly and their lives are changed for the better.
This is exemplified in the story of Jim Elliot. Jim Elliot was a missionary in Ecuador who
had a desire to tell unreached people groups about God. In 1952 Jim and four other missionary
families moved to Ecuador to tell the tribal people about Jesus. These tribes lived in the heart of
the jungles of Ecuador, closed off from the rest of the world. One tribe in particular, called the
Aucas were very violent. Most people in the tribes had never seen a white person. For these
reasons, deciding to try to make contact with them was a very dangerous decision. But these
missionaries felt that it was worth the risk to tell Aucas about God. The five men spent many
months trying to make contact with the natives; they dropped gifts down on them from a plane as
a sign of peace. The Aucas seemed to respond well to the gifts, and the five men decided to try to
make personal contact. It was a fateful decision. When they stepped out of the plane they were
ambushed by the Aucas and all five men were killed.
The families of the men who were killed were heartbroken, but decided to stay in
Ecuador and continue to make efforts to reach the Auca tribe. Over the years the families of the
men who were killed not only made contact with the Auca tribe, but made peace with them and
lived with them for many years. Many people of the Auca tribe became Christians. The man that
killed Jim Elliot confessed to Jims family and they forgave him. As a result of these missionaries
telling the Aucas about the love God, the once violent Auca tribe is now peaceful.

This is why I believe foreign missions can change the world. We see in stories like this
one that little by little mission work is already making a difference. The world can be an evil
place, but mission work done in name of Jesus is shining a light in the darkness. Is this not worth
telling the world about?

Bibliography
Howard, Josh. Phone interview. 22 March. 2016.
Miller, Gail. E-mail interview. 24 March.2016
Jeffrey, Paul. Short Term Mission Trips. Christian Century. 12/12/2001, Vol. 118 Issue 34, p5.
3p.

Jim Hanon dir. End of the Spear. Every Tribe Entertainment. 2005. Film.
"Jim Elliot: No Fool." Christianity.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.