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I think that if mission trips are about relationships, then they should be organized that way. My wife and I started a non-profit bringing Japanese to serve in a developing country. From the beginning, we decided not to focus on projects (building things, etc.). Rather, we choose to embrace the small things (playing with kids, just being there, going as learners). I tell them that learning and relationships come first, and then they can contribute more (in practical ways) later–if they stick with the relationships.

http://www.project-friends.org

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I almost forgot this video. If it doesn't embed properly, here's a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHW35_3vp0A

Doh!! (Remove foot from mouth)

I obviously commented first, then watched the video you posted after….sorry.

I strongly agree with the video, obviously, and it helped confirm what we do with the program in Japan. I think the era of “us-them” mission needs to end, and a new era of friendship could erase many harms done both ways in the old model.

Since I'm still commenting, I want to recommend a book (laying right in front of me) called “Friendship at the Margins.” This is not only a great book on the same topic you've raised, it's been critically praised as a book that could revolutionize how we view mission. I've reviewed it at Amazon and intend to review it on my blog soon. It would be great to see your own review if you have time to read it.

Jonathan, two of my nephews serve with Amor Ministries ( http://www.amor.org/about ), which has 30 years experience and lots of amazing stories of transformation. I think they are one of the groups that get it right. And it is about relationships — many layers of relationships — in which many people are involved in the local scene, who are served by groups who are learning about incarnational ministry and liminality and the resultant communitas, supported and brokered by the teams from Amor. Check them out….

Yes! In my experience of a short-term mission trip and talking to others about their experiences – it may begin with the project, but almost always results in relationship building and a change of the heart. It seems like many of us in the first-world need to be taken away from our comfort zones and placed in “foreign” circumstances to truly appreciate that our lives our God-given and our mission is restoration – here, there and everywhere.

Thank Andy. I'm absolutely positive if we look hard enough we could find ample examples as you've suggested. It was just an intriguing question to ponder.

Thanks Peggy.

Kim, you've touched on what I think is the real reason people go on short term mission trips. The underlying purpose of the experience is really for the person going, not just for the person being helped. And if this is true, that would suggest that the poor child in the orphanage or the hungry mom in the African village is the real missionary.

Agreed, but you don't really figure that out until you've gone and come back.

Just checking in… I liked what you say about the children at the orphanage being the real missionaries. That idea has really intrigued me, and I've said similar things about what we're doing. For one thing, this seems to recognize their dignity and real wealth. If we understand them this way, we may avoid belittling them as objects of service and characters in slide shows (serving our needs for significance, validation, funding, etc.).

If we really see Christ in “the least,” if we read the Beattitudes carefully, we'll see how much we need them, and that we aren't whole or free from injustice as long as they are not (though our kind of poverty and the prisons we choose may seem normal and even desirable to us).

But our societies in the developed world are designed precisely so we won't see this way. Their gift to us is sight if we can receive it.

I want to reiterate my book recommendation: Friendship at the Margins” by Heuertz and Pohl.

Just checking in… I liked what you say about the children at the orphanage being the real missionaries. That idea has really intrigued me, and I’ve said similar things about what we’re doing. For one thing, this seems to recognize their dignity and real wealth. If we understand them this way, we may avoid belittling them as objects of service and characters in slide shows (serving our needs for significance, validation, funding, etc.). nnIf we really see Christ in “the least,” if we read the Beattitudes carefully, we’ll see how much we need them, and that we aren’t whole or free from injustice as long as they are not (though our kind of poverty and the prisons we choose may seem normal and even desirable to us). nnBut our societies in the developed world are designed precisely so we won’t see this way. Their gift to us is sight if we can receive it.nnI want to reiterate my book recommendation: Friendship at the Margins” by Heuertz and Pohl.n