Mark to me this is a both and kind of thing. Being a long time goer and leader of short term mission trips, I will agree that a great deal of what is gained is gained by the servers, but that does not mean that basic needs are not met and holes are filled. I do believe though, that even a short term trip allows for transformation in the servers, giving them the ability to be more intentional about how they serve and listen to their community. This kind of transformation can be invaluable because it allows people to do just what you are saying, really listen to the needs of the people, and begin to break cycles of poverty. Without the transformative experience, none of this can happen.
Also, I am more than willing to push back on you, much like you have to me all these years.
Yes, Ben, but at some point in all the transformational activity, someone needs to help someone in a way that is not on the work list. The ramp may be nice, but who is going to...
Something not on the work list? What does that mean? Meeting a spiritual need that can only be known by listening to the person, by having a conversation? I know that through my experience our mission trips have been just as much about the listening as they have been the working, at least we emphasize that.
How do you feel about the colonial model that most mission trips use? The top down, we have it and you don't mentality that leads us to attitudes of superiority rather than community? How does that affect what you think?
What I may be getting at is that often times helping someone as a primary purpose is inconvenient -it can't be scheduled to fit between 6 and 7:30 on Tuesday nights. Also what a person needs that would actually be helpful may not fit with the activity that we would prescribe for ourselves when we have other motives. It is not always possible to really know what would be helpful without doing the messy work of getting involved with the situation and people.
What we may need is leaders who do spend the time to immerse themselves in the trenches to channel all the efforts of those that want to help in some more prescribed manner. The blind do not make good guides for the blind.
I found for myself that with all the help and money that was their that one night under the bridge, none of it would have addressed this poor woman's needs. It took someone like Dennis to say, come sleep on my couch tonight. This is really a conversation I am having with myself. I had to challenge myself to be inconvenienced and help her. Not an easy thing to do for a heartless bastard.
I hear you. Being missional and being in community are different. And our society is far from community. We live our own separate lives and depend on each other for very little. It is really hard to know the needs of others when we have to interact so little. It is this idea that has led to such a drastic difference between the rich and poor, those inside and those left outside. So you are right to say that we need to do more than just be good for a compartmentalized part of our life. Christianity should not fit in our box, like work time, personal time, family time, me time. Faith in action is larger than any of that, but yet we put it into its very own category. This is problematic for me.
These two separations are the cause of many problems I have encountered. What do you think. You are far from a heartless bastard, but we are broken.
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Mark to me this is a both and kind of thing. Being a long time goer and leader of short term mission trips, I will agree that a great deal of what is gained is gained by the servers, but that does not mean that basic needs are not met and holes are filled. I do believe though, that even a short term trip allows for transformation in the servers, giving them the ability to be more intentional about how they serve and listen to their community. This kind of transformation can be invaluable because it allows people to do just what you are saying, really listen to the needs of the people, and begin to break cycles of poverty. Without the transformative experience, none of this can happen.
Also, I am more than willing to push back on you, much like you have to me all these years.
Yes, Ben, but at some point in all the transformational activity, someone needs to help someone in a way that is not on the work list. The ramp may be nice, but who is going to...
Something not on the work list? What does that mean? Meeting a spiritual need that can only be known by listening to the person, by having a conversation? I know that through my experience our mission trips have been just as much about the listening as they have been the working, at least we emphasize that.
How do you feel about the colonial model that most mission trips use? The top down, we have it and you don't mentality that leads us to attitudes of superiority rather than community? How does that affect what you think?
What I may be getting at is that often times helping someone as a primary purpose is inconvenient -it can't be scheduled to fit between 6 and 7:30 on Tuesday nights. Also what a person needs that would actually be helpful may not fit with the activity that we would prescribe for ourselves when we have other motives. It is not always possible to really know what would be helpful without doing the messy work of getting involved with the situation and people.
What we may need is leaders who do spend the time to immerse themselves in the trenches to channel all the efforts of those that want to help in some more prescribed manner. The blind do not make good guides for the blind.
I found for myself that with all the help and money that was their that one night under the bridge, none of it would have addressed this poor woman's needs. It took someone like Dennis to say, come sleep on my couch tonight. This is really a conversation I am having with myself. I had to challenge myself to be inconvenienced and help her. Not an easy thing to do for a heartless bastard.
I hear you. Being missional and being in community are different. And our society is far from community. We live our own separate lives and depend on each other for very little. It is really hard to know the needs of others when we have to interact so little. It is this idea that has led to such a drastic difference between the rich and poor, those inside and those left outside. So you are right to say that we need to do more than just be good for a compartmentalized part of our life. Christianity should not fit in our box, like work time, personal time, family time, me time. Faith in action is larger than any of that, but yet we put it into its very own category. This is problematic for me.
These two separations are the cause of many problems I have encountered. What do you think. You are far from a heartless bastard, but we are broken.
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