Way back in 1999, I traveled with the Presbytery of Florida on a Partnership Delegation to our sister presbytery, The Presbytery of the Western Cape, in Capetown. I remember then, as a sixteen year-old, having a difficult time explaining to my friends that I, no, was not going on a mission trip, but a “partnership delegation.” Yes, I said, it’s a church trip. But it’s not like that. Sure, the trip was part of our mission to serve others, but it was mostly about getting to know our brothers and sisters in South Africa better, about seeing what God was doing there rather than bringing our hammers and paint brushes or check books or whatever.

So I’m studying for my World Christian final at the moment — well, not at this precise moment — and found an interesting debate buried in my week three notes that brought these memories flooding back. My prof, Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi (great guy, tough grader) made two very pointed points — or jabs, really, at contemporary mission trips in most of our churches. I happen to agree with them, so I’ll put them in my own words.

Mission Trip Point Number One:
Why are you doing a mission trip in the first place? Chances are, it probably smacks of colonialism. If you go in thinking you’re all American and have the answers and the hammers and the check book, well, your heart is not in the right place to receive the gospel. If you go in with that perspective, you might have your eyes opened, or you might just get a bit too excited with your own self and how much you “helped those poor people.”
Why not, then, consider a Partnership Delegation — and future trips back and forth — that focuses on what God is doing in each place, and how we can mutually build up each other in love. Partnership recognizes that we are co-agents in mission, and the roles, often, are not what we expect them to be.

Mission Trip Point Number Two:
Ok, you understand the challenges but you’ve decided to do a more traditional mission trip, but do it well. Let’s work with that. For your congregation, the opportunity for intergenerational fellowship is really compelling, and there’s this great organization that’s got a really good program set up for you that’s not ladened with colonial baggage. Ok, spiffy, but….

Chances are, the trip will really shake up some of those members’ lives. Experiencing the gospel in a foreign land can be a real eye-opening life-changing thing. So, Carlos says — and I’ll second him — as you plan the trip, keep planning things for the group to do after. When you return, your trip is only beginning. Then your call is to help translate your experience to the members of your congregation. One powerpoint presentation is not enough. Work long and hard at it.

Overall, as Carlos would say, the agency of mission is not a one-way street. Sure, there can be a perceived reversal of mission on short term trips, but let’s think more broadly too.

So now, even 10 years later, I’m all the more grateful for that Partnership Delegation to the Presbytery of the Western Cape. As we search for new ways of being missionaries in this changing world, may transformation strike us all.

image by Sara&Joachim