As a missionary, I am often asked about short-term mission trips: Are they harmful? Can they be better? Were we wrong when we were trying to help?
This kind of question is fairly new. Not so long ago, it was routine for American churches to send a bunch of teenagers to a poorer country to paint a church and play soccer with some local kids. But now many Christians are examining the power differentials in missions and asking—quite appropriately—whether short-term trips make theological, ethical, or practical sense.
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