Are there any of these assumptions with which you disagree? Which ones? Why?
There is one assumption with which I disagree: "Most of the reports about the positive impact we have had on a community come from the goers, not the intended receivers". I think that if we as goers do an excellent job at loving, serving, and being Jesus to the people we are visiting, then there will be a positive impact on the receivers because they will remember us and remember the God-centered lives we are trying to live.
Choose three assumptions strongly agree with. Explain why you feel strongly, then explain what we need to do because of or as a result of the assumption.
Three assumptions I strongly agree with are:
- The biggest challenges lie in communication, misunderstanding, personality conflicts, poor leadership, and bad teamwork
- Generosity brings with it the subtle but important issues of power. We must not imply that we are blessed because of our wealth, while those with less than us are not. We also must not believe that those we serve want what we have. We do not wish to import the idol of consumerism. There are ways we are both poor, and both rich. Nor do we wish to imply that we know what they need.
- Our mission trips usually assume we have something to offer the churches and communities we visit, but there is much to learn from them as well
I agree with the first one because in order to succeed we need, as a group, to communicate, to have patience, to work together and to try our best to understand each other. God placed us in this team and we need to honor him by working together with a smile. I agree with the second one because it isvery essential for us to be humble. We need to leave everything behind (our possesions, our comfort zone), have an open heart,and be who we really are. The people we are going to visit do not want to know how much money our parents make, they want to know who we are in Christ. And I also agree with the third one because there is so much we can learn from the people in Mancora. They are content people and they love God with their whole hearts.
2 comments:
"There are ways we are both poor, and both rich."
Carla-this is a porfound insight that I discovered when I was first traveling abroad. I am always stunned by the joy and generosity of those who have very little. It is quite humbling when one realized that most of the luxuries we have are excess and unnecessary. Not that "things" are bad, but we must be very careful to not make them idols. Humility is very important and I think I have learned the most about humility when I have served communities like you will be in Mancora! Great job, Carla. I have been praying for you!!!
Carla,
I agree with what you said about positive reports coming from the goers, not the receivers. If we do a good job, positive reports will follow. I think I need to clarify a bit more what I meant when I wrote that: the fact is that most mission trips do not bother to find out hwo what they planned went down with the people they served. They come, do their thing, leave, tell people how wonderful it was, but never actually ask the people they supposedly served how they think it went. I read about one team that went to Brazil and did a concert and all these people cheered and made a big deal, and the team thought "Oh, they love us, they love, God," etc. This researcher stuck around, asked the people at the concert some questions. Turns out a bunch of them decided to just play a joke on these people. This concert team came with the attitude that "Oh, we're doing a great thing for these people who never get to see good concerts," when in fact they were performing in Sao Paolo, Brazil, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in South America. These people in the audience had seen everyone and were kind of insulted by the mission team's attitude, so they decided to joke with them by acting like their concert was a big deal. The mission team never knew that was actually happening.
In another instance, a team went to build a house for someone somewhere and when they left, the people took their house down and rebuilt it the way they wanted it built (because the team insisted they knew better, their construction methods were better). It all goes back to knowing the people we are supposed to serve, and if we don't know them and don't have relationships with them, we can't serve them.
Post a Comment