Short-term missions trips: Do they help?
What good are short-term missions trips? I found a fascinating article on that topic this week in Leadership Journal, an interview with church planter Oscar Muriu, a Kenyan pastor.
The summary of his missions trip wisdom is that we must go in as guests and learners rather than saviors and teachers. But you’ll get a lot more than that if you skim down the article to about the midpoint, where it says:
Your church has a huge vision. How can churches in the West help? We’re used to sending short-term mission teams over to paint walls …
Yes, and after you leave, we repaint many of the walls that you painted! (Laughter.)Okay, seriously, do short-term mission trips help?
Globalization, interdependence and the 100-mile suit
Globalization. Sweatshops. Off-shoring. Child labor. Free markets. My recent reading about global poverty has opened my eyes to a variety of buzzwords (not to mention real issues) regarding economies and how they help people rise above poverty and make a living.
But never have I seen a clearer illustration of our interdependence than THIS:
The guy in the photo is wearing a 100-mile suit. The name isn’t a statement about its durability but rather its provenance. According to this article in Wired, educator and designer Kelly Cobb made the suit only from materials that could be found within 100 miles of her home near Philadelphia. It took 500 man-hours and 20 artisans to make the outfit pictured above. You don’t always get what you pay for.
Wired called the suit “a demonstration of the massive manufacturing power of the global economy” and comments that “Industrial processes and cheap foreign labor belie the tremendous resources that go into garments as simple as a T-shirt.”
I put forward the 100-mile suit as an example of how much we benefit from sharing together in a global economy. We DO need to attack the problems and abuses…because it’s worth it. I mean who wants to wear this thing?
It’s also a decent example of the body concept of the church from Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, eh?
Doing good vs. simply feeling good
TechCrunch featured a new site last week called Do The Right Thing, where users praise or pummel companies for their social concern. The idea is to call companies to higher standards by using the web for public censure or praise. Wal-Mart bashing is a favorite hobby on the site, as expected. Products from the (Red) initiative are praised, again as expected. (Unexpected: Do The Right Thing aims to be a for-profit business).
I can’t see this as a viable business, though I admit a lack of imagination. But it does aim to tap into our growing(?) desire to do good at a distance, to criticize or praise without even trying to grasp economic complexity, and to change the world at the least possible cost to ourselves. The (Red) initiative itself appeals to the same desire, which I addressed here (and I disavow the typos 
).
I’m always glad to see people trying new things to make the world better. Yet I fear that deceptively simple ideas will distract us from doing much harder, costlier things that can actually work.
A vanity post: Tony Campolo
I heard Tony Campolo, the well-known speaker, author, and radical Christian, speak at a conference a few years ago. His topic was gay marriage, and he ended his talk with an appeal to support children through Compassion International. As you can hear in this two-minute audio clip (which I’ve used at MHCC before), I felt he was speaking directly to me.
Better (Red) than dead
I first became aware of the (Red) campaign on Thanksgiving night when I saw a long commercial about it (narrated by Bono). Some of my younger friends tell me that (Red) has been operating in Europe for some time, but it seems the U. S. push is just beginning.
Here’s how it works: Companies like Apple, American Express and others brand certain products with the (Red) logo. (The products themselves may or may not be red in color). When consumers purchase (Red) products, part of the profits go to AIDS relief. The (Red) Ipod Nano, for example, which is actually red as well as (Red) costs the same as comparable Ipods, but $10 goes to AIDS relief with every purchase.
The (Red) manifesto stresses that (Red) isn’t a charity but rather a business model, that once consumers understand the choice, they will choose (Red) products and increase their market share enough to offset the contribution. The relative success of products labeled “green” and “organic” may indicate that (Red) will succeed.
I think (Red) is a great idea and I hope it works. What concerns me is that it taps our questionable impulse of materialism and suggests that we can use it for good (kind of like the 2001 idea that we had to shop, or the terrorists had won). Sure, if I’m going to buy a Nano anyway, I might as well get the (Red) one. But what if instead I decided to forgo the purchase altogether and give $200 to AIDS relief?
The truth is, most of us aren’t going to do that. And this is the problem. The (Red) option gives me an alternative that keeps me from feeling guilty about it.
Socially-responsible economics are complicated. For example, a (Red) T-shirt from GAP costs $28, and GAP says they donate half the profits to charity. My initial reaction is: “How selfish do you have to be to buy a $28 T-shirt? And how much better can it be than a $7 T-shirt from Wal-Mart?”
But look closer and you’ll see that GAP also claims to be committed to improving conditions and pay in garment factories in China. Maybe that $7 shirt is subsidized by child-labor at slave wages. Maybe it really does cost closer to $28 to get it made fairly and get it shipped here.
Which brings me back to wishing this whole project well. As Chrsitians, however, shopping responsibly can be only the beginning. Loving our neighbor like we love ourselves requires real sacrifice.
P. S. Growing up in the late-cold-war 70s, I never thought being red would be such a desirable thing!
15 Minutes on AIDS in Africa
At the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, our group got to see a short video from World Vision depicting AIDS through one woman’s eyes. I found it moving. Now I invite all of you to watch it online. You’ll need a high-speed connection and about 15 minutes.
Our church is raising money for a water well in Zambia to bring health and life (and, indirectly, fight AIDS) in one village. This video, and the passion of our youth and leaders behind the project, motivated me to get involved.
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One love, one blood, one life…we get to carry each other…
“The greatest use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” James Truslow Adams. Last week at Willow Creek’s Leadership Summit, I heard Bill Hybels interview rock superstar Bono on his faith and his passionate work against poverty and AIDS in Africa. Bono is one of the world’s most famous people, even though my Dad thinks he used to be married to Cher and many folks under 20 don’t know him as well as I expected.
Bono said in the interview that celebrity is a ridiculous thing, an exact inversion of the Bible’s principles on value. But, he says, since he HAS celebrity, he chooses to spend it on Afirca. Celebrity gets him in to see the President, Senators, UN Leaders, and other wealthy and powerful individuals who can DO something. Celebrity also connects him to the masses of us who can each do a LITTLE something that can add up to MUCH.
Bono is directly involved in the One Campaign which, among other things, calls the U. S. to use one percent of its budget for basic health, water, food and education in the world’s poorest countries. I like this idea because I read in both Testaments of the Scriptures that God takes interest in nations as well as individuals and how they do justice.
Another group I’ve been impressed with is World Vision’s One-Life Revolution, a Christian-based organization that MHCC has worked with in the 30-Hour Famine. For the past 11 months, some of our youth have been raising money to dig a well for an African village to provide clean, life-giving drinking water to the people there. The last event in this effort will be a spaghetti and salad dinner here at MHCC on Sunday night, September 10 at 5p before evening activities. Come and donate!
More importantly, find your place in Africa, South America, Asia or other parts of the global south where poverty and disease is rampant, and then read Matthew 25:31f and see where Jesus is in such circumstances. Find your place to pray about daily and where YOU can get involved.
Many of you have enough money to know that it doesn’t satisfy. So start spending it (and your life) on something that will outlast it.
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