Mission trips

Mission trips are journeys made by members of a religious group who volunteer to take their message to people in another part of the world. Mission trips may be lengthy or for just a few weeks, and are typically Christian ventures. Modern mission trips often involve community projects, such as building a church or repairing neighborhood structures. Students and young adults often participate in such trips. For example, many college students spend spring break on mission trips serving impoverished communities.

Mission trips have a long and sometimes brutal history. Missionaries, or people who undertake mission trips, have been killed. Some missionaries have been accused of interfering with other cultures and abusing members. Zealous missionaries have forced indigenous peoples to conform to their interpretation of correct behavior and social construct. Mission trips have resulted in religious conversions and in some cases have eliminated traditional beliefs. In other cases, indigenous people have melded aspects of Christianity with their cultural beliefs.

Background

Mission trips originated in the first century, between 30 and 80 CE. They were undertaken by the disciples of Jesus Christ, according to biblical teachings. After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, he instructed his followers to preach his message to others, and to journey to other communities with his teachings. Apostles traveled to Egypt, Turkey, and other lands in the vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea. Much of the New Testament of the Bible concerns the messages Paul and other apostles delivered to people in foreign lands.

Over the centuries, the message of Christ spread through most of Europe. The majority of the earliest converts were members of the aristocracy, who often outlawed all religions other than Christianity among the peasantry. From Europe, Christian missionaries frequently traveled to Africa, Asia, and Great Britain with the intention of converting others with their message.

Mission trips of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries were often journeys of discovery as well. Explorers visited new countries and continents. They may have been seeking trade opportunities or claiming lands for the crown, but Christian outreach was often part of these journeys.

Missionary work expanded quickly beginning in the sixteenth century. Several developments aided missionaries. The invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century allowed individuals and groups to mass-produce publications including posters and pamphlets. The push to mass-produce the teachings of Christ increased with the Protestant Reformation, which began with priest Martin Luther posting his handwritten 95 Theses on a church door in Germany in 1517. Local printing-press owners recognized the interest people had and began mass-producing them. They sold well and printers made even more copies. Within two months, printers hundreds of miles away in Switzerland were making and selling them as well. This dissemination of Luther’s words showed Christians the power of the printing press, and many missionaries turned to publishing Christian teachings. They were also able to translate the Bible into other languages and print many copies. Luther himself produced multiple publications, including a German edition of the Bible.

Mission trips may have unintended consequences for both the missionaries and indigenous peoples. In the past, native peoples have been abused by newcomers. Some tribes reject contact with missionaries, and have killed trespassers. Outsiders may introduce diseases such as influenza for which indigenous people have no immunity. For example, dozens of Ayoreo people in Paraguay died in the years after American fundamentalist missionaries visited them during the 1970s. The intentions and potential impact of mission trips should be carefully considered.

Overview

Christianity documents numerous missionaries who have traveled to foreign lands to share the Gospel and, often, to explore. Some have been criticized for forcing local people to renounce their cultures. Many have had lofty ambitions, but found the rigors of life in another land and culture daunting. Many have made a lasting impact on culture and religion.

Columbanus (543–613) fled the temptations of the flesh to study in a monastery. When he was in his forties, he believed God wanted him to leave Western Europe. He took twelve traveling companions and traveled to Gaul, modern France, where many former Christians had returned to their pagan religions. He founded the monasteries Annegray, Luxeuil, and Fontaine. The local king banned Columbanus from the country, so he and his party preached throughout the region that is modern-day France, Germany, and Switzerland. In his seventies, he oversaw the building of Bobbio, a monastery in northern Italy.

Brothers Cyril and Methodius (815–885) answered a request from the prince of Moravia, the modern Czech Republic. He wanted missionaries to explain Christianity in the local language. The brothers journeyed to Moravia and translated the Mass into Slavonic, the language of the region. They also translated the Bible. Political machinations in the Roman Catholic Church eventually forced Methodius into exile after Cyril’s death. Slavonic was banned in the Mass again. However, their work and Slavonic liturgy and Bible spread the faith and led to the founding of the Bulgarian and Serbian Orthodox churches.

As a Puritan, John Eliot (1604–1690) was persecuted in his native England. He emigrated to Massachusetts, where he became a pastor. He learned Algonkian, the language of the local Native American people, and began preaching to them in their native tongue. He also translated the Bible into Algonkian and published it in 1663. As with many European natives, he believed that to be Christians, people had to live as he and his countrymen did. He insisted the Native Americans had to live in villages similar to English towns and dress in English clothing. Men had to cut their hair. These so-called praying Indians were required to reject their culture, but were not permitted to join Puritan churches. When the English and Wampanoags were at war in 1675–1676, the colonists questioned the loyalty of the Native American converts, and put them in concentration camps. After this breach of trust, only a few of these villages survived.

William Carey (1761–1834) is known as the father of modern Protestant missions. He plied his trade as a cobbler in England while studying languages and became a preacher with the Particular Baptists. He followed the progress of Moravian missionaries and argued that all Christians should focus on converting non-Christians, whom they called heathens. In 1792, Carey organized a missionary society, and took his family to India. They were unprepared and underfunded, and Carey moved his family frequently in search of employment. He learned the Bengali language and translated the Bible, then began preaching to small groups. This work was illegal in British-controlled India, but in late 1799 the Danes invited him to live in one of their settlements near Calcutta. He was joined by a printer, who helped fund his mission through government printing contracts, and teachers who opened schools for children. He published the Bengali New Testament in 1801. Over nearly three decades, his helpers translated the Bible into the major languages of India and parts of 209 other languages and dialects. Carey also fought for social reform in India and with his teachers founded a divinity school, Serampore College. Carey inspired thousands of others to take up missionary work.

David Livingstone (1813–1873) was among those spurred to action by William Carey. He grew up working in a cotton mill by day and studying at night. He learned about the need for medical missionaries in China, and began to train for the role. China soon closed its doors to visitors, however, and Livingstone turned his attention to another continent. He was inspired by the stories of Robert Moffat and his mission trips in southern Africa. Livingstone traveled to southern Africa and under the eye of Moffat opened stations where he taught school. After ten years of settled life, he chose to become an explorer. He wanted to open what he called a Missionary Road or God’s Highway 1,500 miles north into the continent interior. He clashed with other missionaries, assistants, and White Afrikaners. The latter resented his criticism of racial intolerance and burned his station. As he explored the interior and developed relationships with local chiefs, he also tried to disrupt the slave trade in the Portuguese colonies. Livingstone’s driving force was to find the source of the Nile River to see if he could trace the roots of Judaism and Christianity in Africa and prove the stories of the Bible.

More modern mission trips often focus on service. For example, many organizations send individuals to Third World countries or impoverished communities for building projects. They might help a village by digging a well, installing pumps, or improving sanitation. Some mission trips deliver specific services, such as cataract surgery or cleft-palate reconstruction. Modern missionaries often share their faith through actions rather than, or in addition to, actively working to convert others.

Some groups establish health clinics or hospitals. The Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) is one such organization. Founded in 1912, a century later it was one of the largest non-profits in the United States. The Catholic charity’s founder, Dr. Paluel Joseph Flagg, was an anesthesiologist in New York City. After the deaths of his newborn child and wife, he sought solace in his faith. He took a mission trip to Haiti in 1912 to help those with leprosy, a chronic progressive bacterial infection for which no treatment was available at the time. He recruited other medical professionals to provide compassionate care to those afflicted. He organized faith-based medical missions to countries in Asia, including China and India. Flagg also worked with the Maryknoll Sisters, a religious order devoted to service overseas. He trained them in basic medical skills to help them on mission trips.

CMMB has supported another famous missionary, Mother Teresa. The Roman Catholic nun born in Macedonia became a missionary. She worked in Calcutta, India, where she founded the Missionaries of Charity. CMMB donated medicine and supplies to Mother Teresa’s mission work in India. She and her Sisters cared for those with leprosy and other impoverished people, in particular orphaned children.

Members of the Mormon faith are expected to undertake missionary work. Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), believed his message had to be shared with the world. LDS mission trips took members to the Pacific Islands, Europe, and across North America. About 53,000 Mormons travel as missionaries annually. Women older than 21 and all men aged 19 to 26 may receive a mission call. Men serve two years, while women may contribute eighteen months to service. After a few months of training, the missionaries travel to their assignments. They work six days a week, studying scripture for two hours and going door to door for eight or nine hours. Not all Mormon mission trips involve proselytizing, however. Some missionaries undertake specialized missions, such as humanitarian work.

However, even in modern times, missionary work can prove dangerous. The Roman Catholic church releases an annual list each year of missionaries killed in the act of sharing their faith. In 2023, the church reported twenty deaths, with the highest number occurring in Africa. In 2024, news of three American missionaries killed in Haiti by local gangs rocked the United States. While many missionaries and organizations take precautions to avoid harm, missionary work can still be dangerous for those who choose to participate.

Bibliography

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