Building Relationships - Part 2

Approaching short-term missions is hard. Most people approach it with good intentions; however, we can end up doing it wrong unintentionally. We go somewhere and feel the need to give stuff away: our clothes, belongings, and medicine. We feel like this might help them and alleviate their poverty. We also feel that we can change their life in a week. (Read my last post here.) Missions is all about building relationships, but how many of you have started a lifelong friendship in a week and kept up with it?

The truth is, building relationships takes longer than one week. I'm in Guatemala for two months, but it often takes longer than two months. It takes months to years. Friendship isn't just something you make in a week and never return to, it takes regular upkeep. It's not something you return to once a year when you go on your annual missions trip. So why do missions organizations encourage you to build relationships?

First, I believe the most important relationship you can build is with the missionaries themselves. Missionaries need friends and prayer partners too! They are the people that can turn around and befriend indigenous people, and minister to them on a regular basis. It is important for them to have people behind them supporting them, praying for them, and encouraging them. Missionaries cannot continue what they are doing without support. Long-term missionaries learn the language, are in the communities, and can provide upkeep to a relationship in another country.

Second of all, building relationships is more successful as a church community. Partnering alongside another church to support and encourage one another is a good mission. This takes upkeep and follow-ups; however, both of the church bodies can provide this throughout their whole congregation. It also encourages both bodies to pray for each other often. This doesn't mean you go build a house for a family and never come back. This doesn't mean you give away all your belongings and tell them about Jesus, just to never speak to them again. This means encouraging a local pastor and church, so they can provide outreach to people in their community. The local people know how to encourage and start friendships within their community. They understand the cultural differences and how to approach people in the right way.

How would you feel if a bunch of Africans or South Americans invaded your community for a week, gave you lots of stuff, told you about Jesus, then left? They would feed you weird, different foods and give you stuff you might not even know how to use. Sure, you might be excited in the moment. However, it's kind of like summer camp. That excitement often goes away. You forget about why they came. It rarely has a lifetime effect on people. I know the people that understand me best also understand the way my life is, the way my community is, and the way our culture is. Each country and place is different. We cannot expect to understand everything a poor Guatemalan, Haitian, or Indian is going through. For this reason, we should support people that can understand them better.

Building relationships is what missions is all about. However, that being said, we need to approach it in a better way. We can't just throw free stuff at people, give them a Bible, and leave. We need to think about the relationships that we can actually understand and continue to feed. Long-term missionaries and local churches are people who can then turn around and help foreign people on a lasting basis.