Toxic Charity #2.2: Problems that can result from helping others:

It is easy for a mission trip to be designed to be so attractive to the young people that the “mission” part of it is incidental. I've seen/heard of too many mission trips that consisted of a day or three of service or street corner evangelism and then the rest of the time being tourists or relaxing on the beach. If this is what it take to successfully form a group, maybe it doesn't really need to happen. This can leave a bad taste in the mouth of the culture into which the group drops – if they are even aware of the group's presence at all. This is a colossal waste of money and energy. It was my practice to have a celebratory day at the end of a Mission trip. I knew my kids had their priorities right when, twice, this event was rained out – and the group didn't care! They were there to build houses, not have fun.