I woke up at 6 am this morning. Way too early for a Saturday.
So, I have found myself (instead of having my “quiet time”) perusing the internet, and of course, looking for more pictures and video of my precious boys. A new picture or video that I haven’t seen feels like Christmas.
After watching some of Kate Bruder’s videos on vimeo, I decided to search “Iquitos”, just to see what would come up. I found a well-made video about a missionary group who went down to deliver eyeglasses, vitamins and vaccines, and to preach the Gospel to the villages up and down the Amazon River.
As I watched, I found myself in a crisis of belief. From the video, it looked like this group was simply delivering eyeglasses and medicines, preaching the Gospel, and then moving on to the next village. It seems like a wonderful thing to do. Meet a spiritual need through meeting a physical need.
An image continues to run through my head: a gringo (American) man standing in front of a large crowd of people. He has his hands outstretched over the people. They are all watching intently. Then the scene changes to the team praying over individuals, laying their hands on heads, limbs, and eyes. Then onto the next village.
It has me wondering about mission trips such as this one. Does this produce lasting change in the lives of the people? Team comes in, does their thing, then leaves. Where’s the relationship? Where’s discipling and mentoring them? And suppose they genuinely do receive salvation? What do they do with it? Where do they go? Who mentors and disciples them? And then there’s the whole “gringo” thing. Sometimes I worry that people in countries such as this one believe that any physical or spiritual help they may receive will always come in a gringo package.
This is why I love Scripture Union (the organization that runs our precious Puerto Alegria). It is run and operated only by Peruvians. I think that this has given the boys countless examples of Godly Peruvian men and women that they can follow. They know that they, too, can be men of God.
Please understand I know NOTHING about this particular video I saw. I have no idea what preceded or followed the work that they were doing. It just got me thinking, that’s all. I thought you might want to be a part of it.
Any comments? Thoughts?
