The reason I don’t think Americans should go on mission trips to Mexico is because it is an easy destination (Baja in particular).

I don’t have a problem with doing something easy in and of itself. But ‘easy’ has created a lot of problems and produced a lot of abuse at the hands of American Christians in Mexico. In general, mission trips in Mexico produce very little long term change. At times they even discourage long term change.

Because Mexico is an easy destination to encounter poverty, scores of church groups go to Mexico to “help the poor.” Often these trips are more about exposing American teenagers to poverty and missions than about actually helping Mexicans out of poverty. To a certain extent, Christians are using the Mexican poor to meet their own needs. Nobody will ever actually admit this, but if Mexico came out of poverty, it would actually hurt the agendas of a number of youth programs. We (the American church) need Mexico to be poor.

Because Mexico is an easy destination, it means people can get there and back without thinking through the consequences of their actions. Poverty is a difficult and complicated problem to overcome. Americans are under the false delusion that a lack of resources is the main reason people are poor. We have resources, so we take them to people and give them away. Problem solved. A lack of resources is the most obvious result of poverty, but it is not where poverty starts or ends. When we take resources alone to people in poverty we sometimes make the problem worse. Two quick examples:

1)There are communities in Mexico that are so bombarded by American mission trips that they do not wash their clothes. Americans always bring new clothes, so they were a shirt once and then throw it away.

2) Did you know that very nearly all of the orphans in Mexico have living parents (who sometimes visit them)? Every time we build a new orphanage in Mexico we create new orphans. There is a cultural problem in Mexico in which step-fathers will not raise children that are not their own. So when Mom gets a new husband, she sends all the kids to any one of the newly built orphanages. Instead of confronting this problem we are perpetuating it. We are convinced that 3 good meals in our orphanage are better for a child than one meal with their own family.

Because Mexico is an easy destination Americans take the problem of poverty away from Mexican Christians. Because we’ve taught the Mexicans that a lack of resources is the main obstacle to change, how can they compete with their American brothers? We say in one breath “Resources are the problem and we have them. So sit back and relax we’ve got it all taken care of.” Should someone be taking care of the poor in Mexico? Absolutely, and the Mexican church should be leading the way on how to do it. Mexican Christians live there and understand the cultural issues far better than we do. They’re also there for the long term so they are BEST equipped to see change happen. As it stands we invite Mexican Christians into our programs instead of being invited by Mexican Christians into their programs. Transformation is a long term process. It CANNOT be done on a weekend trip. Always ask the question, “would the Mexican church being doing this on their own if we weren’t here?”

And this is perhaps my most important point. Mexican transformation is simply not the goal of most mission trips to Mexico. So it’s no wonder that we don’t implement programs that are sustainable. Our goal in Mexico is simply to give them stuff or get them to say the sinner’s prayer. This is perhaps a crystal clear look into two of the American church’s own sins: material goods will take care of your problems and converts are more valuable than disciples.

Christian development agencies actually know how to get a community out of poverty, they do so with success all of the time. So ask yourself, after 30+ years of the most extensive missions work in the history of the world, why is Baja Mexico still in poverty? Some give reasoning that is out right racism. We can expect development to happen every where else in the world, but for some reason with think it’s the Mexicans who can’t do it.

I think the safest thing American Christians can do is to bail out of Mexico (I’m thrilled with the new Passport restrictions). There is so much abuse and so many poorly thought through programs it’s unlikely you’ll be doing anyone any long term good by being there. There may be some great programs and it might be possible to be involved in something good there, but right now I don’t see it. If you want a safe bet, only partner with groups that are part of AERDO And don’t at all feel guilty for abandoning Mexico, I guarantee there are 500 teenagers on their way right now, that base has been covered.