An Argument for Domestic over International Mission Trips

I’m a big fan of mission trips.  My life was changed when I went on a mission trip right before my senior year in high school.  Because of that experience, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to go on a mission trip – domestic or international.  As a minister, I have led both International and domestic mission trips before and I see the value of both.  However, for ARGUMENTS SAKE, I’m taking the position that more people should go on domestic mission trips over international ones.  Here is why:

My case for domestic trips:

1. Christ’s mission strategy starts domestically. In Acts 1:8, Christ tells his disciples that they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  At this point the disciples main stopping ground was Jerusalem and the sounding area.  So with Christ challenging them to be His witnesses, He didn’t say “go to the ends of the earth to be my witnesses”.  No, He said that they will be His witness from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.  That means that we need to be doing missions locally and domestically, not just international trips.
2. They are cheaper. International mission trips are often over $1,000 (mainly because of the airplane tickets).  I have done many domestic mission trips for just over $300.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that this alone increases the ability for more people to go on these life changing trips.  And that is a HUGE, especially in such an economic downturn our nation has had over the past few years.  What also hurts is that if families with multiple people wanting to go on the same trip.  You could send 3 of your family members for the cost of just 1 international trip! What good is it to have these great, life changing trips, if they can’t afford to go on them?  Too many people will miss out and that is unacceptable.
3. They show you that Americans are hurting too. It is great to do an international trip and help people in poor countries or areas that are in desperate need.  The only problem is that there so are many people here, in America, that are in desperate need as well.  I’ll never forget seeing teenagers and young adults in our West VA and Western PA trips riding bikes to and from places (whereas some of my youth were driving BMWs at the time), wearing the same clothes for most of the week (where some of my youth changed outfits twice a day during our trip) and infected with lice, living in rat infested, condemned housing.  These were Americans, who looked just like me and my team and who, realistically, could have been any one of us.  I LOVE these domestic trips because it shows our youth that their fellow Americans are struggling too.
4. They are just as impacting. Serving God and serving others anywhere impacts lives.  Every year I come back from these domestic mission trips and our leaders and students alike are just as impacted as the people from our church who come back from Nicaragua.  Serving the Lord anywhere, with the right heart, can impact anyone.

Again, I see the value of both domestic and international mission trips and hope that in your life you are able to go on both.  But too often I believe that we limit ourselves to think that unless we go to Haiti or Nicaragua or some other international destination, we didn’t really go on a mission trip.  So these are simple 4 primary reasons why I am passionate about domestic mission trips.

What do you think?  TAKE A MINUTE and thoughtful process my argument for domestic trips.  Did I miss something or am I inaccurate somewhere?  I’d love to have a great dialogue going about this so post a comment so that others may be challenged and encouraged.