If you read the previous note by Roland Allen in the What to Do we are afraid that after years of mission propaganda, you might be thinking about rushing off on a "missionary foray." Your observer DOES NOT PROMOTE MISSIONARY FORAYS! To learn more about what "forays" are and what they produce, go to MISSIONARY FORAYS - An Analysis of Short Term Missions. at the web site of World Mission Associates.
Your observer is aware that the information you will discover in the article, along with much of the information on the World Mission Associates Website, will run counter to what you have been lead to believe by mission organizations and para-church mission groups in the past. Your church might be sending "mission teams" to, say, Mexico every summer. Of course, everyone is excited about the trip. But, what do the local people see? Look up the article. Very interesting.
Your observer recently wrote to some of the organizations which promote "missionary forays" and asked them if they recognized any of the issues raised by the World Mission Associates article. Most did not respond. Those who responded tended to agree, yes, there are some issues. And they assured us with variations of the argument that they are not guilty, that the end justifies the means, and that they could not change their mission method.
Self-serving mission organizations have convinced many US churches and pastors, using poor and misleading missionary propaganda, that activies such as "missionary forays" are beneficial, when actually such activities do more harm than good.
Believe it or not.