The most common reflection I hear from students returning from mission trips relates to gratitude for the blessings of having wealth. The comments come in a variety of forms:
• “I couldn’t believe these people lived in houses made of cardboard and tin.”
• “I am so thankful I have clean drinking water every day, piped right into my home. I took it for granted before I left.”
• “I wanted to cry every time I saw that child eating his simple bowl of rice day in and day out.”
At the most basic level, gratitude is an incredibly good response in any situation. God commands that we give thanks and encourages us to celebrate His provision in our lives. There are many American teenagers who certainly could do with a dose of reality as to how most of the world lives. It places the need for the latest video game or brand name jeans in much-needed perspective.
Nevertheless, we often are content to let our students stop short in thinking through their response to poverty. Simply saying we are blessed to have wealth is a trite type of gratitude that fails to ask the more complicated questions. It is incumbent upon spiritual mentors to help those under their care think through these harder issues. Here are some questions to ask:
• What underlying assumptions inform your thinking about the poverty of others?
• Does God love you more because He has given you more comforts in life? Are material possessions a sign of blessing?
• Is it God’s goal to bring wealth to His children?
• Are there blessings found in poverty?
• If poverty is potentially a blessing, then what form of gratitude is appropriate toward God?
Exposure to poverty is an incredibly tender situation for most Americans. We have been taught for years from a cultural and a religious standpoint that God does not want us to lack. We also have embraced the idea that opportunity to escape debilitating circumstances is God-given. Interacting with others who may know nothing other than lack — and have a sense of resignation as to their destiny — is deeply unsettling for most short-term mission participants from America.
How do you help students process poverty without being trite? First, help them understand poverty is a blessing and a curse. It is a reflection of our fallen world, but it is also a means by which God brings His children into greater reliance on Him. Second, poverty often is indicative of layers of social realities that may not be readily apparent to an American student travelling to a country for the first time. Help them to begin identifying the factors which contribute to poverty and then to begin asking the question of how the long-term patterns of unhealthy poverty might be broken through meaningful change. Third, help your students explore the connection between religious worldview and economic realities. What role does Christianity have in redeeming people from physical and religious poverty?
In the end, moving beyond trite gratitude will help your students develop a deeper appreciation for God’s gifts, as well as greater understanding of God’s work in the world. That will assure that your short-term trip has long-term impact.
