The Wall Street Journal questions the effectiveness of Christian mission programs abroad:
Even so, the short-term mission paradigm is of somewhat limited use in meeting the goals of Christian mission. The faithful can do better. First, churches might want to encourage more one- and two-year commitments and fewer one- and two-week jaunts. The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, for example, has only about 1,200 missionaries in its one- to two-year programs, compared with the 30,000 short-termers it sends out every year. Of the IMB’s 4,200 career missionaries, more than 40% were once sent through a one- to two-year program.
Christians in North America might also want to focus more of their resources on cultivating human capital in the mission field. Who better to meet the needs of, say, Rwandans than a Rwandan? Furthermore, it is often no longer necessary to send missionaries to evangelize the developing world. In Africa and South America, evangelical churches are growing by leaps and bounds, with Christians on each continent vastly outnumbering their brethren in North America. Anglican archbishops in Africa have even set up “missionary dioceses” in the U.S. and Canada.
More here.