Dodging Dangers, Mission Groups Weigh Risks and Rewards

(RNS) — For millions of Americans, summer is the season for short-term mission trips. Church groups take off for faraway places where sharing God’s love involves construction projects, teaching Bible lessons at camps and bringing medical care to people who seldom if ever see a doctor or a dentist.

But for mission trip operators, it’s also time to weigh the risks and rewards that come with bringing the well-intentioned face-to-face with real-life hardships in far-flung locations.

This year’s many risks, from fuel-price riots in Haiti to violent unrest in Nicaragua, have forced a fresh reckoning with thorny questions: How much risk is too much? And how do trip leaders balance safety with a perceived imperative to take risks for the gospel?

“God tells us we should go, and that command hasn’t changed,” said Nathan Norman, spokesman for Praying Pelican Missions, a Minneapolis-based operator of mission trips. “But we must use wisdom and not have people in unnecessarily risky situations that would put them in harm’s way.”

Praying Pelican has had a challenging season. When riots broke out in Haiti in July, the ministry diverted all of its planned Haiti trips to countries thought to be safer, if flights were available. Political unrest in Nicaragua prompted the organization to cancel one Nicaragua trip; participants backed out of others. Itineraries changed at the last…