I scrolled through my instagram feed over the weekend. I saw pictures from a friend’s missions trip.
I always love people serving God around the world, so I read through her post.
She told a bit about her missions trip and then mentioned how many people got saved over the week. I definitely don’t think there is anything wrong with praising God when people accept Christ as their Savior, but why is it always a number?
I have been on five missions trips in my life, and I think about them often. When I was in high school, my youth group went to NYC on five different missions trips.
We often went out to the parks and just had conversations with people about God, but at the end of the day our group leader always asked the question, “How many people got saved today?” This number seemed to define all of our trips to the point there was this unnecessary pressure we put on people to accept Christ as their Savior.
It seemed like a competition which group could have more salvation stories.
I think back to those random people I met in the parks and subways of NYC. I don’t remember any of their names. I remember some of the events that happened in those parks, and how I walked several people through the salvation story, but I don’t remember any names.
I often wonder how many of those people were actually saved or if they were just saying a prayer that they were pressured into praying like I was growing up.
If you focus on the number of salvations in a missions trip, you are putting unnecessary pressure on everyone.
God never called us to save people, and only God can truly save someone. God called Christians to go into all the world and share his good news.
It Seemed Like A Good Idea At Three Am 