Becky Sargent/The Falcon

Every year, thousands of church-going American teens pack their bags and head south of the border. While their nonreligious peers fly to Cabo or Cancun for wild vacations, young Christians have a different motivation for spending spring break in Mexico: mission trips.

I signed up for my first mission trip at the age of 16. At the time, I felt like it was probably the most admirable, self-sacrificing thing I could do. I pictured myself changing lives and welcoming lost souls to Christ. I imagined returning home as a teenaged Mother Teresa, completely transformed by my experience.

According to Christianity Today, "more than two million teens go on such trips every year." Many of them are likely pursuing the same sort of philanthropic and personal victories that I was.

Unfortunately, even though mission trips have become the fad adventure of the young Christian generation, they often lose much of their effectiveness to imprudent financing, poor project planning and a lack of long-term commitment.

First of all, mission trips are typically expensive. My trip to Mexico cost about $2,000 per person. Fifteen of us went on that trip for a total of $30,000. As I sent out my fundraising letters, I felt confident that this was money well spent.

But when we reached our destination, a small city in southern Mexico, I learned that our primary task for the week was painting an orphanage. We spent $30,000 and all the orphanage had to show for it was a fresh coat of sunny yellow paint.

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I had to wonder how the orphanage staff might have used that same sum of money. If my group had stayed home and mailed a check instead, our $30,000 could still have financed a quality paint job, but also provided weeks worth of food, clothing and much more for the children and their caretakers.

"When we paint an orphanage, build a house or distribute food to the homeless, their 'thank yous' fill us...with the reassurance that our work is valuable and appreciated," Christianity Today stated. "But if they had the chance to choose between us and our money, what would they choose?"

Secondly, the projects that trip leaders and participants choose aren't necessarily helpful to the native population. Too often, teens and young adults travel all the way to another country just to do the same jobs local laborers could do.

In reality, very few projects require the unique skills of an American teenager. Unless there is a need for quick text messaging or iPod updating, local laborers can handle any job as well as--and often better than--mission trip participants.

A team of Americans recently visited Honduras to build houses for the homeless. Afterwards, a local Honduran leader remarked, "they gather money to come here to do work, work that we are capable of doing," according to Christianity Today.

Finally, one- to two-week mission trips don't always inspire participants to long-term action. I know I learned a lot from my mission trip, and I did feel like a different person when I returned. But did I commit to helping orphans in my own community or raising awareness of the conditions I had witnessed? No.

Freshman Sarah Baggs was part of short-term mission trip to an orphanage in Tijuana. She recalls feeling like there was little her team could accomplish in such a short time.

"If [participants] aren't committed, how much difference can they really make in that community?" she asked. "You need people that are in it for the long haul."

Peter Lim, SPU's Global Involvement Coordinator, acknowledged that "we have a problem with short-term missions." But he suggested that this problem can be rectified by changing our focus to long-term involvement.

For example, Seattle Pacific Reachout International (SPRINT) requires an extensive debriefing process for students who participate in short-term mission trips. Through this process, they are encouraged to find ways to continue serving and raising awareness in the United States.

Lim described how a team that visited Cambodia came back to Seattle and found a Cambodian church to get involved in. When there is this sort of commitment, the cost of the trip is worthwhile and the tendency to focus on simple, short-term projects is avoided.

Thus there is hope for short-term missions. Participants just have to remember that a trip doesn't end just because they are back on U.S. soil.

"We contribute by what we can do when we get back, as advocates," Lim said.