How common is it for Americans to go on mission trips?

32 comments

1. Unless you’re Mormon or a fundamentalist Christian, not common at all.

2. I know no one, but I’m not in the right area of the country.

3. A tiny percentage of Americans go on mission trips and most are either Mormon or some flavor of evangelical Protestant.

4. Basically unheard of in the Catholic community I grew up in. Lots of volunteer work though but that was generally local.

5. It is fairly common in the evangelical christian population which is probably a higher percentage than most countries.

   I have personally known a few people who have gone on one.

6. I know a number who did, but mostly they were doing nominal community service work not like actively trying to convert people.

   Like….I know folks who went but they spent most of their time handing out water, helping cleanup after a hurricane, or digging wells or something. Maybe the pastor running the trip had a box of Bibles conspicuously placed and would talk to anyone who asked.

   Local volunteer work is a lot more common, though.

7. I know a couple people who have.

8. When I was still a Christian, my church would send a delegation abroad for one at least every year or two.

9. i know a lot of people who’ve gone on missions, see flair for details

10. If you go to BYU

    It’s pretty common

11. Not very common but it isn’t unheard of. I only see super religious people doing that.

12. Mormon here! In our church, it’s a rite of passage for young men to go on their mission. Young women can go, but it’s less expected of us. My husband went on a two year mission to Peru when he was 19-20. He came back and told me how beautiful Peru was (we were dating but not married yet) and we ended up moving back there for five years.

13. I know one person who’s done this. He went somewhere in Western Africa and helped build a school.

14. A fraction of a percent.

15. Not common at all.

16. I went to a very small private Christian school in Maine, of the 25 or so that were close to my age, at least 3 maybe as many as 5 did summer missions trips. In my peer group, while part of these trips were spent talking to people about Christianity, work projects were also part of the focus as well, building schools, other community buildings, digging wells etc. Even though these trips were somewhat common for my particular subculture of the states they are much less common taking into consideration the entire population of the country.

17. We evangelicals do it a lot. Not sure about everyone else.

18. For most Americans, extremely rare; for most Utahans, very common.

19. I did mission trips as a kid (raised Lutheran) but they were a) within the continental united states b) were more about doing some sort of community service. I went to rural Appalachia and helped build an anti erosion wall for example.

20. Very common amongst members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’ve heard of them amongst baptists and other evangelicals. LDS ones aren’t just a trip though. It’s essentially a full-time job for two full years

21. More common in protestant areas. A friend I knew spent a summer in Nicaragua on a mission trip(some sort of megachurch protestant). Another was mormon or lds(don’t remember) and was in Taiwan for two years before he could go to college.

22. The only people I have known to do mission trips were Mormons.

23. LDS and witnesses are the only ones I know who do mission trips.

24. Very common at my son’s Independent Baptist Church community. But they also do quite a bit in underprivileged communities here in the US.

25. It’s common for certain churches. My mother’s church sends a group every year to build homes and schools, and evangelize, of course. I’m aware of other churches that do similar things but I live in an area where you can’t turn a corner without running into a large church. Smaller churches don’t usually have those kind of resources. So it’s common in certain areas but not everywhere.

26. Pretty common in my experience. My wife has gone on a couple, I haven’t, but would like to. I know several people at my church who have as well.

27. I have a cousin who lives at a mission in Honduras and another further separated cousin (our Grandmas were sisters) who went on missions in South America until covid.

28. It’s pretty much required if you’re Mormon

29. Catholic, I went on mission trips to WV, SD and Toronto, CA, and thought they were pretty smarmy and patronizing. I then went on non-religious service trips in college and they were equally smarmy and patronizing.

30. I actually know a number of people that have. They had church associations but the missions were about building schools/homes, helping after natural disasters, bringing food/water/healthcare- not converting people

31. The Mormons do it a lot. They’re kind of expected to do it if they can make it work. Other churches do it too, but there’s not the same expectation, so they don’t have the sheer numbers.

    I grew up Catholic and my church had mission trips to go build houses or dig wells or whatever, but they didn’t actually do much promoting beyond that.

32. I went on two mission trips as a teen. I have adult family members (50ish) who go to Central America every couple years on mission trips. I grew up and knew a ton of folks who did stuff with YWAM. My church is sending 15 teens to the DR this summer. I guess it depends on what circles you run in.