Why I’ll Never Go on a Mission Trip Again

Our well-intentioned attempts to serve Black and Brown people barely made an impact

Credit: Gabriel Perez/Getty Images

I grew up in a mostly White church, where a mission trip was a rite of passage. To fund a trip, we’d raise money through car washes, bake sales, or bottle drives. We prayed. We wrote letters to relatives asking for money. We believed we were being called…