Everyone has a tribe that they belong to. When you hear this word, you might envision a primitive people that live in some remote, African village marching off to do their daily fishing ritual. I can’t imagine that your particular social group is going to break out in a fishing dance later today at the office. However, in the broader sense of the word, you do in fact have a tribe. It could be with family of whom you share common ancestry or perhaps with friends that come together with shared interests and goals. Other factors such as religion and faith play a vital role in people’s lives, with those they share a common belief system with often becoming their people. Belonging to a group and gaining identity is certainly a good thing to have, that’s community. But what happens when our loyalty to our tribe becomes greater than it should to the exclusion of others around us? This is the danger of tribalism.

“People are starving in Africa.” How many times have you heard this from your mom or dad when you were younger as they tried to persuade you to take just one more bite of that broccoli casserole? Your parent’s reasoning was that you should finish all the food on your plate because so many go daily without anything. We were told that countless Africans would love to get their hands on our leftover carrots and peas. So, we reluctantly swallowed our vegetables, all the while, developing a mindset that there must be some pretty hungry people on the dark continent. 

We all like saving a dollar. In fact, we often feel better about spending if we know there’s a savings at the end of the check-out. Since everyone loves a discount, what if we could do the same with foreign missions? The question that many are asking is whether it’s still cost effective to send American personnel overseas when you can directly support a national pastor for a fraction of the cost. Many are claiming how funding nationals seems to provide “the biggest bang for our buck.”