I am currently deep in the process of organizing a week-long mission trip in May to a Christian dude ranch in Colorado. I’m trying to make sure travel arrangements are complete, everybody knows what they need, devotions and daily bible verses are prepared. As I do all this work, I have to reflect on why I think mission trips are important.
I have been on a few mission trips through the years, with varying roles and responsibilities. I’ve been on work trips to Mexico, putting on roofs and doing construction. I’ve been on youth mission trips in Texas when Carly was the youth director. I’ve been on trips to Berlin, Germany, to do Vacation Bible School at a church that was using it as a way to present the gospel to locals. I have cooked for work crews in Mississippi after hurricane Katrina and in Texas after hurricane Rita, and I have gone to the Wind River Ranch in Colorado to help them get ready to open in the spring.
A verse that has always spoken to me is Mark 10:45:
“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
So if Jesus, the one and only son of God made into flesh, came to serve others and not be lavishly put on pedestal, then what should I be doing? I should be willing to serve wherever I have been sent.
I have therefore looked for opportunities to serve, but I have found that these mission trips that I have been on may have been more for my benefit than for the places I’ve gone.
I’ve never been on the receiving end of a mission trip to know whether it’s worth the headache of having people come in and try to coordinate their work, having to redo work that work groups didn’t do correctly, or to heal relations that were stretched thin from a group that didn’t understand the cultural differences that existed. Sometimes, I have to wonder!
But I do know that each and every trip has pushed me in my faith journey, and as a result, I have grown.
That first trip to Mexico as a young 20-something, for instance; where I thought it would be all fun, but I learned how others lived and learned to care for the youth of the trip more than I did for myself.
Those youth mission trips where now I was responsible for getting the same number of kids home safely as I had left with — and Carly may have developed mission trip devotions, but it was my responsibility to lead the group through them and help others grow.
The trips to Mississippi where I was cooking for a group of 40 or so people that included a group from my Dad’s church and being pushed way out of my comfort zone as I was prepping devotions and leading them. (One thing I can say, though, it is incredibly awesome to be able to go on a mission trip with your Dad.)
The trips to Berlin were culturally out of my comfort zone, and I was to be leading a group of 3rd graders through VBS. Work trips were one thing, but evangelizing and VBS programs were not high on my priority list. I made it through, though, and it would be easier the next time.
These last trips to the ranch in Colorado, where I’m at least partially responsible for getting everybody there and back safely and leading the devotions and organizing the trip.
All these trips have continued to push me out of my comfort zone and have caused me to grow.
They have made me realize that I’m not to control the mission trip, but to facilitate the trip and be willing to be stretched.
I pray that these trips have benefited the people that we have gone to help — that they saw Christ’s love through our work, actions and words. Looking back on those youth trips and the stupid things that I did when I young and more foolish, I am often thankful that God blessed us in being able to return everyone home! But from a selfish standpoint, I want to be able to keep going on these trips so that I can continue to grow and be stretched.
Where have you been on a mission trip, and how has a mission trip allowed you to grow?
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