The sun comes up over an unfamiliar body of water. It’s already too warm. A dozen teenage boys begin to stir from their mats on a hard cement floor. Not too far away the girls are already getting ready for the day. The sounds from the village center are foreign and so different from the sounds of downtown, but are no less unmistakable morning sounds.
Now begins the fun part: the local breakfast specialties, the attempts at communicating in a totally unknown tongue, the bumpy ride to the construction site over dirt roads with deep, muddy ruts, the sounds from the nearby jungle, the regular cloudbursts of warm rain.
Why didn’t we know of this joy long ago? How could so much hard work bring so much reward in such little time?
It’s been said that nothing boosts the morale of a youth group, nothing builds faith maturity, and nothing promotes the Christian way better than mission experiences. Most of us can only afford short-term mission trips. But the impact remains high.
The testimony to the benefits of mission service is almost unanimously positive. You’ll hear things like, “I know now why I’m a Christian,” and, “For the first time in my life I’m proud to be an Adventist.”
Young people, especially, discover in mission service a purpose for their life. Like nothing else, mission trips get kids’ minds off of their own pedestrian challenges and temptations and on to the higher road of living for others.
Do-It-Yourself Mission Trips
- Lots of churches have contacts (through members who have been in the mission field or who have friends or relatives in the mission field) that can make mission service possible. You need to know three things:
- A site that is open to a short-term project
- What the specific project will be
- How many people the site can support for the amount of time you can give.
- You also need to make contact with someone who has done this sort of thing before. Ask your conference youth director for a recommendation. Then fallow the good advice you receive and take the time to be fully prepared.
The best single resource for getting prepared for mission trips is Maranatha Guide to Adventure, an Instructive Guide to Short-Term Missions by Steve and Debbie Case. Published in 1994 by Maranatha Volunteers International, the resource includes such pre-trip items as a philosophy of short-term mission trips, everything you need to do to prepare for your trip, how to construct and raise a budget, a preparation time-line, and what to look for in a pre-trip visit.
In an “At the Project” section the guide explains how to get to your project, how to construct the work day on site, how to relate to the locals, and how to make the experience spiritually beneficial to your group.
Finally, the guide explains how to reenter your own culture successfully, how to report the experience to your church and others and how to keep the enthusiasm going.
The appendix to the manual includes sample application blanks, budget sheets, evaluation forms, materials lists and menus. It also gives you architectural plans for building a typical mission church, lists of things to take along, sample letters to appeal for donations, and much, much more.
Maranatha Guide to Adventure is available direct from Maranatha Volunteers International, 1600 Sacramento Inn Way, Suite 116, Sacramento, CA 95815. You can call Maranatha at (916) 920-1900. You’ll get the 150 page manual, a 35 minute videotape and a 50 card card deck with instructions on how to use the cards, all for $49.95.
-Adapted from Summer Ministries (Lincoln, NE: AdventSource, 1997).
Seven Steps to a Successful Mission Trip
- Select Key Staff (See: Resource People)
- Define Your Trip. What's the primary purpose?
- Recruit Participants. Skilled and unskilled.
- Construct a Budget. Be sure to include all the details, including transportation, housing, insurance, food, excursions and construction costs.
- Raise the Funds.
- Conduct a Pre-trip site Visit.
- Train Your Staff.
From: ABZ’s of Adventist Youth Ministry
Permission to copy for use in the local congregation or group.
