Mission trips are awesome! They are life-changing! If you have ever participated in a solid, service-oriented (not one of those “youth group vacation” ones) mission trip you know exactly what I’m talking about!
Every mission trip ought to be planned and designed to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31), function as an extension of the sending local church, serve other like-minded ministries home and abroad, encourage the Pastor or Missionary of the visited ministry, train the members of the mission team to take their next spiritual step in their walk with God, and provide “hands on” exposure to ministries throughout the world.
Every year I prayfully select a theme that will express what we, as a team, are seeking to accomplish. In other words, if my team members were to remember one thing about that year’s mission trip, I want it to be the theme. This year’s theme was “Around The Corner” and Acts 1:8 and Philippians 1:27 were the verses that supported this theme. Allow me to briefly explain how those verses were put into practice…
Acts 1:8 clearly commands Christians to be gospel witnesses locally, nationally, and internationally. This year’s trip focused on the local aspect, hence the “Around The Corner” phrase. We traveled about 25-30 minutes down the road to the next town to help a young church plant in Holly Springs, NC run their very first Vacation Bible School, do some mega door-to-door canvassing, and participated in their Sunday Worship Services. What a blessing it was to see 1 young girl trust Christ alone for salvation! That is one more soul that will spend eternity in heaven because of the members of this mission team caring about advancing the gospel locally. Just think if every church member faithfully advanced the gospel “around the corner” how that would transform our communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Philippians 1:27 clearly commands Christians to be “…striving together for the faith of the gospel.” Christians and Church ministries ought to be unified in their efforts to advance the gospel. Oftentimes, there is debate, envy, competition, and pride among believers which greatly hinders the work of the local church. Christians around the world and around the corner must be functioning like a team for the faith! It was awesome to visibly see my mission team helping this local church plant. We were running side by side pursuing and focusing on the same goal…the gospel of Jesus Christ! What a great lesson to learn! Take a moment to think about what would happen if every Bible preaching and believing church were truly ”striving together” in unity, what kind of impact would make on the world?
I praise God for the wonderful opportunity to lead yearly mission teams and rejoice in the lessons that I learn through them. They keep the ministry fresh and my zeal for God hot! Now it’s time to start planning the 2011 mission trip!
