Why Mission Trips?

We really love teenagers and we deeply care about communities

When done well, mission trips bring together the best of both worlds in ways that communicate Christ’s servant love, prompt growth and ignite passions. That’s work we want to be a part of!

Mission trips connect people with what God is up to all around them, and teenagers are an important part of what God is doing. The trouble is that sometimes they don’t realize it. Misplaced expectations, infinite distractions and disconnected values have turned the love and service that Jesus intended students’ stories to be about into a mere footnote. But mission trips invite students’ faith to their fingertips, allowing meaningful conversations about why service is essential to following Jesus. Mission trips invite students to be fulltime participants in God’s plan.

Communities, too, are participants in that plan. We know that every community – the ones we visit and the ones we come from – have both strengths and struggles. By entering a different town or city, we get an inside view of another context where Jesus is at work. Alongside the real needs we’ve seen students meet, the people and places we serve have also poured back into church groups. This mutual giving makes mission trips much more than simple service projects. It changes perspectives, shapes passions and alters pursuits. It opens students’ eyes to the incredible possibilities God has put in front of them.

Here’s the deal: We think that every teenager should experience a mission trip that values relationships, respects communities and connects the hands of service with the heart of Jesus. Again and again we see quality mission trip experiences show students how to use their lives to love and value others better.

You see, we’ve never thought of mission trips as a youth group’s “big event” where students finally get to live out their faith. The “big event” of students’ faith happens every day as teenagers find the opportunity to love and serve the people God puts in their path. Instead, mission trips are a launch pad… a drawing back of the bow… a wind-up for the pitch. Mission trips equip and encourage students to go home and love the communities they travel into every day when they roll out of bed.

And God’s mission for us is far more than a trip. But we know, for many, living out that mission begins with a trip. That’s why mission trips will continue to be our work and our passion.