5 Reasons Every Family Should Go On A Family Mission Trip

Vacation. Soccer Camp. Drama Club. Cookouts. VBS. Playdates. Crafts. Games. Snacks. Repeat.

 

For today’s family, summer break can feel less and less like a relaxed intermission from the school year and more and more like a lesson in endurance.  Ironically, parents can become busier over the summer months, catching the brunt of the responsibility to plan additional childcare or activities for kids in lieu of an eight-hour school day.

          “We just need to make it through vacation”
          “When this party is over, I’ll enjoy summer”
          “If I hear ‘I’m bored’ one more time, I’m going to flip.”

Any of these sound familiar?

 

As the daylight hours get longer and kids and parents alike seek more activities, there’s a tendency to tighten our belt loops, pull up our boots and charge ahead full speed until September. But what if there was a way to hit the pause button on summer, allowing for a concentrated time of family connection over meaningful topics such as faith and service?

 

For the 3^rd year, YouthWorks is teaming up with Sticky Faith to provide unique family mission trip experiences to families like yours. Here are 5 reasons why we think every family should go on a family mission trip:

 

 

1.  Family Mission Trips Have the Details Covered

Let’s just restate that: YouthWorks takes care of the details. Grocery shopping? We do it. Schedule? We’ve got it figured out. Kid Activities? Let us take care of that. From meal planning to coordinating volunteer service sites to creating family-friendly evening programming, we provide the trip’s flexible framework and resources so parents can fully engage in the experience.

 

2.  Family Mission Trips Provide Focused Family Time

There are no football camps, Wii consoles, TVs or work meetings. While all these things have a time and a place, it’s not on a family trip. As families step outside their normal rhythm of life, there are ample opportunities for focused family time. Families help prepare meals together, spend their days serving alongside one another and engage in evening programming as a unit. The time away from digital distractions and activities in favor of togetherness is a breath of fresh air.

 

3.  Family Mission Trips Cultivate a Value of Serving Others

Sticky Faith has done extensive research showing that families who serve together tend to grow in faith together.  Parents want to sow seeds of empathy, compassion and generosity in their children, but sometimes coming up with tangible manifestations of these values can be a struggle. On family trips, we set you up with age-appropriate service sites that can easily be recreated in your hometown. We guide parents through the logistics of serving at a nursing home, food bank or other community organization so they can have the tools to foster similar service opportunities at home.

 

4.  Family Mission Trips Foster Faith Conversations

Sticky Faith research has also shown that when kids grow up in families who talk about faith together, they tend to stick with faith into adulthood. The resources YouthWorks and Sticky Faith have created particularly for family trips are designed to help parents talk with their kids about faith, service and Jesus. Families will explore what it means to “Live Like Jesus” in their everyday lives, diving deeper into the concepts of seeing, listening, serving and loving like Jesus through guided conversation and talking points.

 

5.  Family Mission Trips Create Lasting Memories

In 10 years, it’s not the Netflix special or the Pinterest-inspired Fourth of July party kids will remember from summer 2015; it’s playing Bingo with Miss Peggy at the nursing home, bunking down in a tent at the housing site or quality time with their parents that they will remember. Family trips are all the stuff memorable moments are made of: family, shared experiences, joy, togetherness. Family trips create a foundation for a lasting legacy of faith, service and love.

 

As June draws closer and VBS, soccer camps and the never-ending stream of things to do continues, take some time to hit the pause button on typical summer activities and hit the play button on a concentrated time of family connection. Take a family mission trip.

 

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Kelly has served in a number of roles since 2007, taking a hiatus from YouthWorks for three years to support adults with intellectual disabilities in finding employment. Kelly was drawn back to her current role in 2013 by the opportunity to train, equip and resource summer staff to love youth and communities. In her free time, Kelly enjoys working on her house with her husband Mike, hosting parties for friends or cooking up a real, whole foods meal.