Programatic Resources Galore!

When you sign up to take your church, family or youth group on a mission trip this summer, we hope that it is because you are feeling an overwhelming urge to expose your group to a new culture, push them past their comfort zone or participate in what God is doing in another community. These are great reasons.

 

We realize, though, that once the decision is made to go on a trip, there is a litany of other things to take care of. Who is coming? How will we raise money? Where are we going? And the big one… what are we going to talk about while we are there? How can we maximize this experience? As part of who we are at our core, our hope is to take care of every detail that we can, so that you can get the most out of this mission trip.

 

One area that we spend a significant amount of time on is the development of programmatic resources for before, during and after your trip. These are resources that are developed by people who know and understand missions well and also are leading church congregations, working with teenagers and young adults, and immersed in biblical and theological reflection as it relates to these materials. Whenever we approach these materials we take into consideration a lot different things, among them:

 

–       Current trends in teenagers’ struggles, culture and belief systems.

–       Careful biblical interpretation that seeks to stay within the original authors’ intended meaning.

–       Theological considerations for an interdenominational audience.

–       Feedback from thousands of teenagers and adult leaders who have taken YouthWorks trips.

 

 

With all these things in mind, here is an overview of some of the resources that we provide Churches with:

 

Pre-Trip Resources:

We want you to be and feel prepared for this trip. This not only includes making sure that you’re equipped with all the right instructions for paperwork, this also includes being mentally prepared. The following resources help with that.

Team Session Guides: These are guides where we take you step-by-step through each meeting that you will have with your youth group before the trip. They even include great activities and processing questions.

Tips for Maximizing your Mission Trip: This is a great resource to read over and begin to implement as soon as possible. It includes tried and true tricks of the trade.

 

During-the-Trip Resources:

Obviously during the trip is when the programmatic resources that we have developed really jump to life. The thread of the summer theme especially flows through these provided resources:

Devo Journal: Our Devo Journals are written “in-house,” meaning they are written and developed with our mission trip context in mind. They follow along with the daily themes and allow guided space for teenagers to process in. We consistently get feedback about the quality of this resource.

Club Talks: Each night there is a talk given that includes biblical teaching around a theme, interactive and experiential elements. The talk outlines are developed by our programming team and are delivered by thoroughly trained summer staff. Our hope is that the talk would be far from an end for the night. A good club talk in our mind, paves the way for Church Group Time, which we consider the most important part of the entire day.

Church Group Time Guide: Church Group Time is a meeting at the end of the day for students and leaders to gather together and process the day in the context of their church group. But don’t worry. You’re not on your own in this either. We give you an excellent guide that provides recommended questions, ideas and activities for your group.

 

Post-Trip Resources:

A mantra that we have around YouthWorks is that “your mission is more than a trip.” We hope that the lessons and challenges that groups experience on a YouthWorks trip continue to form their lives far beyond one week. One resource that we provide is the print magazine,  Reverb. Reverb is a post-mission trip processing tool that we give to each participant at the end of their trip. This is a resource that they can read, cut up, write in, hang on their walls and keep on their shelf. The articles in Reverb help students process their trip, share their story, continue serving and deepen their relationship with God. Reverb also has a facebook page and a website where teenagers can connect with a larger community.

 

 

When it comes to the tools we create, we are continuing to seek new ways to serve churches and communities by providing the very best resources alongside quality mission trip experiences. Is there a resource you feel would be helpful but can’t find? Please send us an email telling us what resource you’re looking for: servicecenter@youthworks.com

 

 

 

 

Ben Capps blogs and helps develop training and programming materials for YouthWorks. Ben lives in South Minneapolis with his wife Bekah and daughter Margot and spends a lot of time with emerging adults. His lifelong goal is to rid the world of boring music, lack luster coffee and shirts that are not made of flannel.