So I was driving home from Fusion 15:5 tonight where I do childcare. It's the genex service our church does at night. In the car I get this idea, this happens sometimes. If I don't tell someone fast or write it down I often forget - sign of old age, parenthood, lack of adult stimulation, a combination of all three...
Anyway, T had one of his former student leaders over tonight. She shared about her trip to Biloxi this past Thanksgiving. She's going back in a couple days. It has obviously been a life-changing experience for her, as was Brazil this past summer. We had a little chat with her about her future plans, leadership opportunities, missions experiences, etc. Of course, this got me thinking a lot about our summer and plans, of which we have few right now. This never sits well with me - I like to know what I'm doing...
anyway, that's not my idea, but I think all this talking may have prompted this idea. As I was driving around one of those horrid traffic circles, I was thinking in particular of a former student of mine (cute, little first grader) who is now college age. He was a wrestler, got injured and now does not know what to do with his life. His dad asked us to pray for him. My though was this - I'd love to take him on a trip, but 1) I hardly know him, 2) I'm not really sure he's a "committed" Christian, and 3) That disqualifies him for the trips we plan, in many ways.
T and I have talked a lot about our trips and how we want to impact students for Christ, trying to infuse a missions mindset. So, my question to myself was: can we do that with non-Christian students?? Or, as my mind wandered around here, can we create an experience where we are serving on a trip, not serving people/missionaries but doing a service project, such as the one in New Orleans, where our students invite an unchurched friend on a missions trip. Their friend would be their mission, so to speak.
We are always hearing how life-changing these trips are for students but we typically limit our missions trips to committed Christian kids. How would this trip look if we added some friends to it? Now, I might be asking for trouble, I don't know. Most of our students go to public school, so they are typically exposed to all kinds of "stuff." We would still set very high standards/expectations on behavior, conduct, etc. We would involve these students in all aspects of the trip, including pre-trip meeting, fund raising, prayer, worship, etc. Their parents would be asked to participate in any way the churched parents participate (many times our students have unchurched parents so this isn't new).
Some of this idea started when our host family in Brazil started talking about bringing a group of students (mostly non-Christian) to visit us here. These are the students our students ministered to in Brazil, so the possibilities are endless. It's like a reverse missions trip - so cool! Of course, this would involve huge amounts of $$ for those folks in Brazil, so it's still early in the planning. But the idea of a reverse trip just made me think a bit differently about our trips.
If you have any thoughts, ideas, advice, experiences to share, I'd love to hear them. I'm not really sure what this kind of trip would look like, but I'd love to invite unchurched students on a missions trip - I don't think I'd have to search to far to find a few who are interested, either. Of course, I am 35 (almost 36!), so I'm not always in tune to what these students are thinking...
Anyway, T had one of his former student leaders over tonight. She shared about her trip to Biloxi this past Thanksgiving. She's going back in a couple days. It has obviously been a life-changing experience for her, as was Brazil this past summer. We had a little chat with her about her future plans, leadership opportunities, missions experiences, etc. Of course, this got me thinking a lot about our summer and plans, of which we have few right now. This never sits well with me - I like to know what I'm doing...
anyway, that's not my idea, but I think all this talking may have prompted this idea. As I was driving around one of those horrid traffic circles, I was thinking in particular of a former student of mine (cute, little first grader) who is now college age. He was a wrestler, got injured and now does not know what to do with his life. His dad asked us to pray for him. My though was this - I'd love to take him on a trip, but 1) I hardly know him, 2) I'm not really sure he's a "committed" Christian, and 3) That disqualifies him for the trips we plan, in many ways.
T and I have talked a lot about our trips and how we want to impact students for Christ, trying to infuse a missions mindset. So, my question to myself was: can we do that with non-Christian students?? Or, as my mind wandered around here, can we create an experience where we are serving on a trip, not serving people/missionaries but doing a service project, such as the one in New Orleans, where our students invite an unchurched friend on a missions trip. Their friend would be their mission, so to speak.
We are always hearing how life-changing these trips are for students but we typically limit our missions trips to committed Christian kids. How would this trip look if we added some friends to it? Now, I might be asking for trouble, I don't know. Most of our students go to public school, so they are typically exposed to all kinds of "stuff." We would still set very high standards/expectations on behavior, conduct, etc. We would involve these students in all aspects of the trip, including pre-trip meeting, fund raising, prayer, worship, etc. Their parents would be asked to participate in any way the churched parents participate (many times our students have unchurched parents so this isn't new).
Some of this idea started when our host family in Brazil started talking about bringing a group of students (mostly non-Christian) to visit us here. These are the students our students ministered to in Brazil, so the possibilities are endless. It's like a reverse missions trip - so cool! Of course, this would involve huge amounts of $$ for those folks in Brazil, so it's still early in the planning. But the idea of a reverse trip just made me think a bit differently about our trips.
If you have any thoughts, ideas, advice, experiences to share, I'd love to hear them. I'm not really sure what this kind of trip would look like, but I'd love to invite unchurched students on a missions trip - I don't think I'd have to search to far to find a few who are interested, either. Of course, I am 35 (almost 36!), so I'm not always in tune to what these students are thinking...
2 comments:
Mosaic in LA takes trips to Mexico to do service projects that are open to all. They have some dramatic stories of people whose lives are changed by the experience.
That might be an avenue to start with. Let me know if you or Tony need contacts there.
Interesting. Do they have a trip for youth? or is that adults?? I think Tony knows who to contact for that, but that's a great start. Thanks!
Post a Comment