Debriefing the Mission Trip
by Mike Woodruff
I’m almost 40 years old. I’ve been a Christian over half that time.
I have a master’s degree in divinity, more than a dozen years in ministry,
and a job that regularly keeps me in touch with missionaries and leading Christian
nationals all over the world. I’ve read about missions, written about missions,
raised money for missions, and been on more short-term mission trips than I
can immediately recall.
However (drum roll please), when it comes to reentry—that two-week period
immediately following cross-cultural outreach—I’m a mess. In fact,
more often that not I turn into a puddle of goo. One minute I’m happy.
The next I’m in serious need of Prozac. At noon I’m planning a return
trip to Guatemala, and at 12:15 p.m. I’m promising to never leave the U.S.
again. Right is left and up is down (except when it’s up). Which side of
the street do we drive on again? Can I drink the water? What time is it in Kenya
right now? Did I really just spend a $1.44 for a cup of coffee? While people
are starving? I must not be a Christian!
Reentry is a confusing, upside-down whirlwind of emotions that can put even
veteran missionaries on their ears. And if it does that to people who don’t
regularly spend much time on their ears, imagine how it can affect teenagers
who regularly do! Which means that you deserve 20 years of hard labor—or
two hours watching presidential election debates—if you don’t take
the time to weave debriefing into the fabric of every mission trip you lead.
A Definition
Though the word itself has CIA overtones, debriefing is simply a matter of helping
people reflect on their experiences. It can be done in a group setting or solo,
both during the trip or after it. And in fact, there is no one right way to
debrief. Because people—even those who look alike, dress alike, and have
pierced the same body parts—are unique. But there is a goal: We need
to help people process what they’ve learned so they can grow in Christ
and become of greater value to his work in the world.
Rest assured, if you leave your students alone, they will sort through their
experiences and lock into some high and low points. But they’re also likely
to take a circuitous path and return home more hurt than helped by the trip.
I find it helpful to think about debriefing as a process that occurs in four
stages:
Pre-Trip
Several years ago I joined a half dozen buddies on a hike to the top of Mount
Baker in Washington. It’s a three-day ordeal for a novice, and while it’s
no Mount Everest, it’s far more taxing and dangerous than any E-ticket
ride at Disney World. We had a wonderfully challenging climb to the summit and
enjoyed glissading—i.e., skiing without skis—back down to base camp.
But after that point, the trip fell apart. Why? Because we were emotionally
unprepared for the six-hour hike back to the van. We never talked about the
last part of the trip. I never even thought about it. In fact, I sort of mindlessly
figured that once we stepped off the glacier, took off our crampons, and unhitched
our ropes, we were done. But we weren’t. We faced a 10-mile hike, all carrying
40-pound packs, on a dangerous ridge. And we’d been up for 20 hours when
we started. Needless to say we were a surly group when we finished. But it didn’t
have to be that way.
The next year we climbed a different mountain and easily survived an equally
difficult hike out. Why? Because I started preparing people for the descent
while the trip was still months away.
And that’s when debriefing starts! Months in advance. Your students need
to be told—when they pay their deposits—to expect a disorienting reentry.
Parents must be told that their kids may be out of sorts when they return. Everyone
is miles ahead even if you pass out a packing list that includes "bring
a good attitude for reentry because it can be confusing" right next to
"bring bug spray, a Bible, and Spanish- English dictionary."
I’m not suggesting that we offer kids a heads up in order to take the
pain away. It’s necessary for students to struggle with the gross inequities
of wealth and opportunity on our planet. I want them to wrestle with spending
more money on a movie than it takes to feed a third-world AIDS orphan for a
week. I think we should be worried if their transitions back into Western culture
are seamless. I just don’t want them becoming catatonic or ripping anyone’s
head off during their reentry struggles. That’s why advanced warning can
help kids stay sane. They face enough emotional peaks and valleys during adolescence—as
adult leaders, we need to help them process the additional ones that short-term
mission trips will add.
During the Trip
The second natural stage for debriefing occurs during the trip itself, especially
if you’re on the field for more than a week. It can be as simple as ending
the day with some probing questions: What’s been the high point of your
trip so far? The biggest surprise? How did God break your heart today? What
was the biggest lesson you’ve learned? What was the memory you will most
likely hold onto? What do you think God is calling you to do?
You can also encourage your kids to spend 20 minutes writing in their journals.
But even that can be more deliberate—and should be if you’ve had a
particularly taxing day or if the team is facing some internal conflict. Sometimes
I’ve found it helpful to give people a couple hours on their own to simply
sit before God. Other times it’s wise to gather the group together for
a Bible study or circle of encouragement (i.e., pick a person and have everyone
on the trip share one thing they appreciate about that person, then move around
the circle until everyone has been affirmed).
Pre-Reentry
When the hostages were released from captivity in Iran, the U.S. Army flew them
to Germany for a week before reuniting them with their families. Why? Because
our government learned a hard lesson from the Vietnam War: People under great
stress in faraway lands need places to catch their breath before they’re
dropped back into everyday life.
If possible add a day to your trip and spend it someplace between the field
and home. Devote part of the time for fun: Go to a nice restaurant. Visit a
museum. Hit the beach. Act like tourists. Give your group a chance to stop thinking
and to begin unwinding.
Then gather your students together for an extended time of prayer, sharing,
and reflection. If the group needs prompting, ask any of the standard debriefing
questions listed above—or others like them. Be careful to facilitate the
discussion in a healthy way.
Everyone needs a chance to share. Broad, sweeping promises to God—or
others—are to be avoided. Remind your kids that they’re emotionally
vulnerable and that it’ll take time to really sort through everything God
is teaching them.
Post-Trip
In the days and weeks following your mission trip, there is value in pulling
your team together just to talk. The first, obvious opportunity is after the
pictures are developed—and in some settings you can get away with just
a little gathering to look at slides, eat some ethnic food, and retell funny
stories. But after other trips—especially longer ones or those that were
particularly taxing emotionally—you may need to be more thoughtful.
After one spring-break trip where God had touched a number of students’
lives, the group felt that our regular debriefing drill was inadequate. The
group wanted more time together, and that led about 60 of them to meet for prayer
late into the night—every night—for a week. I didn’t know what
to do about their meetings and briefly entertained the idea of telling them
to phase them out so they could get back to being students. But in the end I
simply decided to leave them alone. Eventually they felt God’s call to
"do something local." The result was the formation of a soup kitchen
that continues to provide a weekly meal to the poor more than a decade later.
. . . . .
I realized the importance of mission trip debriefing after hearing a college
pastor say that he didn’t want any more of his leaders "ruined by
summer missions projects."
It reminded me of how close I came to being a short-term ministry causality
myself.
After leading a team of college students on a spring-break trip to inner-city
Los Angeles, I returned home so drained and confused that I thought about quitting
the ministry. I was exhausted, restless, and depressed—and couldn’t
bear the thought of returning to the office.
It was only after I reread my journal entries for that same trip—taken
a year earlier—that I remembered I felt the same way then and that the
feelings left after a few days. Armed with that additional insight, I started
to set a different pace on future trips and came home prepared to face the confusion.
As leaders we can not afford to do otherwise.
Some jobs aren’t over until the paperwork is finished. Your job as mission
trip leader isn’t finished until debriefing is over.
Mike Woodruff divides his time between serving on the staff of Christ
Church Lake Forest (Illinois) and directing several other ministry projects,
including The Ivy Jungle Network, a loose association of men and women who minister
to collegians. He's also the author of Managing Youth Ministry Chaos
(Group).
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