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Missionary, Minister to Thyself

If I had a nickel for each time a church member has asked, "Why do you take the youth so far away on mission trips when there are so many needs here?" I would be a very rich man! There are many needs in the communities in which we live, but we must realize that we don't do mission trips just to serve those in need. We take those long van rides, sleep on church floors, eat too much fast food, and get very little sleep in order to bring our young people into direct contact with Jesus Christ in a far richer way than if we'd stayed at home.

In Matthew 26, a woman comes up to Jesus and pours an expensive bottle of perfume over his head. Those around Jesus rebuke the woman for wasting the perfume and not selling it to benefit the poor, but Jesus announces that the poor will always be around but soon he will not. What does this have to do with youth missions? Our primary goal should not be to help the poor. That will happen, but our primary goal should be to help our teens see Jesus Christ and his kingdom in a new way. Mission experiences make that happen by taking our students out of their comfort zones and helping them appreciate the blessings and talents they've received.

One of the key reasons to involve teens in mission work is an idea known as "reverse mission." Quite simply, when people head out on a mission trip, they intend to impact the lives of people with whom they'll come into contact. This may be through some sort of construction project, health clinic, or vacation Bible school. However, in the end, the youth missionaries are impacted in the greatest way. These impacts can come as a result of many situations and experiences- from the people they've reached out to or as a result of being away from what is known and comfortable.

For the students in my church, reverse mission came from a family in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, for whom we were building a house. Each day we noticed a fattened pig behind a fence in the backyard. One morning when we arrived, the pig was gone. That day we sat down to a delicious lunch of homemade pork tamales. Our teens were overwhelmed that the family would sacrifice such an expensive and treasured commodity for them, especially in light of the fact that we had traveled to serve the family, not vice versa. For a family living in extreme poverty, this statement of love and appreciation made a tremendous impact on our teenagers.

Then there was the time our students were leading a vacation Bible school in inner city Chicago. One day after the school, a child invited our group to her home, which was in a housing project. Prior to that trip, some of our group had learned about life in the housing projects of Chicago, but nothing could have prepared them for the experience of walking into that overcrowded apartment. The next day you could sense the renewed vigor, passion, and love our kids had for the children of that neighborhood.

If we keep in mind that a good portion of our youth ministry is intended to help young people become life-long disciples of Jesus Christ, then we need to create opportunities that will let them see themselves as disciples. Mission experiences can be an extremely powerful way to do that.

When Jesus proclaimed in the Great Commission that we should go to the entire world to share the Gospel, the known world was relatively small. Jesus wasn't just talking about the physical planet; he was also talking about the diverse cultures, religions, and inhabitants that made up the world. Racial segregation was a fact of life, and through the Great Commission, Jesus made a strong statement against racism and prejudice of all kinds.

Mission experiences can give us a broader view of the world in which we live. The Internet and 24-hour news channels place the world at our fingertips, yet that is only part of viewing what God has created. Several years ago while working at a retreat center in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, I walked outside one evening to see a group of our teens and adults looking at the sky. With textbook in hand they were peering at the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. From their homes in the Northern Hemisphere they could only read about those stars, but by traveling to a new place this group was experiencing them.

There's an awesomeness to God's creation that is waiting to be experienced and lived. There are people from different backgrounds and lifestyles that will mean much more to us if we come into direct contact with them. In order for us to truly understand other people and their cultures, we can't merely hear about them on CNN or "talk" with them in a chat room or via e-mail. The same reason that Jesus called the early followers to "Go" exists today: we must enter into the cultures and experiences of other people. We must experience what they experience. we must meet them face-to-face. We must learn to live the way they live. Only then can we understand their needs and the ways that we can affect them.

I could've talked to my youth group until I was blue in the face about the sufferings of the farm workers of Costa Rica, but until we traveled there and met them, talked to them, observed them and their circumstances, and became servants to them, our lives were only minimally impacted.

This past spring I traveled with a youth bell choir to the tiny village of Volcan in southern Costa Rica. We'd been given a set of handbells that we were going to give to the local elementary school and a church. Not only had the children of Volcan never seen handbells before, most had never seen anyone from a foreign country. During our visit, we also learned that these children had never heard a violin or guitar first hand. As we shared these various forms of music our youth learned valuable lessons about using their God-given talents. We led these children in a new way to worship God and in turn found a renewed appreciation for those things many of us take for granted.

A successful mission experience must do several things. First, it must move youth out of their comfort zones and take them to new places. This idea of moving out of what is comfortable shouldn't just be a physical experience but an emotional and spiritual one as well. I'll never forget our first mission to inner city Chicago. After our Sunday evening prayer tour around the city, including several housing projects, my assistant youth director told me that many of our kids were terrified by what they'd seen. As we ministered to the needs of the hurting in Chicago throughout the coming week, our youth discovered that the city isn't about buildings or housing projects; it's about people who have great needs and hurts. Some of these kids that had grown up in white middle class neighborhoods learned that people of other races and economic situations are God's children as well.

Mission experiences must challenge young people's preconceived notions and make them think. Many students I run into think that a homeless person just needs to get a job to better his or her situation. It's not until the students begin to understand the disparity between what a minimum-wage job pays and what it costs for basic living expenses that a young person can change his or her thinking. You can talk about these things in a classroom setting, but when our youth have the chance to meet homeless people face to face and hear their stories, they begin to really understand the suffering and hopelessness these people face.

It's easy to fall into the trap of assuming that those who live in inner-city housing projects are either drug dealers or deadbeats. But by going there, our young people can discover the vast number of circumstances that force a person into this life situation.

Mission experiences cannot just be about building a house or working in a soup kitchen. They must include a time of teaching about circumstances that many of God's children face. Bringing in experts and having youth read books and articles about the area to which you are headed can greatly increase their grasp of the needs facing those you will be serving. It's a disservice to simply dump a youth group into an area without prior knowledge of why their time is needed. Help them to understand why they're serving in a particular area and you'll increase their desire to be effective ministers of the gospel.

If we want our teens to really understand the needs of those who suffer, mission experiences cannot be once-a-year events. In order for our youth to grasp that service is a lifestyle, we must provide a variety of opportunities throughout the year. Some young people work well with children while others excel at construction. Some are ready for a weekend project while others should be packing for a summer-long mission experience. Too often we view mission trips like the annual ski trip: a once-a-year event designed to get youth involved in our local ministry. Sure, you're going to have more students interested in traveling far away than you will for a local project. But if you plan projects throughout the year, you'll find students that are excited about serving no matter where you go. And you'll show them that serving others is an everyday event.

In order for Christians to become less judgmental they must understand what causes many in our world to be in such great need. You can read about it all you want, but when you take your young people face to face with people and circumstances around the world, your kids are impacted in a way that will last a lifetime. Not all of your youth group will become missionaries to the ends of the earth, but through life-changing mission experiences they'll begin to appreciate what they have and be more willing to serve others on a daily basis.

Every time I go on a mission trip, I pray that those whom I take to locations around the world will come home ready to serve wherever they are called for as long as they live. I hope they'll appreciate all they've been given. And I hope in the process they'll come face to face with Jesus Christ, for that is the true purpose of serving others.

Scott Meier has been in youth ministry in Washington and Oklahoma for over 15 years, has participated in short-term mission trips all over the world, and is presently director of youth ministries at McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church in Norman, Oklahoma.