As a youth and campus minister for over 10 years, I have had the opportunity to travel with over 30 short-term missions teams, and send close to a hundred more such teams. Members of these teams have served and shared the Gospel around the world. Many of them are now in fulltime missions or ministry.
But I’ve never been a fan of mission trips. Trips are for travel agents.
Our job in ministry is not to serve as travel agents, but to make disciples—to make disciples obedient to Christ’s call to “go.” Our job is to help our students become missionaries.
This requires a monumental shift in thinking. We have to stop thinking about how to get the people out there to come in here and call themselves the church. Instead, we’ve got to figure out how to get the people called the church to get out of here and go out there to take the kingdom to the world.
That’s what a missionary does, and that is who a disciple is.
Look at Matthew 28:19. Jesus tells us that He has all authority in this world. If we would simply go into the world—if we could get our students out of here and get them into the world—He could exercise His power to change lives through them.
His kingdom would come to the darkest places on earth through them.
But our job is not travel agent. It’s not just about the going. It’s not about coordinating. It’s not about forms and funds. It’s not about baking cookies and washing cars. It’s not about convincing parents and collecting passports. It’s about so much more than that.
When we take students on a mission trip, we may go and build houses or churches. On mission trips, we may go and make crafts (in foreign languages) with kids at vacation bible schools. On mission trips, we may go and make friends with people from other churches and cultures and countries. We may go and make small talk about things that don’t matter in the back of a van.
But the missionaries we are helping to form need to be more than world travelers. Missionaries are apostles, sent ones. Sent to go and make disciples. Not to make houses. Not to make crafts. Not to make friends.
A missionary is a disciple sent to make more disciples.
Our students already know how to take trips. And the last thing they need is one more box on their Christian to-do list to check off. They don’t need one more thing to say they’ve done. What they do need is a better understanding of God’s calling on their lives. They need to see what it means to be on a mission for their King.
So, if you want to help students become missionaries, try these four things:
Stop taking mission trips. Ban the word trip from your church’s vocabulary. Instead, engage students in missions. Make sure whenever you go that you have articulated your mission. And make sure your students understand the mission, not just the itinerary.
Make sure your foreign mission is consistent with your local mission. Many mistakenly believe that they will suddenly become better Christians when they reach another country or culture. Teach your students to serve and share the Gospel at home, so that when they have opportunity to do it away from home they will be practiced up.
Keep it simple. The Gospel isn’t complicated, and your plan to share it doesn’t have to be either. Partner with an effective local ministry and use the “come and see” approach from John 4:29, to connect the people you serve with long-term ministry. Your students will realize their part in God’s greater mission to reach the people you serve.
Teach them to raise support, not funds. No full-time missionary in the world is funded by bake sales and car washes. Instead of teaching your students to raise funds, teach them how to invite people to partner with them to accomplish their mission.
What else are you doing to inspire your students to become missionaries and fulfill God’s call to go?