Later this week, I am headed out with two of my kids to American Indian Christian Mission, near Show Low, Arizona. The three of us are really excited about this short term missions opportunity!
Trips like this one are always cause both excitement and some amount of trepidation for me. A short term mission trip causes you to step outside of your comfort zone and do things you may not be comfortable doing. That has the ability to make one very nervous.
But at the same time, the excitement is there, because a short term mission trip has boundless opportunities for growth. It’s pretty incredible actually.
On this particular trip to AICM, our team has an incredible project. One of the larger communities on the White Mountain Apache reservation, and yet one of the more isolated communities at the same time, has no church. AICM has been working with the tribal council to lease a property and plant a church there to help meet both the spiritual and the physical needs of the community.
AICM has had a long standing relationship with this tribe, and with this community. They have been there, working with and alongside the people there for years, and have built a solid reputation. Several of the students at the AICM boarding school have come from this community as well. So planting a church there is a natural expansion of the work that AICM has already been doing.
Our team will have two responsibilities. First, we will be working on the property that they are leasing. It needs a lot of work and clean up. We will be building doors, replacing windows and making the place securable. We will also be cleaning it up, since it has been in an abandoned state for some time, and has run down.
Our second job will take place in the afternoons. We will gather as many kids as we can and hold an outdoor VBS, teaching the gospel and raising awareness of this new church to be opened soon in their community.
Our opportunity here is a perfect fit for our team, and we will jump in with both feet and get as much done as we possibly can. It will be busy work, exhausting work, and long days. But that’s ok. That’s why we are there, to accomplish the work, helping AICM get a jump start with this new church plant.
But we will be stretched. We will be out of our comfort zone at times. That’s kind of the purpose of a short term mission trip.
Short Term Missions stretch people
When we go on a trip such as this, it is common to see people stretched out of their comfort zone. Doing so helps build confidence and character, and allows us to be able to trust God in ways that we never have before. As we depend on him in these circumstances, we can learn to depend on him more in our normal, every day routines as well.
Short Term Missions create generosity
Very often, mission trips are designed to go where there are needs to be met. As a result, we have the chance to see poverty on a scale we may never have seen before. As we see our fellow man in need, and work with him to meet those needs, we grow in our own generosity. Our hearts have been softened.
Short Term Missions build a servant’s heart
Once you experience the opportunity to serve on a mission trip, you are much more likely to serve more at home. Once someone sees just how much their efforts can make a difference, they tend to jump in and get involved in ways they never have before, in their own churches and communities.
Short Term Missions bring spiritual growth
One of the things I encourage our teams to do is journal daily while we are on a short term trip. This enables them to remember the numerous ways that God moves and works during the trip, and provides a chronicle of the spiritual effect of such a trip. Being able to look back later and review what God did in my life has given me more ability to apply that and make it stick in my life.
Short Term Missions build relationships
On a trip like ours, twenty plus hours in a van together, working alongside one another, laughing together, struggling together, playing together, all build relationships that are deeper and more binding than almost anything else I have ever experienced. We return from trips like this one with solid friendships that last.
Short term mission trips have many more benefits than just these, but as our group goes west next week, these will be the ones I will be watching for, in my own life, in the lives of my daughters, and in the lives of my team members.
Question: Have you ever been on a short term mission trip? What was your experience like? You can leave a comment by clicking here.