Five More Reasons to Go on a Mission Trip

Should you go on a mission trip? I think the answer is yes!

Here are five simple but significant reasons you should consider going on a mission trip.

1. To discover missions. The best way to understand missions is to participate in missions. Mission trips give us eyes to see the need, and so often, that vision produces a heart and understanding for ministry. So to go is to know is to do missions!
2. To discover community. You might suppose hanging out produces community. Wrong! Coming around a central mission makes community. Ask any good football team. The secret to teamwork is more than simply being together. It is working for a common goal. Furthermore, when you are tried and stretched on a trip, you learn to rely on others, producing…yup, you’ve guessed it…more community.
3. To discover giftedness. You’ll never know until you try. So try you must. As you experiment with your talents, as you “try on” different types of ministry, you will discover your shape, your fit, your skills. Exploring your gifts with real world experience can quickly surface your unique talents.
4. To discover calling. Every year I see one or two people discover their calling on a mission trip. They don’t always know right away, but in the coming years they reach back to that trip to understand the development of their call. People return home determined to pursue medicine or missions or languages or whatever else all because of experiences they had on a mission trip.
5. To discover God. Perhaps most importantly, when we go on mission trips, we discover the wonderful, peaceful intimacy of closely aligning our heart with the heart of God. He has called us to mission. He has promised us provision in mission. And when we go, we come to know his care firsthand.

So, are you in?