A Different Kind of Mission Trip

Church groups plan mission trips for their members. They do backyard Bible schools, build buildings, paint, work in soup kitchens and any number of other activities. The participants often report what a magnificently tiring, yet spiritually uplifting experience the mission trip was.

Mission trips also have their critics. Some ask, “Who really benefits from relatively wealthy Americans coming to a developing country to help out for a week?” Or they ask, “What would the same amount of money spent to take a Mission group to a locale do if, instead, it was given to the appropriate local group to be used in their community with their citizens?”  Or others ask, “Don’t we have needs in our own community? Why do we need to fly or drive hundreds if not thousands of miles to serve?”

One local church, The Bridge, has come up with a unique way to provide the Mission Trip experience for their youth without ever leaving our area. The mission trip youth work with a variety of local groups, serving and learning about needs in their own community. Many churches do this. What makes The Bridge’s experience unique is that the youth stay with three host families in their congregation for the week of the Mission Trip. Their mission week is not a day camp but a true experience of immersion into service. What an inspiring idea!

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