A man on a Mission (trip)
quick review of my second mission trip
Greetings,
It feels like it’s been a while, but I actually post every week so I need to get a grip. Two quick things from me before the main piece starts:
Run challenge
We’re still going strong! I and over 40 other runners have ran consistently for 10 days, as part of our 30 day run challenge. It's not too late to join at all, with 20 days left you can be part of the challenge. This challenge is not about the distances (you get to choose) or intensity you run at, it's more about developing the discipline to do something hard but beneficial every day. It's more than running. It translates into the discipline and commitment you’re able to expel into other areas of your life.
Link to join: https://nikerunning.app.link/lGPl83qQspb
Book Club
We’re nearly finished ‘Atomic habits’! So far this book has been amazing in terms of developing methodologies to effectively implement beneficial habits and eradicate harmful ones.
If you want to join our next book, which perhaps may be fiction, email me: nanay@hotmail.co.uk
As mentioned in a previous post, last month I went on my second Mission trip. Writing about this took so long because of the time I spent processing the gravity of the experience.
What is a mission trip?
Generally, mission trips are when people go somewhere to get involved in the local community and most importantly, share the love of Christ. Centred around evangelism, spare time on the trip is normally spent in personal retreat or fellowship with others. They can be long term, where a person will relocate their whole life to another country, or short. Regardless of the time period, we can see God move incredibly through their efforts. The trip is ultimately about service, loving God and loving others. Its almost through that vertical loving relationship that we propagate love horizontally to others. Almost all the people we had conversations with found it crazy that we flew from the UK just to share a message with them, one that we believe their heavenly father so desperately wanted them to hear.
Why did I go (again)?
I feel like every believer should have the experience of going on a Mission trip. Not only is it a way to respond to The Great Commission, Mathew 28:19-20, it also gives you the chance to retreat and learn so much. Although some chose after a trip to dedicate the rest of their lives to missionary work, many leave the trip with a greater desire to share the Gospel in their local area and day to day activity. For me, after my first trip I decided that mission trips would become a regular occurrence for me. However when you’ve done something before, it’s all too easy to approach it in the same manner in expectation of the same outcomes. Sounds cliche but I wanted to have a radically new experience, one that would provoke my mind to ruminate over its lessons for months to come. I still think of the lessons from the first trip, one of which you can find here.
How was it?
This mission trip was an amazing experience. I went into the trip expectant (this sounds so Christian lol) , not of anything in particular just something new. Having grown in my faith since the last, it was interesting to see how new of an experience I would have doing the same things. What I love about these trips is right from the onset, the word “I” is made redundant. Everything we did was in consideration of the whole group, “dying to self”. This meant that as a group we decided that to make the most of this experience, putting all phones for the majority of the trip to ensure each of us are present. Each day was spent evangelising, studying the bible and enjoying each others company.
Mission mindset
Our facilitator communicated that one of our goals was to develop a mission mindset. We now want to live in a constant flux of evangelism and immersion in the gospel; seeing the whole world as a mission field. Sharing the message of the gospel and love isn’t exclusive to mission trips, but rather should begin to see our whole lives and daily actions as “ministry.” For a lot of us, we see ministry as “serving” within the 4 walls of the church but biblically it’s so much more. The Greek word commonly used “diakonia” extends to also mean providing support, aid or relief to people. Part of the mission mindset was to develop a view of ministry and evangelism that goes past just church activity, but is ingrained into each facet of our lives.
Dairy entry- day on Mission
Monday was Joram’s birthday (one of the group members.) As we got ready to start the day, Joram spoke of how he felt being on mission on his birthday was the best way he could spend it, adding that less than a year ago he couldn’t have imagined he would be doing this.
The weather wasn’t ideal, so our planned Mountain visit was postponed. After eating breakfast, we played the song matching game (objective was to match the songs to the team members who added them into the Mission playlist.) It was so interesting to hear some of the teams’ songs, allowing us to get to know each other even better. Whilst we played the game, my age started to show as I hadn’t ever heard some of the songs that the older team members added.
We then did something even funner; a bible study on the Great Commission. As we studied Mathew 28:19, we dissected the scripture word for word. A key feature of our discussion was how to make lifelong committed followers of all the nations, not just the easy or simple nations, but to develop Christians everywhere. Diving deeper into the topic of discipleship, we saw how scripture speaks to the importance of close discipleship as seen in relationships like Paul and Timothy.
Following the Study, the birthday boy wanted to cook a special spag bowl for the group. As we ate, the group presented Joram with a card and a small gift. After singing happy birthday, we prayed for Joram as he entered his new age. After eating, everyone had some down time to read and pray before we set off to the strip.
Evangelising at Las Americas on Monday was amazing. We had some fruitful discussions, sharing the gospel and praying for people. Whilst on the strip, we rotated with parts of our team evangelising or in the living room (room overlooking the strip) praying.
Thought: Whilst speaking to people, I was very cautious to not developing a saviour complex. When you’re sharing anything with people, the heart posture behind it is so important to regulate. Pride may seep in. People not receiving the words you’re delivering as you would like them to is taken personal when you make them your words. They were never your words. We essentially go as learners and storytellers, telling the greatest story ever told. Sometimes conversations don’t have a Gospel presenting moment and for many, our conversations gave them an opportunity to offload and have someone listen to and that’s fine.
Hope this gave you a bit of an insight into what we got up to on mission.
NYA