Before You Go on a Mission Trip

Be watchful in all things, endure hardships,

do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

II Timothy 4:5

Part Two: The Most Important Thing to Take

Everyone packs differently for a trip.  I've traveled with those who've brought dozens of outfits and packed enough cosmetics and hair care paraphernalia to makeover a small country.  There have also been those who head off for a two-week trip with only a backpack and strong deodorant.  Both groups made it there and back and ministered to those that they met.

So what is it that we can bring that will make a difference in the success of our mission trip?  On any given trip, it soon becomes apparent, when the stresses of overseas travel kick in, who is truly prepared and who is not.  The reality is that, on a mission trip, what they carry in their luggage is not nearly important as what they carry in their hearts. You see, the most important thing to take on a mission trip is the right attitude.

Now you would think that anyone who takes time off from work and invests in the cost of a mission trip would automatically have the right attitude for going, but sometimes, somewhere along the way, we lose our proper perspective.  I know this is true because, even as a veteran missionary, I've allowed it to happen to me.

So how can you make sure that you bring the right attitude with you on your mission trip?  Here are four steps that can help make sure you have a great experience:

Step One: Remember Who Sent You

The biggest mistake you can make when going on a mission trip is to forget your main reason for going: to serve God. Even though you may be taking vacation time to go, you should never confuse a mission trip with a vacation.  If you think of it as a vacation, you will make yourself miserable!  Instead, confirm in your heart that you have given this week to the Lord.  Commit this time to Him and remind yourself that you are willing to sleep less (or not at all), eat foods that you don't like (or even recognize), experience extreme heat or cold, and do things that you never thought you would have the courage to do. As Americans, we normally never really get the opportunity to suffer for Christ.  This is your chance.

Step Two: Remember Why You Were Sent

I'm going on the assumption that the primary reason you are going on a mission trip is to minister.  Having a chance to experience exotic locations and quaint cultures can be a side benefit, but should not be a major consideration.  In all likelihood, the most exotic location you'll visit will be a foreign bathroom and the quaint culture may include loudspeakers blaring prayers at dawn or dusty roads that have potholes the size of a Volkswagen and kamikaze drivers.  Many of the people that you have come to minister to will reject you and even revile you.  However, you can be sure that there will be at least one person that God will bring to you whose heart is fertile ground for the Gospel and you can plant the seed of hope in them.

Step Three: Remember That Christ Will Strengthen You

Before going on the mission field, I had never left the country.  I liked being comfortable and I never, EVER, went camping.  My idea of roughing it was spending the night in a hotel room with just one bathroom!  When God called me to be a missionary in a third world country, I was worried that I wouldn't make it.  It wasn't easy, but I quickly came to learn that I could "do all things through Christ who strengthened me."  Before long, I found myself choosing "squatty potties" (tiled holes in the floor that you squat over) over the Western-style toilets because they were "cleaner" and I hardly gave it a thought when I had to pick bugs out of my food.  Christ gave me the strength to handle any challenge that came my way and, in the process, I became stronger in my faith.

In many ways, I am giving a "worse case scenario" for a mission trip, but that is just to prepare you for whatever "bumps" you may experience on your trip.  Going back to my roller coaster analogy, I want to remind you that it is the hair-raising drops and the g-force turns that makes the ride worthwhile. Which brings me to my fourth step...

Step Four: Remember That This Will Change Your Life

Nothing worthwhile comes without some measure of sacrifice.  I haven't met a woman yet who enjoyed being in labor, but every one will tell you that the pain was worth it. The things that you experience on a mission trip will make memories that you'll never forget and that you will recount over and over to your friends.  There will be glorious memories like helping a woman to learn that the Bible teaches that she can know for certain that she has everlasting life or teaching a child his very first Bible verse.  Even the seemingly bad experiences can serve to help you bond with the others on your team or grow you as a Christian.  It is strange how a situation that nearly brings you to tears while overseas, eventually becomes the story that you laugh over for years to come.

There is no denying the fact that a mission trip is expensive, uncomfortable, frightening, and hard work.  But I feel sorry for Christians who let this stop them from going because they miss out on so much!  The time, money, and effort you put into a mission trip is nominal in comparison to what you get from it: a greater faith in Christ, a deeper commitment to evangelism, and the blessing of knowing that you have ministered in the lives of others.

Living by Faith

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I but Christ lives within me:

 and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,

who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

 

 

Ever notice how circumstances and other things tend to push our genuine celebration of Easter aside?  As Christians, this holiday should be the focal point of our year.  Yet so often, plans for spring break, Easter egg hunts, or shopping for new outfits takes our time, thoughts, and energy away from this important day.  Even our church services seem to take the emphasis away from the believer; seeing the opportunity to give a rousing salvation sermon for the small group of attenders that only come for this annual service instead of providing a celebration for true believers.

 

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now and get to the point.  We all know that, if it wasn't for the crucifixion there would be no Gospel. And with no Gospel, there would be no Christian faith.  However, it never hurts to be reminded that the crucifixion was not just something that happened to Jesus: it happened to every believer as well.  At the time of our salvation, our old self was nailed to that cross.  Like Christ's death, the death of our old self was bloody, painful, and costly.  Unlike Christ's death, the death of our old self was final.  It didn't come back to life on the third day. It is dead, dead, dead.

 

In Galatians, Paul tells us that, because of our being crucified with Christ, we are able to live by faith. Unfortunately, many of us have still not quite let go of our old self. There are many reasons why we do this; we may may still be just a little bit in love with the world and don't want to give up on some of those old ties to it.  Or we may still harbor that secret little sin that has such a hold on us that we can't let it go.

 

Whatever the reason, it is hindering us from truly living by faith.  In essence, we are trying to live a victorious Christian life while carting a corpse around on our back.  How is that ever going to work?

 

So maybe, now that Easter has reminded us of the great sacrifice that Christ has made for us, it is time to put the last nail in the coffin on our old self.  If it helps, make a ceremony of it.  Write out the main thing that is keeping you from living by faith.  Then, put it in a shoe box and bury it out in the back yard.  It is dead, it has been dead, and all that is left is for you to bury the body.

 

 

 

 





Walking By Faith

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.

Colossians 2:6

 

 

 

In the early 1930's a tight-rope walker was entertaining spectators by walking a rope that was suspended thirty feet above the road.  The crowd was amazed as they watched him push a wheelbarrow back and forth along the rope, however, the performer didn't stop there.  Loading the wheelbarrow with two one-hundred pound sacks of grain, he pushed the weight effortlessly across the rope.  The spectators cheered as he successfully reached the platform with his load.  Turning to the crowd, the acrobat shouted down to the crowd.

 

"Who thinks that I can safely carry a man across the rope in my wheelbarrow?"

 

A multitude of hands were raised to signify their belief in his abilities.

 

"Who will be the first to climb in?"

 

Needless to say, he had no volunteers.  The story may be a familiar one, but it is a striking example of the difference between faith and belief. 

 

It is unfortunate that, in the English language, there is no verb form for the word faith, as there is in the Greek.  Instead, we are forced to translate the word, pisteuo, as "believe," even though the words mean two very different things.  The difference is about eighteen inches: the distance between our head and our heart.  What I mean by that is that belief is something that we do with our head and faith is something that comes from the heart. 

 

In the story above, the people in the crowd believed with their minds that the performer could safely carry a person in the wheelbarrow.  However, their unwillingness to place their life on the line by volunteering to be that person shows that they lacked true faith.  As Christians, we are required to walk by faith, not by belief.  If we are not willing to put our life on the line for our faith, then what we have may be belief and not faith. 

 

Belief will never give us the ability to rise above sin or empower us to do what is right. As Paul says in Colossians, as we received Christ, we are to walk in Him.  If we accept Christ on an intellectual basis only, our walk will consist mainly of stumbling and falling.  However, if we have the kind of faith that is life changing, our walk will show it; we will be victorious.

 

I get so frustrated by the old adage, "I'm just a sinner saved by grace."  Satan loves for us to think that, but it just isn't true!  In the Scriptures, once a person is saved they are never referred to as sinners, but as saints!  By continuing to think of ourselves as sinners, we make it easier to justify sin in our lives.  But that old sinner was crucified with Christ and we are now a new creation. 

 

As a new creation, saved by faith, let us walk in that faith. It won't be an easy walk and we will seldom have the luxury of seeing more than a few steps ahead of us.  However, just as we have the confidence that the Christ, who raised from the dead, was able to cleanse us of our sin and give us eternal life; we can have faith that He will be walking with us as we continue in our journey of faith. 



The Power of Prayer

If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.

John 14:14

My birthday was this week and I can never celebrate a birthday without remembering the birthday that God used to remind me of the power of prayer.  My husband and I had been serving as missionaries in Indonesia for a couple of years.  Our teenage daughters were involved in a youth group called International Christian Youth, which was made up of high school students from a dozen different countries.

After one of the weekly Bible studies, my husband came home and told me that he had been asked to be the speaker for their annual retreat and wanted me to be one of the counselors.  That was no problem for me, until I found out that the retreat fell on my birthday.  As much as I enjoyed working with youth, I have to admit that I wasn't overjoyed at the idea of spending my birthday with a hundred noisy teens. I finally agreed, grudgingly, to go.

Arriving at the retreat site, we quickly discovered that the facilities were more rustic than we had expected- and that's saying a lot when you have been living in a third world country for a few years!  Our room consisted of a set of rickety bunk beds and was crawling (quite literally) with insects and lizards.  The bathroom contained a squatty potty (basically a hole in the floor over which you squatted) and a sink equipped with cold water only.  Since the temperatures hit close to 100 degrees and there was no air conditioning, it seemed that the cold water would come in handy. I'd like to say that I didn't grumble about the living conditions, but that wouldn't be the truth.  I had a terrible attitude about the whole thing.  Fortunately, God can use us; even despite ourselves.  Just look at Jonah!

Many of the youth had brought along lost friends from the international school or their neighborhoods.  Despite my bad attitude, it was hard to resist the atmosphere of love among those youth and the earnest desire to see their friends come to Christ.  The final night of the retreat, my husband led an appeal for the lost to come forth and receive Jesus as their Savior.  We were overjoyed to see twelve teens come down and accept Christ.

I had to admit that the ride home was not terribly pleasant for me.  The Lord was really dealing with me about my attitude about the retreat and I had to get my own heart right with God.  I couldn't help but wonder at the fact that He had so blessed the retreat, despite me and my hard heart. My daughter helped me to put it into perspective.  She was looking through our recent copy of the International Missionary Board's prayer calendar.

"Look, Mom," she said, pointing out my name in the booklet. "The churches back home were praying for you on your birthday."

That was a real light bulb moment for me.  It wasn't my husband's deep Bible studies (though he is certainly a gifted speaker) nor me and my bad attitude that had brought those twelve souls to salvation.  It was the power of prayer. And though God had taught me the lesson of prayer's power before that day, I can never celebrate a birthday without being reminded of how our Wonderful, Loving God allows us to partner with Him in His ministry through the power of prayer.