Doug Franklin Online » Mission trips

Going Is Not Enough

Doug Franklin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:51:58 +0000

Taking your students on a mission trip is always good. Students learn to serve and care for each other. They also get to see what Jesus is doing in the world, which can be a big eye opener. Mission trips have become a central part of most youth ministries’ summers. Much has been written about effective youth missions and for the most part mission organizations and churches have made some attempts to have more impact, but honestly mission trips are much the same of they were 15 years ago. In my mind the problem is the focus of the trip. Most churches focus on the location of the trip verses the purpose of missions. We live in “sell” culture, we think we have to sell the students on the location in order to get them to sign-up. Effective mission trips start with discipleship. When students connect serving others as an outcome of the their love for Christ then mission trips will be effective in growing the kingdom. If your students are not there don’t pass on the mission trip, just change the purpose. Make the purpose of the trip to grow your students. Change your activities and pre-trip training to focus more on discipleship instead of cultural training. This will most likely change what you do on the trip as well. Be open to thinking differently about the experience because going is not enough.

Free eBook on Student Missions

andy — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:38:22 +0000

Ever notice when students return from a mission trip they always talk about how they were impacted more than the people they went to help? We need to pay attention. Students are telling us that mission trips are more about their growth than their service. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying service is not important. I am saying we need to spend more time focused on their growth through the mission trip than the logistics of service. If you’re focused on logistics, you need to read this book so you can maximize your student’s mission trip experience.

3 Common Mission Trip Mistakes

Doug Franklin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:12:10 +0000

I lead my first student mission trip in 1985 – I am old and I have made lots of mistakes. Trust me, I am qualified to discuss mistakes. One of my best ones was when I left $2,800 at a McDonalds on a trip to Arizona. I find that I most often make mistakes when I don’t challenge my own thinking, when I don’t focus on the why.

Three common mistakes I see most often by youth workers.

1. Prepare for logistics not spiritual outcomes
When were preparing to lead a group of students on a mission trip we can feel like all the details are overwhelming and so we focus on logistics. Do we have the forms, housing, work project and ministry set up? This focus is important but it’s not priority. We aren’t just taking students on a trip; we are preparing an opportunity for them to live out their faith in Christ. They need to understand what God’s word says about living a missional lifestyle and living out the power of Christ by serving the least in this world. If we fail to prepare them for this then the trip loses its potential and becomes an outing, nothing more.

2. Focus on trip site not heart
I know the pressure of making sure enough students sign-up for a trip and I know the pressure of having to get parents to believe where you’re going is safe. But are your students more excited about going to ________ (your site location of your trip) or serving the God who made them and has redeemed them? Honestly, have you talked more about the site and what they will see or about the heart they will need to serve those that have less than them?

3. No plan to debrief
I can’t tell you how many times youth workers have told me that when they return from their mission trip they are going on vacation. It seems odd to me that when your students are most ready to make applications and life changing commitments that we are out of town. When I was a youth pastor, on returning from a two week mission trip the first thing I would do was sit down and write a note to every student on the trip about how I saw God work in their lives. I would then take it to the post office so it could be delivered by the time they woke up the first morning home. That first morning back home students will decide, are they living the same or will they live out the changes they committed to on the trip? If you want help debriefing your mission trip check out Mission Life in the LeaderTreks store. It’s a great curriculum resource.

I want to challenge you to ask yourself WHY. Why are we doing this and what difference will it make? These questions could lead you to make some changes in your missions program that will help your students mature and grow in new ways.

Living the Missional Lifestyle

Doug Franklin — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 22:03:07 +0000

Summer mission trips have started and students are ready to serve. Trips are a great way to learn to serve but how do you teach students how to live a missional lifestyle? All too often mission trips are about one week each year we set aside to serve. What makes it great for students is that all their friends go and they end up building incredible unity. While many youth workers do mission trips so students will learn to be servants, many students go on trips to be able to do cool stuff with their friends. So how to we move from a good trip to living out Jesus’ call on our lives? At LeaderTreks we have been running a hi-bred mission trip for years that challenges students to much more than a normal trip. To be honest, we have gotten a lot of push back that the trips are too hard on students. So I don’t think we can change much about average mission trips. I believe the change needs to come in what we do after the trip. How we debrief the trip and what we challenge the students to do in light of what we learn on the trip. Students will live a missional lifestyle when we make our youth ministry missional. When students see us living out the mission everyday and when we take the time to hold students accountable to applications they make on the trips, they’ll start living their faith out in real ways.

Flip The Switch

Doug Franklin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 21:14:40 +0000

When do we flip the switch from ministering to students to allowing them to minister to the world?

Connecting Parents

Doug Franklin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:53:13 +0000

Help parents connect with their kids after a mission trip.

Creating Trip Mentors

Doug Franklin — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 15:40:52 +0000

Moving your mission trip adult volunteers from chaperons to trip mentors

3 Secrets of an Intentional Mission Trip

Doug Franklin — Tue, 24 May 2011 20:35:15 +0000

Many of us in youth ministry are getting ready for the annual summer mission trip. Some of us are going to the same location and planning on doing the same stuff hoping that God will show up in the exact same way he showed up last year. It’s important to remember that God never does the same stuff twice, so why do we think we should? This year a few secrets of the trade can make the outcomes of your trip more effective. It starts with us being intentional with the trip; listen, going is not enough. Sure it’s awesome that your students are going on a mission trip but what would truly make it awesome would be if there was a transformational change in their relationship with Christ because of the trip. To put your students in the best place for these transformational changes to take place try the following:

1. Have a plan for spiritual growth
Spiritual growth does not happen by listening to an emotionally charged speaker. We can get encouragement from a speaker but real growth takes place by spending time with God. So create space on your trip for your students to connect with God. Time to read scripture, worship, pray and connect can be done in some very creative ways. Pick one that works for your group and make time for your students to connect with God.

2. Bring trip mentors
Instead of having adult chaperones, bring adults who want to be trip mentors. Adults who will spend the trip building transformational relationships with students. This will require you to spend time training the adults before the trip, but it will be worth it.

3. Debrief the trip
I find that youth workers all want to talk about debriefing before the trip but have no energy for it when the trip is over. Students make transformational change in their lives the week they come home but most youth workers take that week off. Realize that some of the most important work you will do in youth ministry happens the week after major activities. Plan your schedule in a way that allows you to be ready to help students live out their applications from the week of missions.

Student Mission Questions

Doug Franklin — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:53:27 +0000

I was 17 years old when I went on my first mission trip. I went with my church to the inner city of Chicago. We stayed in a rescue mission and I slept in a cot right next the the homeless people who had been lucky enough to get a place at night. It was an eye opening experience; many of the people in the mission came in drunk or with mental illness. I was shocked by what I saw and at the same time amazed at how real and nice these people were. During our afternoon VBS type program, I led two boys in the sinner’s prayer. I’m not sure if it led to transformation in these kids’ lives but it did in mine. I tell you all this because I want to remind you that your mission trip this summer has long-term effects on your students and the more planning and purpose we put into the trips the greater the impact will be. I am not talking about logistic planning but spiritual planning. Here are three questions to ask yourself in order to help you and your students get the most out of the trip.

1. Do I have a plan to challenge students spiritual while on the trip?
Remember going is not enough. We need use all the different parts of the trip to connect students to God. I like to ask the students to make a God size goal once they are on the trip. This kind of goal can only be reached with Gods input the guidance.

2. Do I know where each student is at spiritually?
Every students is different and knowing where they are at spiritually means you and the other adults will know actually where and how to challenge them.

3. How do you plan to follow-up with students after the trip?
While on the trip many students will make commitments and life applications. How do you plan to follow-up and hold them accountable?

3 Keys to Pre-trip Training for Mission Trips

Doug Franklin — Tue, 03 May 2011 21:26:51 +0000

Summer is almost here and soon we will be leaving on our mission trips. Mission trips are all different, some churches have great experiences while others just survive them. I believe that pre-trip training is a key to getting the most out of our summer mission trip. When I am training teams I try to keep three principles in mind:

Sell the Mission

When students are going on a mission trip, I want them to understand how the work or ministry they are doing connects with the goals of the church. I want them to understand that as a Christ follower they have the power to change the world. I believe that when students see how their work is connected to the work of the church, they will see their mission as being bigger than themselves.

For example: when casting the vision for a mission trip to build an orphanage I explained to the students how the construction of one home at this orphanage would allow 8 children at risk to be rescued and placed in a Christian home, raised by a loving and caring Christian mom and dad. I reminded the students that at adulthood, these children would be released into the country to be salt and light for Jesus Christ. As well trained and educated disciples of Christ, these 8 children would be a powerful tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Countless people would hear about the good news of Jesus Christ because a group of high school students were willing to be part of a team that helped rescue children at risk.

There is nothing worst than being on a mission trip where students don’t want to serve.

When I do a good job of selling the mission, I never have trouble getting students to give it their all. Help them see the big picture of what God is doing by connecting the mission to the work of the church.

Team Building

Many of the students that sign up for missions trips know each other but that doesn’t mean they trust each other or have any idea of how to work together. Team building games are great for working through these issues. Youth workers have known about team building games for years but what I have noticed is that youth workers don’t know how to get the most out of a team building game. The problem is most youth workers think team building games are just games, so they set them up to see who will win and who will lose. The truth is, team building games are designed to teach teams about themselves and how they deal with different situations. Start by planning games that will deal with specific problems your team has. Second create goals for each game so you will know what you want to debrief about after the game. This will help you stay focused on using the games for team building.

Share and Prayer

I believe that the greater the communication the greater the trip. What I mean is that the more communication students have with one another and with God, the better the trip will be. Getting students to share with each other is vital to having a great trip. On every trip I go on, I do every team meeting in a circle. It doesn’t matter if it’s an hour long meeting or a quick 30 second one. I run training the same way. Every time I want to communicate with the team I get them in a circle. I often times will have them share by going around the circle. This gives them a sense of safety and develops a willingness for them to share.

Make prayer part of your training. Have students pray for the people at the site, the host partners and others involved with the ministry you will be serving with. Also develop a plan for students to be praying for their teammates. Place them in prayer partnerships and have them pray together. Have adults in the church sign-up to be prayer partners with the students. Have a special dinner just for prayer partners. Give them the inside scoop so they can pray effectively for the students. Use your pre-trip training to teach students about the effectiveness of prayer.
Pre-trip training can make the difference between a good trip and a great one.