Many of you have asked me to go deeper into what makes a good student mission trip so I want to take some time this week discuss mission trips. I want to start with the essentials; what must every trip provide? I think that every student mission trip must have these three elements:

1. Spiritual preparation
Most student mission trips have pre-trip meetings where all kinds of issues are discussed but little time is spent on the purpose of mission. God made mission part of the life of a believer and many of us don’t understand why God has called us all on a mission and how to live out the mission. We need to let students know God’s purpose and their part in it. This will allow them to see that mission trips are not summer options for students but power packed opportunists to see God at work. God doesn’t need us or our students; He only invites us to come and see His mighty work!

2.  Student focus
We like to think that this year’s trip will change the world, but it won’t. In reality though, it could change the world of your students. We need to understand that student mission trips are about students. Trips allow them to see God at work and allows them to discover their strengths and gifts. There is nothing like a mission trip to show students that God is real. So plan for impact, spend some of your time on the trips letting students study God’s word and teach them about prayer. Give them time to process and debrief each day, give them tools to think and dream. Some of the commitments they make on a trip will last a life time. Whenever I talk about this many youth workers go crazy and think this so wrong. Just ask yourself about last year’s trip and the student reports when they got home. Did any of them say, “I went on the trip to serve others but in the end I was the one who got the help”?

3.  Debriefing
When most student mission trips end the youth worker takes a two week vacation. Just when God is at work in the students’ lives and youth ministry takes a month off. This drives me nuts. When the trip ends is actually the perfect time to start to work with them, processing through the experience and helping them make decisions about their future. We must debrief the experience so students will make mission their life.

When considering the right house to buy it’s all about location. Location is the key to the right schools, safety, and the right kind of neighbors. But location is not a key when planning a mission trip. I am guessing here, but I think most of you would agree. Then why is it when we announce this year’s mission trip we start with the location and when we name the trip we use the location? The truth is, the location is what we try and sell our students on. It’s a tough sale because we want our students to think it’s awesome with a little danger on the side but we want parents to think it’s the safest place on earth. Maybe we should consider not selling the location at all. Instead let’s challenge students and parents with sacrifice. Before you even tell them the location, layout the sacrifice the trip will require. Motivate students with the impact they could have and challenge them to prepare like never before. Then say “oh by-the-way we are going to serve in ___________________.”

The size of a church has nothing to do with the quality of its youth ministry. In fact some of the worst youth ministries I have seen have been in America’s top ten largest churches. So what are the key factors that lead to healthy youth ministries? This is not scientific but it’s what I have seen over the past 25 years in youth ministry.

1. Spiritual focused adult volunteers
When youth groups have adults who want to build spiritually significant relationship with students, transformation happens. At the end of the day this is the point of youth ministry.

2. Partnership with parents
Youth ministry is at its best when it supports parents as the primary faith influences in students’ lives. I know this is harder and harder as families crumble but we must pursue partnership with parents no matter their spiritual situation.

3. Student leadership
I believe youth ministry is at its best when students are leading it. Youth workers need to get over themselves; it’s not about you it’s about your students reaching their world.

I notice a lot of youth workers are caught in the mess of their church. What I mean is they are not dreaming about moving their ministries forward because of distractions that come from being part of a church. Maybe the Senior Pastor is unhappy or just left, or the elders are fighting, or one family in the church is raising a stink about who knows what. Youth workers will often only move forward when they think the dust is about to settle.These distractions often become so overwhelming they lead you to make excuses and stop moving. They can at times become a crutch. But guess what? The dust from these issues isn’t going to settle until Jesus returns, so fight through the distractions and start dreaming for your ministry. Honestly ask yourself, have you stopped moving forward because the mess is too great or have you stopped fighting? If you answered yes, consider this a kick in the pants … start fighting, your students are worth it.