{"id":1346,"date":"2014-11-24T12:15:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T17:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.missiondiscovery.org\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2021-09-23T11:05:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T15:05:54","slug":"ready-grow-or-just-ready-go-student-growth-mission-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.missiondiscovery.org\/news\/ready-grow-or-just-ready-go-student-growth-mission-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"READY TO GROW, OR JUST READY TO GO: STUDENT GROWTH ON MISSION TRIPS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Author:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jason Torrence<\/p>\n<p>When the weather gets below freezing, summer can seem a long way off. But if you\u2019re planning to volunteer abroad or at home this summer, now is the time to start planning. The planning phase is usually a time of raising funds, filling out forms, and (hopefully)\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missiondiscovery.org%2Fnews%2Fthree-ways-prayerfully-prepare-christian-missionary-work&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNHZSdRjiBTOOoIr-W5_NZS69WmnUQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prayer<\/a>! But there\u2019s another aspect to preparing for mission work: How do you know if your students are truly ready for the kind of growth that can happen on a youth mission trip? To help answer this question, we asked several youth pastors for their perspective.<\/p>\n<p>Chad has worked with youth all over the United States. For him, trust is a prerequisite when it comes to a youth mission trip, whether that mission work is right in town or if students are going to volunteer abroad. Chad emphasizes that \u201cit takes a lot for me to not trust a student\u2026 I always prefer to err on the side of grace. But occasionally, I\u2019ll have a student that I just can\u2019t let out of my sight.\u201d His concern isn\u2019t only for one person &#8211; if a student has shown themselves to be untrustworthy, they can inhibit potential growth opportunities for other youth on the trip.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond that, Chad doesn\u2019t look for any particular signs to tell whether students are ready, and he has a very simple reason. \u201cMost growth in students\u2019 lives happens WHILE they are serving, so I don\u2019t set a standard of growth for them before they get a chance to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As an American youth pastor living and serving in Hong Kong, Dan brings unique perspective to the discussion of when students are ready for Christian missions. Hong Kong\u2019s geography means that Dan and his students are only a 30 minute flight from an international mission trip, and that means he must take extra caution in assessing students\u2019 readiness. Identifying their motivation is a key part of the process. \u201cDo they have a desire to serve others, or do they look at it as a vacation?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Dan understands that motivations can change: Students who go for the \u201cright\u201d reasons can end up being distracted, just like students who seem to have the \u201cwrong\u201d motivation might end up experiencing incredible growth in their faith. \u201cObviously God can work through any situation, and I always try to be cognizant of that fact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both Dan and Chad address an important point. It\u2019s rarely up to the youth pastor to decide when growth will occur. It\u2019s up to the youth pastor to put students in situations where growth is likely.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s never too early to start praying about opportunities to get involved in Christian missions. Whether you choose to do work in the US, or to volunteer abroad, you\u2019ve got plenty of options with\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.missiondiscovery.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mission Discovery<\/a>. Please don\u2019t hesitate to visit our website to see the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.missiondiscovery.org%2Ftrips&amp;sa=D&amp;sntz=1&amp;usg=AFQjCNFE1Kh1L_Dq0nQGSdvaFooDsOTezg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">variety of mission trips<\/a>\u00a0we have available for all ages, genders, and lengths of time. Now is the time to start planning for a mission trip with Mission Discovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author:\u00a0 Jason Torrence When the weather gets below freezing, summer can seem a long way off. But if you\u2019re planning to volunteer abroad or at home this summer, now is the time to start planning. The planning phase is usually a time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>READY TO GROW, OR JUST READY TO GO: STUDENT GROWTH ON MISSION TRIPS - Mission Discovery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.missiondiscovery.org\/news\/ready-grow-or-just-ready-go-student-growth-mission-trips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"READY TO GROW, OR JUST READY TO GO: STUDENT GROWTH ON MISSION TRIPS - Mission Discovery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Author:\u00a0 Jason Torrence When the weather gets below freezing, summer can seem a long way off. 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