Before You Go On That Ministry Trip

Before you get on the plane for that short term missions/ministry trip...

Check your leader:

Can you follow the person who is going to be leading your trip? What about any other leaders who are serving under them?

There needs to be at least one leader on the trip who you are able to listen to without question.

This isn't because short term missions trips are a dictatorship, but because there will be moments when leading a team cross culturally (or anywhere) where there simply will not be time to explain.

Explanations and questions can come later. Most trip leaders will welcome even your most probing thoughts, but the middle of church service/the market/public transportation might not be the most appropriate time to ask.

Can you be as responsive to the seemingly inane requests of your leader to cross your legs, uncross your legs, change clothes, put on different shoes, lower your voice, look somewhere else, use the other hand, etc as you are to the "big" requests that are simple to understand?

If you can't, what choices do you need to make? Do you need to meet with one of the leaders? Get to know them better? Wait for a later trip or go with a different group?

The way that your group interacts will likely communicate more about Christianity than any words you could say or any service you could perform. Make sure that you are able to follow well.

Check your heart:

Are you going to bear witness to someone else's story? Or, are you going because you want to add a cool new chapter to your own?

There is an entire industry and global economy built around giving people new experiences in new places. It's called tourism, and it can be a soul stretching, eye opening, heart stopping way to expand your horizons, but tourism isn't missions, and missions isn't tourism.

You should be going to bear witness to other people's stories and primarily to bear witness to other people's stories.

It doesn't matter if you have an incredible skill that fills a felt need of the local community in a developmentally appropriate partnership. If you are a terrible listener, someone will probably want to strangle you within twenty-four hours.

They won't. But, why spend hundreds or thousands of dollars just to be a pain in someone's neck? You have friends and family at home that you can provide that service to for just a fraction of the cost.

Instead, be ready to listen, look, learn, and then serve (or be served) as asked.

Stories are powerful. Powerful enough to take the time to hear them - and occasionally tell them - well.

And, yes, of course I have opinions on what that looks like.

Check your camera:

Is it a real camera? Like a not-a-phone, old school piece of equipment with a slightly dusty screen that you had to dig out of your parents' sock drawer?

That's what you want to bring.

Because, no one wants to sit there worrying that the kid running around with your camera is going to accidentally switch on the data plan and earn you a cell bill the size of Texas when you could be playing clapping games or engaging in conversation or doing whatever else your hosts have asked of you.

Unless you are the one or two people that your team has designated to take respectful, honoring photos of willing subjects, your camera isn't a tool to make yourself look more awesome or capture the perfect selfie.

It's another way to bear witness, a chance to let another person show you a glimpse of the world through their eyes.

Your language skills may not be the sharpest, but a picture speaks a thousand words. Put your camera in someone else's hands, and let them show you what is important about the day, the event, the moment. The answers can teach you a lot.

This means building relationships to the point where you know who it is appropriate to hand a camera to and where to find them if they wander out of eyesight. It means learning names and personalities and who that one kid is who you shouldn't hand the camera to, because they will get distracted and drop it into the nearest puddle of liquid.

You might not get the perfect profile pic, but you will get a new perspective.

And, finally...

Check your language skills:

Are they up to par for what you plan to be doing on the trip?

If you're going to be working with kids, learn to ask about ages and siblings and favorite colors. Learn to ask adults about family and life and spirituality.

Learn the names of common objects that you'll be interacting with - and the all important skill of asking what something is called.

You would be confused if someone came on a ministry trip to the United States without learning any English. Expect the same reaction from your hosts and then be grateful when they choose not to show it.

Language is communication is relationship.

Learn as much as you can before you go, and learn more when you're there.

It will probably feel like your brain is about to explode and your tongue is tying itself up in knots, but that's okay. You (hopefully) didn't sign up for this trip because they promised you that it would be easy.

This is important enough to put some effort and sweat and tears into. The God who understands every language on the planet thinks that this one is just as rich and beautiful as the one that you grew up with. Worship through the work of learning new sounds.

Check your leader. Check your heart. 

Check your camera. Check your language skills.

Pack your bag.

Go, and love like Jesus there the same way that you love like Jesus here.