The summer work-and-ministry project near a Canadian Indian reservation had finished, and our youth team had successfully painted the camp buildings … and alienated the resident missionaries.
The evaluation was blunt: “They seemed more interested in pairing off with each other than having significant contact with Indian students.”
I was determined to prevent such fiascos in the future.
Service projects can be eye-opening exposure to missions, and they can also benefit those on the receiving end—but not if young people go for the adventure rather than the opportunity to serve.
I’ve discovered the success of a summer missions trip is largely determined before the bus ever leaves the church parking lot.
We significantly increased our requirements for those going out, making them clear from the beginning, and interestingly, the year we began demanding so much more, our number of applications doubled. The students seemed to take the requirements as a challenge and were better prepared mentally and spiritually to minister.
Last summer we sent out sixty-seven people in seven teams, and the response of team members and the missionaries they assisted was excellent.
Our approach? In November we present the next year’s projects. We recruit in February and March, and April begins the training process.
The requirements fall into two categories.
Personal preparation
Each individual is expected to take care of:
Application forms. Students must answer questions such as “How do you know you’re a Christian?” and “What are the strengths/weaknesses you will bring to your team?” We also require them to furnish references: two fellow students who can describe their witness at school and one adult who can attest to the applicant’s ability to work.
Writing assignments. These are given after acceptance onto the team. They may include a book report on a missionary biography or a geographical report about climate, customs, language, and predominate religion of the area where the team is going. The reports must be neat enough to be photocopied, because each team member receives a copy for his notebook.
Fund raising. Participants are responsible for their own finances, including a $50 deposit two to three months before the departure date and the balance six weeks before the team leaves.
Those needing aid write letters to friends and relatives, but they can also apply for support (another application form) from the church missions committee. Those who apply usually receive aid, but only after another book report and a personal interview before the committee (often an intimidating experience for a teenager).
Prayer support. Each student must recruit three prayer partners, at least one of whom must be outside his immediate family. This gives the students a sense of personal encouragement from others in the church. It is also a great way to involve students unable to go on a team.
In addition, miscellaneous expectations include Scripture memorization, getting the necessary shots, passport, parental permission forms, and personal spending money.
These experiences offer a foretaste of the rigors of missionary training. From the red tape of applications to the humbling yet faith-stretching experience of fund raising, from the pain of shots to the anxiety of interviews, the requirements simulate what it’s like to be a missionary.
We don’t want young people thinking of the experience as a vacation. We want them to know hard work lies ahead.
Team preparation
Only in the last two years have we made a concerted effort to prepare the team as a unit, and it has paid off in improved performance. But naturally, this requires teams to be formed at least two months in advance.
The team requirements include:
The team retreat. By far our best move has been requiring attendance at the training retreat, which is fashioned after Teen Missions’ “Boot Camp.”
Usually the third weekend in May, everyone goes to a camp in New Hampshire to learn to work together as teams. The sports competition, the obstacle course, the hours of interaction and training in missions and cross-cultural communication are not a cure-all. In fact, the experience can reveal personal problems or immaturity, but it allows us to discover and address them before our teams depart. As I tell our participants, “We don’t want to drive you 1,000 miles or fly you 10,000 miles just to find out you’re not a hard worker.”
The team covenant. This is a document prepared on the training retreat by team members themselves. In effect, it’s a contract describing the Christian community they want to be as a team. It contains four parts.
1. Team vision. This statement of purpose puts in their own words why the team exists and what type of people they want to be. One group said, “In our common goal to please God and grow toward Christlike maturity, we desire to be united as humble servants of God, radiating unselfish love and serving the people of Surinam, the missionaries, and our team to the best of our abilities.”
2. Team goals. These are the traits that should characterize the team if it is to fulfill its purpose. One group included, among other things:
“Unity and equality: In all situations we will function as one by always looking out for the best interests of the whole team, not just our personal interests. To assure this, we will regard everyone we encounter as our equal. (Gal. 2:6; Prov. 28:21)
“Positive attitude: We commit ourselves to maintaining a joyful countenance by avoiding complaining at all times, by graciously forgiving one another when the need arises, and by submitting ourselves to God, to the missionaries, and to our team leaders. (Phil. 4:8)”
3. Team structure. How will the members do their task and relate to one another? One group said, “Each day we will pray as a team and have a devotion led by a different team member. Each team member will be prayed for by another team member daily. Each member will send a note of encouragement to another team member each day, on a rotating basis. Prior to departure, we will prepare testimonies to be presented at local churches.”
One girl approached her team leader after the retreat and said, “I didn’t want to say anything earlier, but I can’t give my testimony. I’m afraid to speak in front of people.”
“I’m sorry,” said the leader gently. “I guess you can’t go. I hope you’ll change your mind.”
Eventually she did. But that summer, when her turn came to speak, she cried all the way to the church. Her team encouraged her, prayed for her, and helped her through the experience. She made it and gained confidence because the requirements weren’t waived.
4. Evaluation and accountability. How will the group assess its work and correct members? When one group included a statement that they would hold one another accountable for having a daily prayer and Bible study time, one girl resisted. “I can’t sign that,” she said. “I don’t want anyone checking up on my life.” That tipped us off to some of her deeper problems, and it resulted in our eventual decision not to send her.
Drawing up a team covenant does require the leaders to be trained beforehand in leading the discussion. But from junior highs to young professionals, our teams have found a covenant helps keep them together, helps resolve conflicts, and gives a sense of qualitative accomplishment.
The team meetings. In addition to the retreat, three or four other meetings are held with each team to give information, address the parents, answer questions, and cover everything from what clothes to pack to how not to insult a Colombian. Team meetings are also the time we draw a team together in prayer, thus building a spiritual base.
The team notebook. Everyone gets these orientation manuals, which include instructions on cross-cultural adaptation, teamwork training, and space to organize all notes, handouts, and team covenant. We’ve found the notebook creates a seriousness within the team, giving teens a healthy sense of being professionals.
The team commissioning. With most of the preparations done, we set aside an entire Sunday evening service to commission the teams. They explain the work they will do. They recite their team memory verses. The pastor preaches on servanthood. And the service closes with all team members kneeling up front as the elders and pastors lay hands on them and pray for their ministry.
We require participation in this service because it communicates a sense of churchwide support for their work.
Consequences
Increasing our requirements has caused some problems, of course. Besides the logistical problems of organizing all the details, there are always some students who refuse to do the required work or a few parents who want their kids exempted from a particular requirement.
When one student told me he could not make the team retreat, I said, “Well, we can’t send you on a project this year. Maybe you can go next year.”
He was furious and pouted for several weeks about how unfair it was. I pointed out that his reaction confirmed that he lacked the spiritual qualifications to go.
Another time a parent was sore because I wouldn’t bend the requirements, but thanks to the support of the other pastors and elders, I was able to handle the heat.
The rewards, however, far exceed the hassles. Tough requirements and training have drawn out the best in our teenagers, many of whom have amazed their parents. Others have confronted their fears head-on and grown in faith as a result. And the parents feel better about sending their kids away knowing we have taken the project so seriously.
Our dream for these summer projects has been (1) to meet a need in some mission setting, (2) to build participants in their ability to serve together as a team, and (3) to produce people concerned for and open to world missions.
Our stringent requirements have helped us fulfill our dream.
HALLOWEEN OUTREACH
When are people least likely to be irritated by someone ringing the doorbell? Halloween, of course.
Young people from Burlingame Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon, turned the trick-or-treat custom around by knocking on doors in the church’s neighborhood and saying, “We have a treat for you!” and giving goodies to the people along with a seasonal gospel message and a brochure detailing the church programs.
One year homemade granola bars were given out. Another year the junior high girls carved and distributed tiny jack-o-lanterns with autumn foliage artistically arranged inside.
“We don’t try to see how many doorbells we can ring,” says Lucibel Van Atta, the former youth leader who initiated the ministry. “Twenty homes is the most we contact any one Halloween, but we’re willing to talk and show people we’re interested in them.”
One lady who lived alone was so pleased to have visitors that she asked the two teens to come back. They did, and within a few weeks, they were escorting her to church.
A fringe benefit has been the added confidence the experience gives the young people. “I came just for the pizza afterward,” said one teen. “But I got so interested in talking to people, especially the old folks and little kids, that I forgot about the pizza.”
NEW USES FOR A CHRISTMAS TREE
The tree in the foyer is bare the first Sunday in December at Titusville (Pennsylvania) Church of Christ. But by Christmas, the branches are covered with over a hundred cards, each given by a different member of the church. On each card is written some deed the person is willing to do for someone else.
“A beautician in the church usually offers a free haircut and style,” says Minister John W. Morris. “A professional cake decorator offers a cake any time in the next year. Others offer dinner at a favorite restaurant. Even teens are eager to participate—offering to shovel snow, cut grass, or wash cars.”
The Sunday after Christmas, any member who has placed a card on the tree is invited to remove one and claim the gift.
“It’s a tradition that has worked well in our congregation for over ten years,” says Morris.
Peninsula Covenant Church in Redwood City, California, takes a slightly different approach. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, a tall fir at the front of the sanctuary is covered with gaily colored paper tags, each containing the name of a less fortunate local family and details about some of their needs.
Over the next weeks, the tags are removed as members of the congregation choose a family to help celebrate Christmas. The goal is a tree totally bare by Christmas Eve.
Names on the tags come from Christians who minister in the low-income community. Many represent large families with one or both parents unemployed. Others are one-parent families or disabled adults or children. The families know in advance they’ll be receiving gifts, which relieves the tension both giver and recipient often feel when “charity” shows up on the doorstep.
“It has been exciting to see the effects of Project Christmas Tree in our congregation,” says member Pat Sikora. “The flexibility of the program allows each family to express their God-given creativity in new ways.”
Some give boxes of used clothing for the children; others buy a few new items. Some wrap gifts individually; others wrap a big box filled with gifts. One family filled a stocking for each child; another filled a wagon with toys, clothes, and food.
Some enjoy giving anonymously, simply signing the gifts “From your friends at Covenant” so there’s no possibility of a thank-you. Others prefer to deliver the gifts in person. After thinking about the needs of a particular family for several weeks, many want to develop a relationship and continue helping over the next year.
“One year, the high school department adopted a family with eight children and no father,” says Sikora. “They ministered to that family all year, even taking the children to Great America.”
Many parents have found the experience helpful in teaching children the joy of giving. Some choose a family that corresponds in size and age with their own. At least one couple has chosen to give to their Christmas tree family instead of each other.
“Project Christmas Tree is not a one-sided ministry,” says Sikora. “Most of us feel we gain far more than we give.”
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