GETTING ADULTS EXCITED ABOUT MISSIONS

After the commissioning service for our summer mission youth teams, an elder was asking about the group bound for Kenya. "Is that the capital of Africa?" He was completely serious, so I gently tried to explain that Nairobi was the capital of Kenya, but that Africa, being a continent and not a country, had no capital. He retreated, a little embarrassed.

The incident got me thinking about our church's vision for, and understanding of, world missions. We were doing a satisfactory job educating our young people; our adults needed some schooling as well.

Formulating our rationale

That summer we began planning mission trips for adults. I knew the first question people would ask: "Why should we do this?" Based on my experience, both personal and with our youth teams, I generated three reasons:

1. The church benefits. Giving, prayer, and a sense of partnership with missionaries had already increased in our youth groups. I knew the same harvest of benefits would ...