Going on a mission trip is a lifechanging experience. If you ever been on a mission trip, then you will understand that. If you haven't, then just take my word for it.
I haven't heard of anyone who didn't grow in their faith when they went on a mission trip. It is an amazing experience. But then you come back home. And the lifechanging experience stops. We begin to get back into the normal routine. We become thankful for the mountaintop experience but understand that we can't live up their too long.
Well, I am all for living up on the mountaintop as much as possible, so I have tried to figure this one out. Why do we grow when we go on a mission trip, yet struggle to maintain our spiritual lives back here?
Here are some things I came up with. Feel free to share some if you can think of one's that I haven't included.
We are completely selfless on a mission trip. All we want to do is help other people have their needs met. The whole reason we are there is to help others, so there is no room for selfishness.
We live together in close proximity with other believers on a mission trip. Anytime we need encouragement we are surrounded with people that are willing to give it. We are around each other enough to know one another on a deeper level than the normal daily relationships allow us to here.
We share meals together on a mission trip. I would love to be involved in a group of people that shared meals together on a more regular basis. We can share meals and not be living in a commune (not that there is anything wrong with that).
We were focused on finding people's needs and meeting them. This one has come up some in conversation lately. One of the main things I miss about church in Lansing is this element. Every week when we gathered together we asked if there were any needs that anyone saw that we could meet. Too often we pray for people's needs when we can be the answer to those needs. That is one of the things we focused on in the house churches because we had the financial resources available to meet people's needs.
I'm trying to bring the mission trip back home.
Watch out for the potholes.
