Being Intentional After a Missions Trip to Continue the Discipleship Process

If you want your missions trip to be part of the discipleship program, you need to plan ahead.  ReachGlobal Crisis Response’s goal is to make disciples who make disciples.  Missions trips are part of this process.  Senior Pastor George Davis of Hershey Free Church points out, “It really starts with how you begin the journey and the process and really working to create an environment that says these trips are part of a disciplemaking journey.”

It is important to plan a debriefing with team members.  I know one church that started a weekly Bible study with team members after a trip for several months for team growth, continued relationships, and to help members think about how this experience will affect their lives.  I know youth leaders often do a great job following up with their youth.

Dave Hyatt, Pastor for Local and Global Outreach at Hershey Free Church, compared this to Lamaze classes when his wife was pregnant.  The instructor told them, “Hey, you guys have done a great job of preparing for birth, but just remember, you are going to leave the hospital probably two days after that with a human being that you are responsible for.”  Dave explained, “I was terrified at that point.  I was well prepared for that three hour birthing experience but not for the rest of my life.  So, I think as an introduction, team preparation has to be with the discipleship idea in mind, because this is part of a larger ongoing process.”

He added, “I think the ReachGlobal staff does a great job, Mark does an excellent job asking the question, ‘What’s next Thursday night three years from now going to look like that is different in your life because of your time here?’”  We need to challenge team members to continue growing.  We are not looking for a temporary change, but growth that blooms into a new lifestyle.  Dave stressed the value of having an ongoing relationship with a location or ministry where a relationship is fostered.  The team can hear about how missionaries or others they met are doing.  These are areas he considers critical to the success of discipleship from a trip.

After the trip, it would be ideal to connect team members with local ministries that fit passions or gifting they discovered.  Dave gave the example, “In a perfect world, when someone came back after serving on a medical team in Haiti, someone would say, ‘Wow man, you were super passionate about that!  Would you consider volunteering at Hope Within doing medical care or with our children’s ministries working with kids?’”

Pastor George emphasized, “I just want to underscore that one of the reasons we’re enjoying working with ReachGlobal is the fact that we resonate philosophically.  As churches understand what ReachGlobal is trying to do, if you really buy into that, philosophically, you just want to be a part.”

If discipleship is a goal for your church, consider a missions trip with ReachGlobal Crisis Response.  Check out https://go.efca.org/ministries/reachglobal/crisis-response .