Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale

Short-term mission trips: An Agent of Change

Posted on Thu, Apr 7, 2011

Missions is not only for professional Christians.

God's mission is for all of God's people. Every person in the body of Christ is called to be a front line agent of the Holy Spirit.

The vast majority of Christendom is not in full-time, vocational ministry. If the fields are white for harvest and the workers are few, then the problem must be that the few missionaries in the foreign fields are the full-timers waiting for the rest of the church to pitch in. How will the work get done? Regular, everyday Christians engaging in short-term mission trips will definitely move the task toward completion.

What does God want to do through you? What does He want to show you about the people in another part of the world?

Tray went with Pastor Jym Kay to Nicaragua in January.

These people have so little materialistically, yet they have so much love and joy.  Most houses were one room sheds with dirt floors and a lot of them did not have windows or doors. They used outhouses for bathrooms. The people of Nicaragua were so welcoming and loving. I haven't seen anything like it.
---Short-term missionary, Tray.

When the Lord begins to arrange a person’s life to go on a short-term mission trip, the thinking is that God wants to use him or her to turn the world upside down solo. But God’s plan is not only to reach the people in a remote location hungry for the Gospel, but, in the process, to totally refurbish the traveling Christian's life.

"My first short-term trip was life changing and a huge blessing, I have never felt closer to the Lord.  The trip completely opened my eyes to what the Lord is doing in other countries, the work of missionaries in the field and the lifestyle sacrifices they make in their service to the Lord."
---Short-term missionary, Joe.

Joe knew after his first trip to Haiti in the spring of 2010, that God was doing some major heart renovation. God confirmed in Joe, after his third trip to Haiti, that this is where he and his wife would spend the next portion of their lives now that the kids had vacated the nest.

I recommend all Christians go on at least one short-term mission trip in their lifetime as it totally brings the book of Acts to life on a personal level.

It’s been said that when it comes to the Great Commission (see Matt 28:18-20), there only three options:

Go

Send

...or Disobey

How does the Lord want to use you to participate in the many opportunities presented throughout 2011? There’s a trip to just about every continent on the planet.