Recently an anonymous post on a social media site for associational mission strategists asked participants about sponsoring missions trips. Should these only be done by churches, or should the associational organization also sponsor trips?
Several dozen associational directors responded with various viewpoints and reasons in favor of or opposed to the idea. Some presented third alternatives.
The issue, however, needs additional thinking and insights regarding the best role for associations.
The best sponsors are always churches
First, because associations in their purest form are churches in association with one another, the best answer is that churches should be the primary sponsors of missions trips. This is always possible but not always a reality.
Second, the associational staff and organization should be catalysts that come alongside churches that take missions trips by providing them with a perspective that makes the trips Great Commission and great commandment learning experiences. This is also always possible but not always a reality.
Third, the missions organizations of the denomination can provide support for the administration and logistics of trips. They can assist with orientation for the missions trip volunteers.
Great Commission and great commandment
How do missions trips become Great Commission and great commandment learning experiences? This is where the associational organization can be the greatest support.
Missions trips should never be thought of as an event on the calendar where people say, “Been there. Done that. Did some good.” These are just trips.
The association does not need to sponsor trips — certainly not missions tourism. Its motivation should be much deeper.
Associations should help shape missions trips into missional learning experiences — or better yet, into Great Commission and great commandment learning experiences.
What are missional learning experiences?
Missional learning experiences have four phases.
Phase one is the spiritual preparation and contextual education that takes place before the trip.
Spiritual preparation involves prayerful discernment before each volunteer goes on a missions trip. It is an openness to hear the voice of God speaking to each volunteer and developing a holy compassion and boldness to tell of God’s love.
Contextual education is learning about the places they will serve and the people with whom they will be ministering. It also projects the volunteers’ reentry to their home contexts.
This education anticipates what they will experience on their trip that also exists where they live but is too often unseen by them.
On their trip they may witness people affected by poverty, affluence, hunger, prejudice, violence, drug addiction, sexual abuse, a lack of life purpose, education challenges, distance from God and other realities of life. These same realities exist in their home contexts but may be ignored in the busyness of life or the cultural detachment of many Christians.
Phase two is the trip itself. The hope is that it will be a genuine encounter with a different cultural setting and that the differences will be enough and the trip long enough that the volunteers become disoriented about life in Christ as they live it in their home contexts.
If disorientation takes place, then it provides an opportunity for people to rethink their role in sharing the good news of Jesus.
Phase three is debriefing missions trip volunteers. It begins while they are still on the trip but should be supported by several formal debriefing sessions back home.
The association can sponsor the debriefings when the volunteers return. An important reason for debriefing is to give the opportunity to share what was experienced on the missions trip that are also present at home.
The volunteers can discuss what churches need to do in their home context to find the opportunities and meet the needs revealed during their missions trip.
Phase four is when volunteers, groups and churches actively engage in local missions efforts based on what they experienced during their missions trip. They see and connect with the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned people in their home context and not just “over there.”
When this takes place, missions trips morph from being simply a trip into being Great Commission and great commandment learning experiences.
EDITOR’S NOTE — George Bullard spent 45 years in denominational ministry. He served on the staff of three associations, was a key staff person working with associations in two state conventions and served on the association missions division staff of the former Home Mission Board of the SBC. He retired in June 2022 as director of Columbia Metro Baptist Association in South Carolina. He has led strategic planning processes in more than 100 associations and has written extensively in this area. Bullard now serves as a strategic thinking mentor for Christian leaders through his ForthTelling Innovation ministry and a correspondent for The Baptist Paper. To request permission to republish this article, email news@thebaptistpaper.org.
