VBS Teams from Jesus is the Answer Short-Term Missions...

Have you ever wondered why no short-term mission teams from other countries come to America to do mission?  Well, so did Jesus is the Answer Short-term Mission and now your church can request a short-term mission team that will do for your church what American teams have done for churches around the globe for years.

That’s right!  We have short-term VBS teams waiting to come to your church and put on a Vacation Bible School for the children of your church and area.

Give people from such faraway places like China, India and Brazil a chance to serve God at your church.

Here’s how it works...

Our teams arrive on Sunday and depart the following Saturday.  You provide housing, food and lots of kids, and the teams will do the rest.  All you have to do is sit back and see how many children around your church accept the invitation to join the Kingdom.

None of our teams speak English, but that is not a problem.  Having learned from watching American teams for years, these teams are well trained and experienced.  And every team has one person who will translate the main message into English so your kids will be sure to understand.

Besides, the Holy Spirit makes the connection anyway, so even if no one in your VBS can understand a word the teams are saying, God will still be there and that’s what’s important.

*******************************************************

We've used Jesus is the Answer a number of times... not only do they make mission easy, they help us feel good about our ministry.  Trust me, if seeing kids raise their hands and feeling good about your ministry is important to you, get a team from Jesus is the Answer Short-Term Mission to come to your church... 

Pastor Dave T., Smith Georgia

*******************************************************

This is your chance to share the American culture with a small team of 15 - 20 short-term missionaries from abroad.

Know that in addition to the great Bible lessons these teams will teach, they will bring lots of cool crafts from The Alaskan Trading Company and will come ready to play American Football with everyone from your church.

Also included in this incredible package is cutting edge kids music kids with titles like Jesus Loves Me, Deep and Wide, & I Am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N!

With such quality music, crafts, story times and more, your church will be sure to draw a crowd for that all important invitation time at the end of the week.

What are you waiting for?

***************************************************

나는 선교사 목사입니다. 내가 당신을 도와 당신의 교회에 팀을 가지고 할 수 있습니까?  우리는 노래를 노래 예수에 대한 이야기를하고 필요한 건 뭐든지 할 것입니다. 그리고 우리는 당신의 맛있는 음식을 모두 먹고 불평하지 않습니다!

Pastor Tommy, 성경의 장로 교회, 서울, 한국

***************************************************

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to serve missionaries from abroad while they are in your church!  You will be blessed as they tell their stories at the end of week of how God provided for all of their expenses, used them to share Jesus with the children of your church and changed their lives.

For more information, or to register to receive a group, just contact us at Jesus is the Answer Short-Term Missions.

Operators are standing by now... And if you call (634)723-SAVE in the next 15 minutes and book a team, we will have that team teach your congregation how to be better evangelists and be more effective at sharing the Word in America.

[Yes, it's satire, but all of these posts are derived from actual requests and experiences from the short-term mission arena...]

The Real Work of Short-Term Mission... reflecting on the journey for long-term impact...

Your church group has just returned from a fantastic mission trip to some far-flung corner of the world, or from someplace much closer to home.

But once people get home, CNN, Twitter, soccer, school, work, and church activities have a way of crowding out the spiritual focus that, just a few days earlier, seemed certain to shape their lives.

That’s why it’s important to have an effective debriefing plan in place even before leaving home.

Roger Peterson, author of Maximum Impact Short-Term Mission and one of the founders of the Fellowship of Short-Term Mission Leaders [FSTML] says that the debriefing process, a time of reflection after your short-term mission, is more important than the actual mission. While not discounting the work that’s been accomplished, real life change comes as people return home and reflect on their experience.

Over the years I have served alongside thousands of people on mission trips in Mexico and attended countless conferences sponsored by denominations and mission organizations. Here’s what I have learned: the most effective people in God’s kingdom are the ones who take seriously the need to stop, reflect, and consider what God is saying to them through their mission.

Tim Dearborn, director of faith and development at World Vision International, says that in order for people to really gain insight from this debriefing time, they need to know what to look for. This means letting your team know ahead of time what you expect of them on their return.

Here then, are ten potential debriefing questions adapted from Tim Dearborn and Dr. David Livermore, author of Serving with Eyes Wide Open. Share them with your team before you leave, and then make sure you carve out time upon your return to reflect on them.

1. What did I learn about myself on my short-term mission?

2. What did I learn about God?

3. What did I learn about the people, the church, and the Christian community in the area where I served?

4. What did I learn about how culture impacts the ways people live and understand the gospel?

5. What did I learn about justice, economics, poverty, and politics during my short-term mission?

6. As a follower of Christ, what did I learn that can help me be a more fully devoted disciple?

7.How might my faith be different if I had grown up where I was serving, as opposed to in my home community?

8. What did I learn or experience that will change the way I live and represent Jesus in my home community and church?

9. What have I learned about my own Christian calling?

10. How can I continue to support the ongoing work in the area where I served?

There you have it. Ten questions to consider as your team returns to your home church. But let me go one step further and give you a bonus question: What difference would it make if you lived each day with the same intensity and focus on Jesus and others as you did on your mission? And then ask your team this follow-up question: What keeps you from living life at that level now?

For most of us, the lessons learned from serving on short-term mission trips may take years to fully grasp.

But that’s okay. It’s a journey.

Adventures in Life Ministry... short-term mission, long-term impact...

Our first team to serve with Pastor Raul

It was late at night when we arrived in front of the small church in Zapopan, just outside of Guadalajara in 1998.  Instead of the big welcome for the missionaries from America, the place was dark, locked up and looked deserted.

Soon someone came by and asked if we were the people people that were coming to serve their church for a week.  When we answered yes, they told us to follow them.

We carried our bags for about a mile across dirt roads destroyed by the summer storms of Guadalajara until we arrived at a house, were fed, and then told where to sleep.

The next morning we went to the church to await Pastor Raul and prepare for our Outreach Club with the kids of Colonia Paraisos del Colli.

The next year we returned to serve with Pastor Raul again.  To a much better welcome.  Because they knew and were beginning to trust us.

We returned again the next year and then almost annually after that.

We are still returning to that small church... in fact I am writing today from Raul's house, 14 years later.

I arrived yesterday from Oaxaca where a small group from that church in Zapopan came to help us with a camp we helped facilitate for kids from the Amatlanes and San Baltazar Guelavila.

Now that may not sound like such a big deal until you realize that the group that came to serve in Oaxaca with us became friends, learned to serve, and play music as part of our short-term mission work with their small church in Zapopan, just outside of Guadalajara.

And that happened not because we went there once, but because we invested in their church and their families and lives even though it was hard and our first experiences were pretty rough.

Adventures in Life Ministry has always believed that effective ministry comes through long-term committed relationships built on a foundation of Jesus Christ.

This last week, having those same kids serve with us as grown ups, was a gift from God.  It is not everyday that you get to see your Kingdom investment in people pay off.

But we did!  Because we believe that long term impact comes with long term involvement and partnership.

Effective short-term mission needs to happen over the long-term to make a real Kingdom difference in the communities we are serving.  One and done mission trips do little to really invest in people or contribute to long term solutions and are in fact at the root of much of the criticism of short-term mission.

If, as you seek out short-term mission opportunities, you look for partners who know and believe in long-term investment, perhaps one day you too will get a chance to see the eternal results of your short-term mission.