Discipling students to follow Jesus is a delicate balance of walking the experiential tight-rope. Teenagers are drawn to new experiences, exploring possibilities, getting the dopamine rush from the next flashy, eye-catching bling that crosses their path. Introducing new ideas, environments, people, games, and more can excite them to the potential for new ways of thinking about their faith and the unique ways they have been created to partner with God in this eclectic world. At the same time, students benefit from consistency, stability, and discipline. Developing a faith that will stand the tests of life requires practice in doing things with repetition that develops the foundational habits which create stability and meaning when everything around them is changing. Spiritual disciplines, faithful mentors, meaningful traditions, and rhythms of shared moments of worship, accountability, serving, and laughter can solidify an identity as a Jesus-follower that the glitz and haze of the next emotional rush can never replace.
The question becomes, how do you balance new experiences with consistent foundations as you engage students in ongoing ministry? What pieces of your programming should remain fluid and even adventurous while others provide stability even as you continue to refine them for better discipleship outcomes?
At Students Living a Mission, we see the range of responses to this programming dynamic regarding summer missions. Some churches, schools, and other organizations approach community service with the outlook of experimentation and seek a new partnership, destination, and/or project each year. This becomes a way for them to offer new experiences and offer a unique trip each summer to students who they may believe would otherwise have the "been there, done that" attitude. It allows them to market something fresh and means everyone is a first-time participant on equal terms. Other groups will retain elements like the mission partner but travel to a new ministry site. This gives leaders and students some common expectation of the values of the organization while mixing up the details and retaining some elements of newness. Finally, some groups have found benefit in long-term partnership that leads them to serve with the same community over the course of several years and even decades. These teams discover value investing in an ongoing work that may be in short bursts or longer-term efforts but are concentrated on seeing transformation over time even at the risk of some repetition in their experiences.
Which model are you currently? Whatever model you align with, be intentional about the reasons for doing so. It is also worth evaluating if those reasons move the needle on the discipleship outcomes of your students, if they are neutral, or if they are hindering your efforts to develop students for life–long faith. Have you seen or does your church have evidence that students are more engaged in living out their faith because of your past mission participation? If so, what elements are influencing that outcome and are there areas to grow? If students do not seem to be growing on the other side of these events, how does your effort need to be re-imagined or re-directed for greater effectiveness in bringing such transformation?
Any effective missions organization needs to be prepared to work with the range of approaches. The SLAM leadership understands the implications of each. In fact, over our 25 year history, we've served in a variety of communities and contexts and continue to do so. However, we have also found incredible effectiveness in putting down roots and investing over time in a number of communities including our work in five global settings.
Spoiler Alert: While we enjoyed working with groups on a one-time basis, we get stoked about developing the kind of ministry relationships that can lead to long-term partnership.
The reality is that any long-term relationship has to start with an introduction. So even if you tend toward “new and improved” options each year, we’d love to work with you for a week. You can expect Students Living a Mission to serve you well in areas including meaningful service, problem solving, worship, team-building, and modeling biblical community. And when you have that kind of experience with SLAM (or another great ministry), consider returning to serve again. Much of the effort in advance of a mission trip is the communication, vetting, orientation, and logistics that comes with any trip and becomes easier when you’ve done it once before.
Community service away from your home brings the potential for obstacles and the need to work together to serve well while considering the needs of your group. That process is easier when you have some history with those that you are collaborating with and understand the personalities and backgrounds involved. Energy spent trying to learn all of this can be a distraction from adult leadership having the margin to connect with their students and those being served.
Understanding the values of the organization can also create alignment that makes it easier to serve wholeheartedly. Learning how a ministry operates and how your group fits within that model is a helpful perspective to frame the experiences for your team. Reading about the history and opportunities on a website is no substitute for personally witnessing it. Returning to work with a partner that you have spent face-to-face time with and had tangible moments of ministry is a gift. We were made for connection and not simply the virtual and momentary kind but those that have substance and are lasting.
And the advantages of having a relationship are good for everyone. You have less work to do because of the history, students get more relational time because of the familiar context, and we get the joy of knowing you better and therefore better serving you as our energy can be focused on the nuances rather than the generalities.
Consider that much of our New Testament is written on the foundational reality that Paul spent time doing “short-term” work in communities. However, he maintained those connections through his writings and sending representatives to return for face-to-face ministry. Had he simply completed his mission and moved on to the next without maintaining that relationship, we would not have the insight and instruction that is helpful for Jesus followers to live in community together. Even in his ongoing travels, his goal was not simply to doing something “new” for “newness” sake but to do a work that would be sustainable and ongoing.
Consider joining Students Living a Mission in the near future as a way to invest in sustainable ministry. Our work in Nashville, El Salvador, Uganda, Kenya, India, and the Philippines is ongoing and the work that God wants to do in your and your group of students should last way beyond a week of serving. Let’s work together to see God’s kingdom come in ways that are both new and lasting!
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