The mission of every Gospel centered church is the same right? Change the world. We don’t get to pick that one. Jesus did that for us. Remember those words in Acts 1:8, “…Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” But whose world are you trying to change?
When you take a team on a short-term mission trip, whose world are you trying to change? When you enlist, equip, and empower volunteers to do ministry in the church with guests, children, students, or small groups whose world are you trying to change?
Could it be that when you take that team on a short-term mission trip or release those volunteers that it’s not the world of the target-audience that’s changed the most but the world of the participant?
Don’t miss-hear me. I’m not saying that short-term mission trips and volunteers don’t make an impact on the world they’re trying to reach. What I am saying is that the world of the participant is changed far more than the world of the audience. Because…
“Volunteering is Discipleship”
The first time I volunteered as a Jr. High Sunday School Teacher my world was changed. The first time I went on a short-term international mission trip my world changed.
What would change if you began viewing volunteering at your church as a part of the discipleship pathway instead of roles to be filled? What would change if you began crafting the volunteer experience at your church for the volunteer instead of what you want the volunteer to do?
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