{"id":310609,"date":"2025-01-17T11:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/?p=310609"},"modified":"2025-01-17T11:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T16:28:39","slug":"3-reasons-to-go-on-family-mission-trips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/articles\/topics\/faith\/essentials-faith\/reaching-out\/3-reasons-to-go-on-family-mission-trips\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons To Go on Family Mission Trips"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Through tears, 17-year-old Julia confessed to the team that she had been living \u201cin deep sin\u201d and realized she desperately needed Christ. Julia\u2019s family was part of a family mission trip with FamilyLife<\/a> to a border town in Mexico. Although they had gone together intending to minister to an impoverished community, God was doing something special in their own family.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Julia witnessed her parents and other team members sharing the truth of the gospel, she began to understand Christ\u2019s love for her and the freedom His grace brings. She began processing with her mom what God was doing in her heart. By the end of the week, she was passionately sharing the gospel herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, teens go on these types of missions without their parents; then they return and their experience is disconnected from the rest of the family. This was different. Not only was Julia processing what God was doing with <\/em>her parents, but now they could return home with a plan to continue investing in their daughter, drawing from the shared experience to nurture her faith in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions to consider before going on family mission trips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. What might be holding you back from taking part in a family mission trip?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. What are some of the concerns you might have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. How do you know if the Lord is asking you to trust Him in this way? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve found there are often common reasons families aren\u2019t engaging in missions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safety<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On the most basic level, our job as parents is to protect our kids. While the very nature of what we do on family mission trips necessitates going to countries that might have some level of risk involved, we take great care to stay up-to-date with what is happening in the countries we will be visiting and we implement safety protocols and contingency plans to protect the team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With support raising for a trip and the cost of travel today, it can be challenging to find the finances to take part in a mission trip. One of FamilyLife\u2019s top goals is to keep our missions as affordable as possible. We keep costs down by keeping our missions to about a week, visit nearby countries, and host some missions here in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We realize most families are taking vacation time to engage in missions. While we believe this is a worthwhile use of time, we want to maximize the amount of time we are sharing the gospel with people, investing in each family\u2019s relational growth, and processing what God is doing in their lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level of discomfort<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Especially as we get older, it can be challenging to deal with discomfort. We understand everyone has different capacities for discomfort, but we\u2019ve worked hard to find a range we describe as \u201cjust the right amount of discomfort\u201d for an American family. Our accommodations might not be resort-quality, but families won\u2019t be sleeping in dirty places. Yes, there will be times when participants will be uncomfortable, but it\u2019s a great opportunity to allow God to meet them in that discomfort and grow from the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 reasons to go on family mission trips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our vision is to give each family the gift of looking beyond themselves, trusting God together, and realizing their family was meant for more than they ever thought possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s explore three reasons to go on a family mission trip.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason #1: Families were made to be on mission.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Genesis 1:27-28 we see that \u201cGod created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, \u201cBe fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As soon as God created man and woman, the first family, he gave them a mission. To be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. This doesn\u2019t just mean physically, but spiritually too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, in Genesis 12:3, God promises to Abraham: \u201cAll the families on earth will be blessed through you\u201d (NLT). He reiterates this in Genesis 22:18, when God tells him something similar: \u201cAnd through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here again, we see that God wants to work through a family to bless all other families. God has a mission for Abraham\u2019s family, and it\u2019s not just to raise animals, grow crops, make money, and have fun together, but to bless all other families on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the very beginning of the Bible, God uses two of the first and most important families to set a pattern the rest of the Bible builds upon. There are also many other examples in the Bible of families being mobilized to impact the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Acts 16:1-9, we meet Timothy, a man who would later become a pastor under the Apostle Paul\u2019s mentorship, who goes on his first missionary journey to bless the surrounding regions. We know from 2 Timothy 1:5 that Timothy\u2019s mother\u2019s and grandmother\u2019s faith are well known as genuine and exemplary, with a missionary mindset. Timothy wasn\u2019t just a nice, boy-next-door kind of guy, he was living his life in such a way that was focused on others; he was living missionally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timothy\u2019s family was on mission. Yours is meant to be also. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These stories aren\u2019t here to show us there are \u201cspecial\u201d families called to be on mission together, but to encourage us that we, too, are to follow this pattern. Of course, this doesn\u2019t just happen at once by going on a family mission trip, it\u2019s a lifestyle that should be central to our family\u2019s rhythms. A family mission trip is a great way to learn some new tools, have some focused and intentional growth outside of the ordinary, and grow our hearts by being challenged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason #2: As your child\u2019s best discipler, missions provide great context for investing in their lives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My wife and I have four kids. If your family is anything like ours, it\u2019s easy to get sucked into the standard American routine of school, homework, work, sports, after-school activities, and social activities. There is only so much time, energy, and resources to go around. With all of this going on, it can be a real struggle to find time to spend reading the Bible together and praying, much less look for ways to make an eternal impact in the lives of people around us, in our community, or even the world!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It almost seems too lofty a goal, but yet, God invites us to lift our eyes past the fog of the daily grind and dare to trust His Holy Spirit to give us all we need to fulfill a bigger vision for our family. By having this outward-focused, missional mindset, this is where He can do His best work in our marriages and kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Referencing the large numbers of teens who often walk away from their faith when they go off to college, an article from The Gospel Coalition<\/a> referencing Pew Research says, \u201cNot surprisingly, homes modeling lukewarm faith do not create enduring faith in children. Homes modeling vibrant faith do. So these young adults are leaving something they never had a good grasp of in the first place. This is not a crisis of faith, per se, but of parenting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through family mission trips, parents are given intentional and focused time to disciple their kids in \u201creal time.\u201d Just by signing up for a mission trip, parents are communicating to their kids that we are not the most important people on the planet and our resources and comforts aren\u2019t what we love and worship above all things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s more, parents get to spend intentional and focused time talking to their kids about ways they\u2019re nervous or scared about sharing the gospel or going into an unknown community, but they\u2019re doing it anyway because they trust in the power and protection of the name of Jesus. It\u2019s so good and transforming for kids to see this modeled for them. In addition, this gives kids the opportunity to have meaningful conversations with their parents, and instead of a youth leader or another adult (who are also highly valuable, see the final point below), they are getting to process these wonderful, formative moments with the people who love them most..\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While mentoring our kids should be a way of life for a parent, a family mission trip is like a \u201cshot in the arm\u201d that provides a strong and concentrated dose of discipleship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reason #3: It gives kids a chance to see other families living on mission<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One other major contributor to influencing a young person is friends or peers. This is why it\u2019s so important that we help guide our kids to make the kinds of friendships that are going to encourage their faith and build them up, rather than take them in directions we don\u2019t want them to go. Another great benefit of a family mission trip is that our kids will get to see and build friendships with other young people in families who are also serious about growing in their love and obedience to Jesus and willing to trust Him wherever He may lead. This has the added benefit of making our family seem a little more normal (what family is normal, though, am I right?), because it reinforces to our kids that other families are choosing to lift their eyes above the fog and trust God for a bigger vision for the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve found that on FamilyLife mission trips, the kids on these trips become fast friends, often continuing friendships after the mission. Right away, they\u2019re getting to associate great spiritual experiences with peers whom they like and respect and whom they can learn other ways of believing and trusting Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your family was made to be on mission with God<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Family mission trips are a great way to reinforce that mindset, or even kickstart it. The hope is that whether you\u2019re already actively engaging your local community in some sort of gospel-centered way, or you\u2019re still processing what it means to break out of the American day-to-day grind, you will get to trust the Lord to make an impact for His Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your family was made to be on mission. Perhaps for your next family vacation, you could consider using at least some of that time to invest it in a short-term family mission trip. It could be an investment that reaps dividends for generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2025 by FamilyLife. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oscar Avalos grew up in the west Texas town of El Paso and now serves as the Mission Trips Coordinator for FamilyLife in Orlando, Florida. He and his wife, Candis, have four teenage kids, which make life wonderful and kind of crazy. Oscar and Candis have been on staff with Cru\/FamilyLife for 20 years. They currently reside in Florida but have lived in New Mexico, Arizona, and Massachusetts.The Avaloses love going on mission trips, playing games, watching movies, and eating good food together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through tears, 17-year-old Julia confessed to the team that she had been living \u201cinRead More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47436,"featured_media":311828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Families were made to be on mission together. We get it, it\u2019s daunting logistically, financially, and emotionally, but it\u2019s also the perfect opportunity to see Jesus transform lives. Here are 3 reasons to go on family mission trips together.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2821],"tags":[],"equip-category":[],"cwp_profile":[10939],"class_list":["post-310609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reaching-out","cwp_profile-oscar-avalos"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2025\/01\/3-reasons-to-go-on-family-mission-trips_1300x403.jpg","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2025\/01\/3-reasons-to-go-on-family-mission-trips_1300x403.jpg",1024,317,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"alex.etheridge@cru.org","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/alex-etheridgefamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Through tears, 17-year-old Julia confessed to the team that she had been living \u201cinRead More »","meta_box":{"_cloudsearch_visibility":"0","profile_obj_manual_select":false,"profile_obj":false,"separator":false,"enable_link":false,"login_restricted":"0","content_type":"video","disclaimer_banner":"unset","currency":false,"pricing_subtext":false,"element_type":false,"date_field":false,"date_format":false,"theme_header_position":"Sticky","post_header_is_sticky":"default","is_header_overlay":"0","series":false,"ignore_sticky":false,"conditional_blocks_category":false,"cta_selection":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310609"},{"taxonomy":"equip-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/equip-category?post=310609"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=310609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}