My friend Toby and I had the chance to lead a round-table discussion at Simply Youth Ministry Conference about the State of Youth Missions. About 20 people came and we had a great discussion for about an hour and a half. There were a lot of opinions expressed and people got the chance to express what they believe is working with youth mission trips and what really isn’t going that well. I really enjoyed the entire conversation.

The most intriguing interaction that happened was with a couple guys that work with a youth ministry on a First Nations reservation on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. They were not only interested getting their youth group involved in serving but they also received American youth groups on mission trips each and every year… hundreds of kids each year. They had a lot of important things to say about how they felt as people came to serve in their community. Not everything they shared was positive. Not everything they has to say was good… They had a chance to express their frustration with people coming each and every year and no real change. The community felt like American churches were coming to do what they wanted to do, maybe not what the community truly needed. At the same time they saw the transformation that did happen in some people’s lives. They expressed that it felt both good and bad.

I thanked the guys for the honesty and vulnerability. It took guts to share from their heart about their struggles with missions. It was meaningful for everyone involved. What they had to say was very sobering to hear, as someone who works all the time bringing youth groups into communities to serve. But important for all of us hear if we’re taking a mission trip. Who are you working with? Are you serving in a way that is truly needed? Just some of the questions we all should ask before we go…