Maybe it doesn\u2019t work for you to bring a refugee family to where you live. No shame. What about flipping it around and taking your family to where refugees are?<\/p>\n
I flat out love the thought of family missions trips. And I especially love them when they happen among unreached peoples. Granted, that adds complexity, but also a powerful pay off.<\/p>\n
Consider this: You, your spouse, and the kids take five days or a week to sweat and toil, interact with people who are different from you, try new foods whose prices don\u2019t make sense to you, and return home tired but changed. Yes, that could describe a trip to Disneyland. But I\u2019m thinking something further afoot. What would it take for your tribe to participate in a family mission trip?<\/p>\n
Two big red flags snap and crackle in the wind of that question: Safety and cost. A third flag often hangs limp until you decide to go, then it flies: Is there relevant, helpful stuff for us to do? So let\u2019s take a closer look.<\/p>\n
Yes, you\u2019re safer at home. At least in the short run. And yes, it\u2019s easy to mock someone\u2019s desire for safety when it\u2019s not your kids and wife. And yes, I assume we\u2019d all agree in principle that wisdom and faith are often in tension when we think about our family in the kingdom of God. Jesus said both, \u201cFollow me\u201d and \u201cBe shrewd as snakes.\u201d<\/p>\n
If your family mission trip includes getting on a plane and you actually have a family, things get pricey in a hurry. Three things that could help:<\/p>\n
Honestly, what can a foreign family do in a short-term time frame?<\/p>\n
Be there. You can be there. My simplistic model for any mission trip right now is this: Hear their story, tell your story, share God\u2019s story. Most anyone can do this with a mite of training.<\/p>\n
Add to it some praying for sick people, some contributory labor, and some intentional learning, and I\u2019ll argue with anyone on the worth and relevance of a family mission trip.<\/p>\n
The cool organization I work for<\/a> has groups living in some of the coolest (and hottest) places in the world who would gladly welcome a bold, humble, servant-minded family to hang out with them for a week or two. I\u2019d be happy to link you up. Many other groups would say the same.<\/p>\n I\u2019m also pulling together a family trip to Sicily to care for refugees there. Looks like it will happen around March 21-25. If that\u2019s your kids\u2019 spring break, or if you home school and can flex the school calendar a bit, I\u2019d love for you to think about coming along. Shoot me a quick note<\/a> and we can talk about it.<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: See also this article on family mission trips<\/a> and the links it includes (ShortTermMissions.com).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Maybe it doesn\u2019t work for you to bring a refugee family to where you live. No shame. What about flipping it around and taking your family to where refugees are? I flat out love the thought of family missions trips. And I especially love them when they happen among unreached peoples. Granted, that adds complexity, … Continue reading Subversive Mobilization: Family Mission Trips<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practical-mobilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5851,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5850\/revisions\/5851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}