Are family mission experiences effective? This week a team from our church is going to find out as several families from our church head to serve together in St. Louis. My family is part of that team and we can’t wait to see how this experiment turns out. Our theory is really simple and we see it play our on a local level every year through many mission experiences…
Families grow significantly in their spiritual lives when they serve together.
There is just something amazing that happens in the hearts of parents and kids when they work together to help other people, point others to Jesus, and sacrifice together. Parents and kids are able to see each other in a different light when they unite to serve rather than entertain themselves selfishly. It really shouldn’t surprise us because we are wired to serve others.
A few months ago I discovered through a network of next generation leaders that not many churches are crafting these kind of experiences for families. We have been working on this strategy for the past year and now it’s a reality. This is experience #1 so that means that this experience is one massive faith experiment. We are going to see how this goes and I know we are going to learn many, many lessons. The best news is that in a few days I am going to share what we learn.
No matter what happens in our first experience I do believe families serving together is a critical element for family ministry in the years to come. If you are interested in seeing the impact of family friendly missions experience then let families serve together each Sunday in your church and also establish a yearly serving experience in your local city!
Look back later in the week for some lessons we learned from our first family mission experience in another city!