While our New Year's resolutions are worthy aspirations, there is a compelling suggestion to consider adding one more transformative experience that allows you to accomplish all these goals and more – an international mission trip.
As the New Year unfolds, it brings the promise of fresh beginnings and the opportunity to embark on new journeys. This season prompts the creation of lists and the formulation of goals and adventures.
Perhaps you desire to draw closer to God by studying the scriptures on a more consistent basis and increasing your prayer life or maybe you are resolved to strengthen the relationships with the loved ones and friends in your life. You may already have a bucket list of vacation spots you hope to visit or want to broaden your horizons through a new experience or hobby.
While all of these are worthy aspirations, there is a compelling suggestion to consider adding one more transformative experience that allows you to accomplish all these goals and more – an international mission trip.
An Unexpected Experience
I will never forget my first international mission trip, even though I went for all the wrong reasons.
It was 2012 when my then-high school daughter came home from school and told my wife Sheri and me that she wanted to go on a school-sponsored mission trip to the Brazilian Amazon. While we were supportive, since this was a trip thousands of miles from home and outside of the country, Sheri and I decided one of us needed to go. Ultimately, I drew the short straw and signed up as a chaperone.
I really had no desire to participate in the “missions” part of the trip. I was only going to protect my daughter. I could have never guessed how God would use the trip for my good and His glory.
What I saw on that trip forever changed me. At one of our first stops on the river, a woman asked me if I was thirsty. I answered, “Yes,” expecting her to hand me a bottle of water. Instead, she went inside her home, pulled out two mismatched and chipped glasses, walked over to the river, and filled them with dirty water straight from the Amazon River. As she handed a glass to me, I knew without a doubt there was no way I could drink this filthy, bacteria-ridden water. Even more so, I was struck that this is the water this woman drank every single day. It was at that moment I heard the Lord audibly speak to me for the first time. He said, “Help them.”
I came home with a new mission in life. I quit my business consulting job and founded The Bucket Ministry. Our mission is simple: to provide clean, safe drinking water and Living Water to families living in under-resourced areas around the world.
John 4:13-15 (ESV) states, “Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’
More than a decade later, God has used our ministry to transform the earthly and eternal lives of thousands. We use a simple Sawyer Point ONE filter to provide clean water solutions and train missionaries to share the Gospel and disciple recipients. We do this because we believe offering clean water without the Gospel is equivalent to providing a 20-year solution to an eternal problem.
Because of my own experience in the Brazilian Amazon more than ten years ago, each year, we coordinate several Bucket List Expeditions so others can have a similar life-changing experience and witness how God is moving in some of the darkest corners of the world.
Being Open to God’s Call
Not every international mission trip ends in a career change, but I do believe they all result in life change. And I believe it is something all Christians are called to do.
Jesus commanded His followers to fulfill the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Beyond the obvious desire to be obedient, I believe there are three primary benefits of participating in an international mission trip.
1. Experience New Cultures
The world is full of unique cultures that you get to experience when you embark on an international trip. Anytime you leave your own community, state, and country, you meet people with different cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Their experiences and the way they relate to life and Christ might look different from you, and that’s okay. This experience can help you see God in a new light. Further, you might pick up a few fruitful habits from another culture that can be incorporated into your daily life when you return home.
2. Learn to Rely on God in the Unfamiliar
There are few things that will help you to put your trust in God than stepping into the unknown. Most international trips start with spending 20 hours of travel time in airports, planes and car rides with people you may not have spent any significant time with before. After this, you are dropped into an environment that looks, sounds, and smells very different from your own home. It can be uncomfortable and exhausting, but you will quickly learn to rely on God’s ability to provide you peace and to open your eyes to what He is doing. Upon return, this reliance on God in the unfamiliar will encourage you to be more reliant on Him, even in the familiar.
3. Cultivate a Changed Perspective and Changed Priorities
Engaging in international mission trips has the potential to reshape your outlook, allowing you to witness God's transformative work in a novel environment. Observing His impact on the country, city, or village you serve in unveils a narrative that began long before your arrival, and being a participant in this ongoing story is both humbling and inspiring. The challenge lies in preserving that sense of involvement in God's work when you return home. We encourage everyone to take their experience and let God use it. This may include something as radical as starting a new ministry as it did for me, or it may be as simple as volunteering at a local food pantry or teaching a Sunday school class.
There are so many more benefits to making a sacrifice of your finances, time, and energy to travel hundreds or thousands of miles away from your home to serve those most in need.
No matter where you go, I know the Lord will bless you in ways beyond what you can even imagine. So, this year, perhaps you should take a leap of faith, get out of your comfort zone and go.
Photo Credit: Amanda Bartel/Unsplash
Christopher Beth is the founder, chief storyteller, and director of The Bucket Ministry, a global nonprofit sharing God’s love through the gift of clean, safe drinking water.
