Volunteering is a Win-Win Opportunity

I'm delighted to be going to Jamaica again this week, not in the least because there are eight new people coming with me who have never been on a mission trip, let alone to one out of the country.  It seems everyone wins on a volunteer-in-mission experience.  The people and communities they serve benefit.  Trip participants become closer to one another.  Team members and hosts become close as they serve one another.  There is nothing like living, eating and working together for a week or two to build community and fell connected to others working to accomplish the same task.

Many times persons who volunteer receive just as much or more as the persons they go to serve.  Lives are touched and changed through their experience.  People learn what it means to put their faith into action.  They see the example of God's work through their hands.  A new school is built, a church is painted, or a new roof is put on an elderly woman's house.  Not only can the volunteers feel good about what they did, but usually the children of the school come to shake their hands and sing songs, or they might attend services in the renovated church, or they receive a meal cooked by the owner of the house.

Particularly when visiting another culture, participants also begin to question what they value, what they believe in and how they should live.  Statistics show that teens who are involved serving others are half as likely to get involved in risky behaviors.  Going on mission trips changes the way youth and adults look at the world, at the poor, at their time and financial commitments.  It may also change the way they feel about their church and what it means to be a part of a community of faith.

Volunteers also feel empowered as they learn construction, leadership, planning and interpersonal skills.  One might learn how to swing a hammer.  Another might share her gift of caring for children.  Many may even learn lessons of patience and flexibility when projects and timelines don't materialize quite the way they were planned.

Everyone wins on a volunteer-in-mission trip.  It is one of the fastest growing movements in the modern church.  The reasons are simple:  trips like these make the world a better place and make us better people.