While it may only be the beginning of March, we are already in full swing
summer mission team planning mode up here in Cleveland.
The summertime is one of our favorite times of the year!
Half of that is because it is actually above freezing hahaha! But really the
summertime is actually our favorite because of all the outreach we cram in to
two months! We love getting the opportunity to serve those in our community and
through that service getting to have countless conversations about the gospel!
Some of you reading this have been on or are gearing up for
a mission trip to Cleveland, others might be Cleveland natives, and still
others of you are just nice enough to read my blog haha! Whatever category you
fall into, check out the list below, hopefully it will be helpful, and feel
free to comment with even more mission trip tips!
Tips for a great mission trip to Cleveland:
1) Be open to your new context.
A true Clevelander LOVES Cleveland. There was a recent
article floating around saying Cleveland is the one place you look like a
tourist if you’re NOT wearing a Cleveland T-Shirt. Most of the rest of the
country hates on Cleveland, whether they call it the “Mistake on the Lake “or
hate on Lebron and his skills. So Clevelanders show their city extra love. The
city is our own secret treasure.
That being said. be open to fall in love with our city and
the people in it too. Cleveland will for sure be different than your town and
your context but embrace the differences. Don’t knock that the houses are so
close together, embrace that everything is only 10-15 minutes away from your
door step! Don’t hate on how bad the browns are, embrace the fact that you can
start a conversation with just about anyone in the city with “How about them
Browns”. They are always a great conversation piece!
2) Be people focused.
Don’t be afraid of people that look, speak, &
potentially smell different than you do. Large cities like Cleveland attract
people of all kinds of different cultures, backgrounds, & home lives.
Remember that God created them and loves them dearly and so should you. Don’t
be shocked when a non-Christian acts just like that, a non-Christian. When
someone’s heart has not been changed by Christ, they have no reason to act
differently from the world. Keep listening and loving them as Christ would.
People can tell if you care about them or not. Ask them about themselves-“How
long have you lived in Cleveland” etc – don’t run immediately to the question
“If you died tonight where you would you go?” people will see you have an agenda
and not give you the time of day.
3) Be ready to share the gospel.
A lot of our teams are from the south and that southern
accent sticks out quickly. Use that to your advantage! When someone asks where
are you from and why are you in Cleveland, respond letting them know you’re
here on a volunteer trip serving because Christ has served you. See where that
conversation leads.
Being ready to share the gospel might mean preparing your
own testimony of how God opened your eyes to your need for Him, preparing a few
scriptures ahead of time to share, or having a short explanation of the gospel
ready. That explanation might look like: 1) Who we are (sinners separated from
a Holy God) 2) Who Jesus is (God’s Son), 3) what Jesus has done for us (lived a
perfect life unlike us, died on the cross bearing our sin and shame, and rising
again conquering sin and death), and 4) What their response should be (Turning
from sin & reliance on self and turning to faith in the work of Christ)
4) Don’t wait till you’re on the mission trip to share the
gospel.
I’ll be honest, if you’re not intentionally looking for ways
to share the gospel now…..the chances of you sharing it once you go on your
mission trip are slim. We, yes myself included, run to find any excuse not to
share the gospel (even on a mission trip). We think-“It will make things weird”
“They might not like me anymore and avoid me” “What if they ask a question I
don’t know the answer to”. The Lord will equip you for the task, I promise! As
Nike says Just Do It!
5) Don’t stop sharing the gospel once you go back home from
the mission trip.
One of the great bonuses of going on a mission trip in the
states is that many of the things you do in Cleveland, you can do right at home
like getting involved in a community garden, throwing block parties, getting
involved in your community etc. Look for ways to be intentional in your own
community.
6) Be flexible.
It will rain when you need it be sunny. Not as many people will
show up to events as you expected. People you talk to may be rude. Things
simply will not go the way WE think they should go, but that doesn’t mean God
is not still at work. So keep your chin up, roll with the flow, and trust in
the Lord’s plans.
As we were painting a home last year, one of the neighbors would
say we could use his driveway for ladders & scaffolding, but every time
they would set the items up, the neighbor would come out of his home yelling to
get off his property. This stopped this house from being finished in one week.
So what did we do? We prayed. The next week, the neighbor kept his cool, the
house was completed, and we actually met several more neighbors because of the
ruckus he made. God’s plans were not thwarted.
7) Encourage the pastors & planters you are serving
with.
Cleveland is a super lost city, and it is hard work the
pastors & planters do here week in and week out often with little visible
fruit from their sacrificial labor. The pastors & planters have also been
in the context longer than you. So trust in the plans they have for you to
reach out to the community over the week you are here. Don’t run to instruct
them of how you would do it, instead run to encourage them. Feel free to offer
up suggestions as we need each other to help us think outside the box & no
pastor or planter is perfect but do so after running to encouragement first.
We have actually had an anonymous person from a mission team
use our offering box as a suggestion box for how they thought our Sunday
service went or should I say how they thought it should have gone……yeah…..don’t
do that, just talk to them face to face.
The last thing I’ll say is that mission teams & your service
really do work. We have seen people come to Christ and get involved in the
church after each and every summer. It makes the long hot busy days of summer
100% worth it.
So bring it on summer of 2017! We can’t wait to see all that
you hold in store!
