Short term mission for children and young people

One of the greatest satisfactions of my life so far, outside the family, has been my involvement in taking children and young teenagers on short-term mission.

It all started after God poured out his Holy Spirit in the Christian school which my children were attending and where I was helping out. The hearts of stubborn, rebellious teenagers were melted by the love and grace of God. He became very real to them.  Everyone young and old was touched.

However one of the teachers was convicted by the Holy Spirit that children and teenagers receiving his love and getting a revelation of who God had made them to be was not enough. There needed to be an outflow.  The analogy used was that if you liberally watered a pot plant every day it would become waterlogged and would drown in the very thing that was meant to give it life. 

Two key verses came out of that time.

Matthew 19: 14 Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

Psalm 8: 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

The Kingdom of God is for children just as much as for adults. They too were to be ones to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, open blind eyes, see the lame walk and bring the Kingdom to others. Their praise was also essential in the overthrow of Satan’s world. In fact these children and teenagers needed to prove their faith, to find out for themselves that God was indeed Almighty, their Saviour, their peace, God was a healer, a provider and so on.

Eventually after many events and prayer meetings a short-term young people’s mission group was set up. Dawn Kids (from Isaiah 58: 8) started by performing dances, dramas and songs locally and then internationally. There were mission trips to Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia and Finland visiting schools and churches. In later years there were more short-term missions to Czech Republic, Latvia and Germany.

These missions had a profound effect on the young people as, away from home, they had to rely on God to be all they needed.  They grew in their faith and planted foundations in their lives on which to build in the future.

From this group, we started Arrows of Fire at our church which went to many churches and youth groups in UK but also to Romania and South Africa. This was also the result of God moving by His Spirit in our church following the Toronto outpouring. Short-term mission became available to young people and adults.

Once more the profound effect on these young people of going to Romania and taking the Gospel to orphanages was life changing. Surely the most heart breaking was going to an orphanage, more like an asylum for mentally and physically handicapped people. None of us will forget that day. We truly went and visited the least of them (Matthew 25: 40)

None of us will know this side of eternity what effect these visits had but the memories are wonderful. Away from home, God was able to minister not just through the young people but into their lives as well.

The mission to South Africa was also very significant for us all.  For many to work for and pray in the necessary money was quite an experience and the young people truly came to understand that God was their provider. To be such a long way from home was a challenge for young people aged 11 – 16.  Part of the mission was to go up to Venda, one of the poorest areas of South Africa. We stayed in mud huts with no running water and long drop toilets outside. 

Again God met with us and we met with him including at a team meeting under the warm South African skies. This mission was inspiring and who knows what fruit came from our visit. After a few years God gently closed the door on Arrows of Fire though Dawn Kids continues with biennial visits abroad.

The fruit we do know about is in the hearts and lives of those who went on the short-term missions. They are now in their late 20’s and 30’s, many with young families of their own. We have pastors, worship pastors, worship leaders, missionaries, small group leaders and the vast majority going on with God and serving in their churches whilst holding down responsible jobs and bringing up families. Some still love to visit and minister in other countries.

I always encouraged them to press on and not give up. That wonderful though these years were, they were not a destination but a starting point of a life serving God.  I am told these young people still love to watch the grainy old videos of these mission trips.  They are happy memories for them.

Incredibly moving for me is when I meet one of them or they write to me and tell me how foundational these times were for them.  Just this week I had a message from one young man.

I particularly want to express my gratitude to you both for all that you did for me as a young man.

The way you opened your arms and lives to embrace me and many others. The way you gave selflessly to Arrows of Fire. The way you modelled a Christ Centred life, devoted to the Gospel and Kingdom. The way you invited us to follow that same path.

The countless hours on the phone. The patience for all the immaturity. The compassion for all the ups and downs. The way you committed yourselves to individuals seeing what God saw and not what man saw. The time that you invested in bringing us into maturity and bringing us on in the journey.

The opportunities that you provided for us to experience God at work and the on-going need for us to love the poor and needy. The on-going need for compassion, grace, mercy and wisdom for the world, in everyday life.

The grace you displayed to us, even when our immaturity lead to down right stupidity.

You allowed us to see the world, and to see where God has placed us in it. You allowed us to experience that Christ in us, really is the answer to a lost and dying world.

You created unshakeable foundations in lives that would go on to live for Jesus; foundations that were prepared for untold plans and purposes that still unfold today.

I am so humbled by this.  It wasn’t just me but many of us invested in these lives through Dawn Kids and Arrows of Fire. We all played a vital role. 

My challenge now is that there is a fresh generation that need a revelation that the Kingdom of God is for them and not just the adults. Many churches do provide opportunities for young people to ‘go into all the world’ but most of these are for older teenagers not children and young teenagers.

Our churches and schools need a fresh move of God. Hearts and lives need to be touched by God’s love and grace so they too can go and share it with a dying and needy world.

Inevitably I have telescoped 10 incredible years into a few short paragraphs. Apologies to those who participated in these times that I have left out many amazing moments.  Thanks to everyone who hosted and arranged one of our missions especially Stuart Angus who lived in Znojmo, Czech Republic, Liviu Avisola in Botosani Romania, John Wasserman and Mike Humphreys in Johannesburg, South Africa.