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Tips for Fine-tuning Your
Mission Trip Re-Entry:
Because Coming Home is Sometimes
No Homecoming
The transition from the mission
trip experience to everyday life
back home is often a bumpy ride
for your students. You can help
ease this transition by being
intentional in your planning and
preparation and in developing
the ultimate focus of your trip.
When you plan a mission trip,
begin at the end. Start by
thinking through what you want
your students to come back home
with. How you will allocate the
proper time for them to
effectively process their
re-entry? Are you prepared to
address the wide range of
emotions that your students will
exhibit?
The length of the mission
experience drastically affects
the impact of the re-entry
process. Since most youth trips
are very short-term-one to three
weeks-we won't deal with some of
the longer re-entry issues such
as changes in the culture while
you've been gone, guilt for
returning home, reverse culture
shock, or identity loss.
Following are some helpful tips
for youth workers who want their
students' short-term mission
experience to be well-adjusted
and long-remembered.
Allow sufficient time to
debrief.
Intentionally schedule a day or
two at the end of your trip to
play, slow down, and have group
sessions where students can
begin to pinpoint the highs and
lows of the trip for them. Allow
them to share any
disappointments and talk about
why they may be viewing these
experiences as a let-down.
Discuss their feelings toward
the culture they've been a part
of, and encourage them to share
any new insights about their own
home culture. Have each one come
up with at least one positive
symbolic moment that provides a
summary of the trip for that
student. All of these things can
be accomplished in a short time
before returning home.
Help students process their
feelings.
By the end of a mission trip,
students can feel exhausted,
overwhelmed, and sometimes
depressed about the thought of
going back home to face "real
life." Pay close attention to
those teens who may need some
individual time with a sponsor
to talk through some feelings.
Not every mission trip will be a
positive experience for every
teen. Identify those who
struggled and help them discover
the value of the experience.
Teens sometimes feel pressured
to "perform" during these trips.
They know people back home will
want to know how the trip went.
If things didn't happen the way
we expected them (as can
frequently be the case on a
mission trip!), our youth can
feel disappointed and frustrated
about what they should tell
people. They may need help
expressing exactly what they did
get out of the trip. Encourage
them to complete the statement,
"Maybe things didn't go the way
I expected, but I did learn that
. . . ."
Students who have a good
experience will be on fire and
ready to change the world! You
can keep them on track by
pointing out practical,
reachable steps that will
provide an outlet for their
emotions and energy.
Bring them to closure.
Never leave things open-ended.
Give them a sense that a chapter
in their lives is ending and now
they are going home to begin a
new chapter! Mission trips have
the potential to change our
whole story-including many of
our ideals and life goals. This
can be a lot for a teen to
swallow! Help them to at least
visualize a temporary close to
this part of the story so that
they don't feel like their
entire life has been set adrift.
You might use a symbolic
ceremony to finish your trip, or
perhaps observe communion. Talk
through their personal testimony
with them, helping them put
words to their experiences. Have
them write down memories in a
journal to look back at later.
All of these things help to
bring closure to the experience.
"
If your students have been
changed by the trip, they will
face a "clash" when they get
back. Sometimes this clash is
between their old life and their
new way of seeing things.
Sometimes it's with their
parents or their friends'
ideals. Your youth may return as
changed persons, complete with
the notion that they should sell
all their possessions or give
them to the poor . . . and that
may not sit well with their
parents!
Prepare your students for
"re-entry".
They may come back from playing
soccer with a tin can in an
impoverished neighborhood and
suddenly view Nintendo as a
waste of money. Talk through
this conflict before they face
it. Prepare them to feel
different, and remind them that
they may sometimes feel isolated
by their new way of seeing life.
Challenge them to return as
servants.
A mission trip is pointless if
re-entry does not include the
application of the lessons
learned on the mission field.
Let service be your re-entry
focus. Use the opportunity to
teach teens what it means to get
our eyes off of ourselves and
focused on serving others. Have
them apply serving in another
place to serving in their own
home . . . in their youth group
. . . in their school . . . in
their community. A one-time trip
is not worth anything by itself.
Let it become a springboard to a
lifestyle, and lifetime, of
service for your group.
Emphasize spiritual support.
We can crash spiritually upon
re-entry if we don't keep up the
patterns of prayer, worship,
encouragement, and Bible reading
that we practiced together on a
trip or at summer camp.
Establish an accountability
chain, or give your youth a
devotional guide to use when
they return. Spiritual support
will reinforce the life lessons
they learned through this
ministry experience.
by Bo Cassell
NYI Missions Missions
Coordinator |
