If you’ve led short-term mission teams on trips before, you likely know the drill. People come back excited. They’ve seen God work in a culture far from home. It gives them a fresh perspective on their lives and how they want to serve Jesus moving forward.
But then what? All the excitement will eventually slip away.
So what comes next?
That’s why mission trip follow-up is so important. Your mission trip team members have just returned from an incredible experience. Your next steps will help determine whether it’s a flash in the pan or the next step in their discipleship journey.
Good leaders understand the transformative impact of questions. Well-thought-out questions will do what lectures can’t — draw out what God wants to do in the lives of those you’re shepherding. While direct teaching might give knowledge, questions lead to ownership of their discipleship pathway.
Here are seven questions to ask mission trip participants when they return to help them take their next few discipleship steps.
1. What Surprised You the Most About the Community You Visited?
Surprises are all about change. Surprises challenge our assumptions and force us to adapt. Take the story of Jesus walking on water in Matthew 14:22-33. The disciples were astonished. People don’t walk on water. It wasn’t possible. But that’s what Jesus did. The disciples’ astonishment led to a new perspective on Jesus: “Truly, you are the Son of God” (Matthew 14:32, CSB).
Surprises like this change us. Mission trips are all about surprises. You go into a worship service and it looks nothing like any you’ve ever seen before—but you experience Jesus. You see a community that has nothing gratefully serve God and give him everything they have. Those moments change you.
Let these surprises fuel the spiritual journeys of those you guide. Often, they show themselves as places where they need to grow. Lean into those places. If they were surprised by a new worship style, encourage them to explore fresh ways to engage with God in their own spiritual journey. If they were surprised by the generosity they saw, recommend they step out of their comfort zone and give more freely. Embrace these surprises. They’re often the steps of faith God is waiting for us to take on our discipleship path.
2. What Did You Learn About God’s Global Church?
Most people have a fairly parochial view of the church. We imagine people who look like us, talk like us, and think like us worshiping God like us. Mission trips challenge this. They remind us that God is at work all around the world and doing what we can’t begin to imagine. It’s powerful to see God at work across different cultures.
When we see a bigger church, we see a bigger God. We’re not just a part of a church down the street from our house; we’re a part of a church that’s in every nation in the world, engaging people of every culture.
Help your team members talk through what they’ve learned about the church. Discuss how this can impact how they pray and collaborate with churches around the world. Encourage them to stay in contact with those they met so they can continue to pray and support their ministries. Serve as a connector for them to engage with churches around you worshipping in other languages. The global church isn’t just across the globe; it’s down the street, too!
3. What Are Specific Needs You Encountered That Broadened Your Understanding of Ministry?
Missions is largely about meeting needs. Sometimes those needs are spiritual. Other times they are material. Most of the time, they are a mix of the two. With this question, you’re helping team members reflect on exactly what needs they met and how it opened their eyes to needs in their own community.
Jesus often did this with disciples. He clearly saw the needs around him and was always opening up the eyes of his followers to help them see what he was seeing. He helped them see people who needed to be healed, people who needed food, and people who needed forgiveness.
The needs in your community likely look different than they did on the mission trip, but the real question is this: “How can we apply what we learned about those needs with our needs in the community where we live and serve on a daily basis?” For example, if they helped provide clean water, help them see physical needs in impoverished communities nearby. If they saw a deep spiritual hunger, help them see that need in your community.
4. How Did You Grow Spiritually During the Trip?
Faith leads to growth. When your team members trust God on the mission field, they’ll grow. Capturing that growth, understanding it, and stepping further into it will lead to more growth. This question will help your team members lean into the growth they’ve already experienced so it’ll continue instead of plateau.
Say that the mission trip led to a deeper prayer life. Encourage that team member to try a day-long prayer retreat or commit to a daily prayer routine. If the team member shared the good news for the first time during the trip, challenge him or her to think through people in their life back home who need to hear about Jesus.
The mission trip can easily be just the jumpstart many on your team need to grow like never before.
5. What Skills or Talents Did You Discover or Use?
When team members get stretched on the mission field (and most mission team members get stretched on the mission field!), they often lean on gifts, talents, and skills they didn’t realize they had.
Even if they’ve never worked with kids or taught Sunday School, people on the team might be asked to lead a Bible club for young people. Or they get an opportunity to sit and listen to the locals share their stories and they realize they love it.
Guess what? Children need to learn about the Bible in your neighborhood, too. Lonely people long to have someone to talk with across the street from your church. Team members who spend the time to process this might unlock an exciting future of ministry opportunities back home.
Turning Missions into Ongoing Growth and Service
Questions are often the best teachers. The questions above will help your team members bring their experiences on the mission field back to your community. It’s a great way to multiply the impact of your mission field far beyond just one week a year.
If you’d like to learn more about how to leverage a mission team’s experience for long-term growth back home AND on the field, check out our FREE guide, Mission Trip Follow-Up: Keeping the Momentum Going After the Trip.
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