Absolutely.
Mission trips can be the very catalyst needed to spark a gospel movement in a region.
I believe they are a powerful ministry strategy to make disciples around the world, and today I want to explain how and why East-West’s mission trips really work.
The Trip
East-West has at least one short-term team—comprised of stateside believers, national partners, and translators—on the ground almost every week of the year, sharing the gospel in unreached or restricted access nations.
It’s a terrific opportunity to experience believers from dramatically different cultural backgrounds bond in the unity of the Holy Spirit and engage the lost with the grace of God… fulfilling the very prayers of Jesus.
“I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” –John 17:20-23
Using personal testimonies and evangelism tools, these teams are the beautiful feet bringing the Good News to those who’ve yet to hear it (Romans 10:15).
But these weeklong evangelism mission trips are just the beginning of ministry in these strategic areas for the gospel.
The Follow Up
When short-term trip participants return home, the work continues through East-West’s network of national partners.
Every person who professes faith in Christ or expresses interest in learning more about Christianity is individually followed up with. Because our goal isn’t making converts. Our goal is multiplying disciples who, in turn, make other disciples.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you...” – Matthew 28:19-20
Through the discipleship process new believers are taught how to obediently follow Jesus and how to share their faith... causing the Church to multiply in the spiritually darkest areas of the world.
The Impact
Last month our short-term trips to Latin America alone resulted in 572 men, women, and children choosing to follow Jesus and be discipled. And on a trip I led to that same region in April, our group was overjoyed to see 298 people accept Christ as their Lord and Savior… praise God!
That week I also had the privilege of doing ministry alongside my daughter, Lauren, on her third visit to Latin America with East-West.
I’ve served in ministry for over 20 years and taught Lauren—and her siblings—about the global need for the gospel, but the urgency of that message did not become tangible to her until she experienced it firsthand.
God has grown my daughter’s faith and compassion for the lost each time she’s left the comforts of home to enter worlds where mentioning Jesus in public is forbidden and extreme poverty is rampant. Because of that experience, Lauren now thoroughly grasps the high call and challenge of the Great Commission and actively engages in it wherever God leads her.
And I know Lauren isn’t the only one impacted by what she witnessed overseas.
The benefits of short-term missions are truly twofold: hearts are sealed for eternity while others are spurred on to declare the goodness of our God in a world desperate for lasting hope.
Are you ready to let God change your life and use you to spread the gospel on a short-term mission trip?
“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” –Philemon 1:6
