Summer Mission Trips!

Many congregations go on mission trips in the spring and summer. Find out where other churches are going, and feel free to connect with other groups and pray for each other. View the list (PDF)>

Youth groups hit the road this summer

Summer is often a slower time in the life of the church. Programming and attendance are lighter, and youth are taking a collective breath from their jam-packed schedules, which for a few short months are slightly less jam-packed.

The summer provides time for ministry opportunities that help youth take that breath. Mission trips are often where teenagers really connect with their faith. By crowding into buses and vans, driving for hours and sometimes days across the country, and digging into projects while building relationships with people from all walks of life, youth are somehow encouraged to live out “God’s work. Our hands.”

Youth ministry leaders—rostered and lay, paid and volunteer—play a big part in making these experiences happen and ensuring their success. The youth ministry leaders of the Saint Paul Area Synod are instrumental in fostering the spirituality of our youth. Like the teenagers they will accompany, the youth leaders are energized about the mission trips planned for this summer (and probably eager to get through all of the fundraisers).

After sending out an email asking about summer mission trip destinations, leaders from all over the synod quickly responded with their summer mission trip plans. This summer, groups from Saint Paul Area congregations will travel to 49 destinations in 18 U.S. states, Canada, Haiti, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.

Youth from St. Luke Lutheran, St. Paul will be joining a group of eight youth and three adults from Japan, from the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church, to travel to Centralia, Illinois, with Group Workcamps. The Japanese group will arrive on July 23, do homestays with St. Luke members, then the two groups will travel to Centralia, Illinois to help fix up homes for a week. They will be establishing a video link this June to get aquainted before the trip.

Gustavus Adolphus Lutheran, St. Paul is sending a group to New Orleans to work with the St. Bernard Project. “The idea came out of last summer’s National Youth Gathering in New Orleans, after we did a prayer tour of the areas most devastated by Katrina, including the St. Bernard Parish. One of the speakers at the Superdome was the founder of the St. Bernard Project,” said the Rev. Bonnie Wilcox, senior pastor at Gustavus Adolphus.

Gethsemane Lutheran, Maplewood will be doing local mission work around the Twin Cities. The week will encourage youth to think about the diverse cultures and needs in their own community.

Whether the travel is near or far, groups are encouraged to pray for each other and connect with others preparing for similar experiences (view the list above). At the end of the summer, groups are encouraged to gather and share their stories, pictures, and experiences.