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In my ministry, mission trips have been…by far…the most valuable growth-producing ministry I've done. There's something about getting kids to serve others—without getting anything in return—that leads to growth. And when you combine that with Scriptural reflection and programming, teens grow spiritually in ways I haven't seen from any other program.
In previous articles, I've highlighted research that shows the profound impact mission trips have on faith development in adolescents
But youth mission trips aren't the only way teenagers today are involved in growth-producing service. Organizations with broader goals for helping youth—instead of or in addition to spiritual growth—are finding service projects to have great value.(Go to www.YouthMinistry.com, and click on "The Missions Doctor." See especially "Growth on Youth Mission Trips," "More Proof of Youth Mission Trip Effectiveness," and "Crisis for Growth.")
But youth mission trips aren't the only way teenagers today are involved in growth-producing service. Organizations with broader goals for helping youth—instead of or in addition to spiritual growth—are finding service projects to have great value.
YouthBuild USA (www.youthbuild.org) takes students who drop out or who are removed from their high schools and helps them get their GEDs. They offer classroom work and other services, but they also require students to serve every other week on one of their construction sites, providing housing for low-income residents.
YouthBuild has found that giving young people the opportunity to serve others and look beyond themselves creates a greater sense of empowerment in students. Serving gives them a greater sense of self-worth and motivates them to graduate high school and more. Students who go through the program are more likely to be involved in positive activities and less likely to make destructive choices. At the same time the organization creates low-income housing for the community.
Talk about your win-win!
In the April 2007 issue of "Youth Today," a monthly publication for those who do social work with teenagers (www.youthtoday.org), several pages are dedicated to "youth service" in a variety of programs (including one faith-based program). The report shows how getting teenagers involved in service has an impact on them.
In the lead article, "Beyond Planting Trees," Deborah Huso quotes a study entitled "Youth Development and Leadership Initiative," conducted by the Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development and sponsored by the Ford Foundation. The study found, among other things, that service-based programs were able to reach youth who seemed "unreachable" by other youth service providers.
Service-based programs, which range from environmental conservation to arts and activism to construction, tend to focus less on teenagers' personal issues and more on larger societal problems—and get kids actively engaged in responding.
The study showed that 69% of youth in service programs "reported high quality relationships with adults and other young people in the organization, compared to the 35 to 40% reported by traditional youth programs." In addition, youth in service-based programs had far greater access to leadership roles. (Source: "Youth Today," April 2007, p. 11).
The president of the organization that conducted the study, Wendy Wheeler, says, "Weaving community transformation in with personal transformation is really powerful." Wheeler believes "youth handle their lives better when they feel empowered to change not just their own destinies, but the destinies of their communities." ("Youth Today.")
Service-based programming for youth is on the rise. More and more agencies that serve youth are catching on to the effectiveness of getting kids involved in service. And why not? There are a lot of wins. The biggest downside seems to be funding. Doing service is costly, especially with agencies that pay youth for doing the service projects.
None of this is new for those of us who take youth on mission trips in our churches. We see these positive results in our kids, plus we see how serving like Jesus empowers kids to grow closer to him, often in dramatic ways. At the same time we're reaching out to people in need and serving in meaningful ways.
But isn't it nice to see other agencies that also serve our teens—and I strongly encourage you to be involved in youth agencies in your community—are also involving them in service and seeing positive results?
Doc Newcomb is a pastor, youth pastor, and Program Manager for Group Workcamps Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides a variety of short-term mission opportunities for church youth groups. www.groupworkcamps.com. Contact Doc at dnewcomb@groupworkcamps.com.
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