Youth Mission Trip to Colombia, South America

The GA Board of Missions is sponsoring a CP Youth Mission Team to Colombia from July 8th to the 28th. The youth team will work in Cali, Colombia for a week at the new retirement center and then spend another week working at a school in Manizales, Colombia. They will also spend a few days visiting CP churches and institutions in Colombia.

The primary goal of the youth mission trip is to have an authentic missionary experience. The youth have all been told this is not church camp, it is not an overseas trip, it is not a vacation - it is a mission project with high expectations. The mission experience is designed by BOM staff to
simulate many of the issues career missionaries experience. The youth team members must apply for a position on the team, be interviewed, have their references checked and, when accepted, raise support, just as many career missionaries experience. When in Colombia they are expected to work and accomplish set tasks. Before going to Colombia they will have an intense orientation in Nashville, learning customs, culture, team unity, team policies and faith sharing techniques. Once in Colombia, they will be put in different situations, given opportunities to share their faith, and experience the stress of cross-culture outreach and ministry.

Evangelism will be conducted in two ways: while working in their projects in Cali and Manizales the youth will be pushed to relate across cultures. They will be in situations where they will have the opportunity to develop relationships with Colombians. They will have to learn to negotiate the
language and cultural barriers all missionaries face on the mission field. Developing friendships is a vital part of having future opportunities to share one’s faith. The team will also be given opportunities to share as a team in churches and different places in Colombia. Team members will be given the opportunity to share their faith (with an interpreter) through personal testimony of ways God has enriched their lives. Team members will first be given the opportunity to share their faith with each other on the team, then encouraged to share their faith with those in Colombia.

Faith sharing by personal testimony involves overcoming the fear of speaking publicly, organizing one’s thoughts about one’s faith, speaking about things that are personal and at times emotional, and sharing what one believes will be inspiring to others. This is no easy task, especially when done in the context of a different culture and language. Nevertheless, it is an authentic missionary experience - one we hope will serve the youth team members well when they return to their home churches after their missionary experience.