Our youth group was blessed to upgrade spaces recently. Initially, they were meeting in a small
room that they outgrew. Now, they meet in our chapel space, where we have our services on
Sunday morning. The only thing I would change about this is building our teenagers a big
enough space just for them. They still have a cafe and game room where they can hang out, but
it would be nice for them to have their own worship area to decorate and worship God. Our
church is in multiple buildings on the same campus, so that would require a lot of money to
build a space just for the youth. Personally, I think we should tear down the three buildings we
have and build one big one for the church and one for our Christian school. We have a big
church, but so much wasted space. This would benefit all ministries.
I looked at YouthWorks online. They focus on mission trips for middle school and high school
students. They have options to serve on a mission trip in the USA or Costa Rica and Puerto Rico.
They believe that youth mission trips "disciple students, develop leaders, and serve
communities."1 I think this is an excellent option for those who are just starting to work in
missions. I believe we should learn how to help communities in our own country before we
embark on a mission to another nation. This is especially true for young students. Their site
explains, "Mission trips invite students’ faith to their fingertips, allowing meaningful
conversations about why service is essential to following Jesus. Mission trips invite students to
be full-time participants in God’s plan."2 God calls us to go and make disciples of all nations. We
can do this here or in another country; either way, we are called to spread the good news of the
Gospel.
Works. 2021. “Why Mission Trips?” YouthWorks. 2021. https://youthworks.com/about-us/why-mission-
