Should You Bring Children to The Mission Field And other common questions about Missions

Our Team Member Christina on a mission trip to Asia

This week, we talked to Christina Adams, our event coordinator and part of our HR team, about some questions and concerns she hears when talking with people about missions. Christina is passionate about getting young people involved in missions and encouraging others to trust God in every situation. 

How long have you been working at JFA?

Officially, it's been since 2017, but we've known Jon and Natalie since 2010 when they moved to Tennessee, and we've been helping them in various capacities since we started realizing what they were doing [how we could help].

Why is missions important? Why should the reader consider doing missions?

I love to encourage people to do missions because it expands your worldview and [helps you] gain a bigger view of how people live, where people live, and what the needs are all over the world, not just where you're familiar with.

Also, when doing missions, you grow in ways you don't even realize you need to. If you're willing to step out in faith and do missions, there's always some kind of sacrifice involved, but you're going to grow. Your faith muscles are going to grow, your relationship with God is going to grow, and your relationships with other people will grow. 

What kind of people are needed in the mission field? 

I think everyone is needed in the mission field. Often, as I'm working with people or interviewing them for missions here at JFA, I tell them it's not about the destination but the journey. So, going on mission trips, long-term or short-term, is part of your journey to develop a character fit for heaven. I think we all need that, which is why everyone should go for some time. Hopefully, more than once because the second time is always a different experience than the first time. The first time, you go with many fears and concerns, like, what if I get sick? What am I going to eat? You're still focused on self and self-preservation. But the second time, some of those fears [have been overcome]. So you're more focused on the people you meet, and you can connect better with them and see them in a different light. 

Should people bring their children to the mission field?

Yes! Don't go without your children, and don't let your children go without you. I think it should be a family experience if at all possible. Don't tell your children they're too young to go or not at the right stage of life; whatever excuse you can think of, don't use it.

Our first mission trip was in 2013, and my kids were five, seven, and ten. Lilyann, my oldest daughter, preached. She taught Sabbath school and told children's stories. If you hear Sarah, my middle child, talk, it was during that trip that she knew God was working on her heart, even at seven years old, and was planting seeds in her that have grown now. She wants to do something in the mission field; she wants to help other people. It was incredible to me on that trip how I watched my children play games with kids they couldn't speak to, and it was pretty amazing. Kids are a great asset in the mission field. 

What have your kids gained from doing missions?

They have gained the experience of exercising muscles of faith and depending on God when there were no solutions, money, or whatever. They saw God work, which is a huge benefit in the mission field. You see God work in real, practical ways.

They've gained their own personal walk with God through doing missions and seeing Him work. They have done many, many mission trips since that first one, and some they definitely liked better than others. They don't like to preach, but even that was part of their growth and journey. 

How do you respond when someone tells you they can't afford to go on a mission trip?

Money is not the deciding factor. I think the first deciding factor is that you need to pray, and if God is opening the opportunity, then there's no doubt that God will provide. That may come from your bank account; you have to be willing to do what you can, but money has never been a problem. I have taken countless kids to countless places, and the money always works itself out; even when you put [your money] all in, God blesses you in other ways. I've had my car totaled and my house practically fall apart, and it all just worked out; life works out. You put God first, and it all works out. 

I was very intentional in making sure my kids were aware of the process I was walking through when deciding to do missions. For our first mission trip, we got ten dollars. My kids were like yay, we're going! But I was like, we've got $10 and need $10,000; that's a big difference. I was not convinced we were going yet, but a ten-year-old taught me that God doesn't start something He doesn't finish. So, we went, and [through God's help] were able to get the money together. We didn't have all of the money [at the beginning of the trip]. I think I've gone most times not having all the money, but it's come during the trip, or in other unexpected ways.

My kids still talk about our second [mission trip] experience. I got a phone call from a friend I hadn't talked to in a while. She was like, you know, I really think you should do missions, which surprised me because this friend was always on my case about slowing down and doing school and being more structured, but when I talked to her this time, her response was, yeah you can do school any time. Then she offered to pay for our tickets. We had been praying as a family [for God to provide for this trip] and watching God work as a family, which is important for kids to grow in faith, too.

Is there anything else you think someone considering missions should know?

As I mentioned before, it's not about the destination; it's about the journey. Missions are not for some great thing you're going to go over there and [do], but it's an opportunity for God to work in your life. The closer we get to the end, all these things that we think we depend on or that bring us security are going to be removed. So when you do missions, it's a good [opportunity] to learn to step out from all those false securities we have and to see that God is faithful and good.

I've seen it in my kids' lives; their hearts are changed. I think it helps keep them in the church; it gives them purpose. If young people are bored with church and unsatisfied with life here, they need to go do missions. Missions has all the adventure and all that any young person would need to be satisfied and to develop a healthy, solid relationship with God. 

The fields of Asia are ripe for the harvest, but the laborers are few, Please join us in prayer, like Jesus commanded His disciples to pray for laborers to enter into that harvest field. 

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