One of many great lines from the classic flick The Blues Bros was one that was delivered by Dan Ackroyd when he was explaining the seriousness of their desire to get their blues band back together. He mostly explained it was because, "We're on a mission from God.". But humor aside, across this country from literally thousands of churches each summer, youth groups head out on trips, some far away and some across the city to supply community service in the name of their mission of passing on the news about their faith.

From a non secular point of view, one of the great values of a mission trip for teens is that it gives them an opportunity to really use their religion in service of others. Most spiritual doctrines include a commitment to service to humankind in one kind or another. Most of the mission trips that are backed from American churches are Christian in nature. And the Christian religion definitely includes teaching that all fans should reach out to the poor and to those less lucky than themselves as an element of their attention to God. So taking an arranged group of youngsters out to supply service to the poor, to another culture or even overseas to a disadvantaged area makes those teachings from the church much realer. Outside the non secular sides of the value of such mission trips, there are numerous incredible values that are the result of mobilizing a group of teens to go help others as a part of a community service effort. When youth are given trowels or paint brushes and they must work 8-10 hours in the hot sun to help folks, they learn much about what tough work means and the good things that will come from tough work. This is a lesson that may never been taught as well thru lectures or reading a book. As teens start to bond with their fellow missionaries that are both other kids who are older and younger and with industrious adults, those divisions between generations and between one another melt away as they try hard and revel in the fun of actually doing something worth it. * It gives them a glance into the lives of others. This is a giant growing experience and one that will only happen in a dramatic, head to head encounter like they have on the mission field. We won't overlook that one of the large values of putting thousands of youths into the field to do community service each summer is that many poor, disadvantaged or down and out folks get much wanted help from a host of children excited to serve because they're doing it from their appreciation for their spiritual principles.

The bonding that happens on mission trips is not just between the team and one another and it's leadership. Those receiving the help will bond with the mission groups in techniques that none involved will ever forget. And which has worth that are possibly even bigger than the work that got done.