For the past three years, our church has organized a medical mission trip to Nicaragua. These trips profoundly change those who participate.
Here are some insights participants shared upon returning:
—It is not the church of God that has a mission in the world, but the God of mission who has a church in the world.
—That which is yet to be done in the world is far less than that which already has been done.
—People are more alike than their cultures.
—Love is the universal language.
—In cross-cultural encounters, we are meeting long-lost, distant relatives.
—God does not send us to be critics.
—Our privilege is to lift Jesus up in deed and word.
What is God calling you to do at home or abroad?
This message was adapted from “You Come Back Different” written by Jennifer Pencek that first appeared in the October 2010 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.
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