What a Trip!

At St. Stephen the Martyr, we dared to be different. And boy was it worth it. We started almost a year ago exploring ways to do a congregational mission trip, a cross-generational experience for following Jesus together and sharing our faith.

We sputtered along for a while in our research places that could accomodate the youngest and oldest alike, until we talked to Imago Dei Village, an ELCA camp in Clintonville, Wisconsin. They liked the idea of a cross-generational trip and thought that their week of family camp could provide a way to make it happen. Sure enough, the program director of the camp used his contacts in the area to find a service project where we could work in the community during the afternoons. The bonus was that we could still also have the spiritual formation of camp, like daily worships, Bible studies, and campfires. It was AWESOME!!!

Our 7 adults and 5 teens worked in the thrift store in nearby Marion, transitioning out their summer stock and organizing their winter displays. Above the store are two apartments which are being remodelled as low-income transitional housing. We were able to finish one of the apartments to get it ready for tenants to move in this fall.

Our youngest kids were busy too. With the assistance of some parents and counselors, 5 kids ages 1 through 5 shopped for dry goods and dropped off their donations to the food pantry; they created photo books entitled "God Made the ABC's" and made "peace" wall hangings to welcome the tenants to their new homes and show God's hand in preparing their fresh start.

As we sought to get involved in God's inbreaking kingdom through our service project, we were constantly being blessed ourselves. People we met in the community, old and young alike, inspired us and offered their help. The growth in faith was obvious by the end of the week as people went deeper into their prayer lives, encouraged fellow disciples, and even found the healing power of Jesus by trusting in his followers.

When we returned home, the congregation welcomed us with a potluck dinner as we shared our witness and displayed our photos. We received back from many people the prayer cards they had with a name of a person on the travel team. The support of their prayers was evident all week. People made donations for next year's trip. The congregation joined us in a worship experience much like what we enjoyed at camp. And already we have as many new people saying they want to go next year as we had go this year. Perhaps we could even double or triple the size of our group. In all, a low estimate suggests that we had around 200 people directly involved in our congregational mission trip in some aspect of the collaboration.

The kingdom of God has come near. Turn and see.