Deep Justice Journeys Student Journal: Moving from Mission Trips to Missional Living

By Kara Powell

So you’re fired up, you want to make a difference, you want to change the world…but how? Signing up for your church’s mission trip or service project is a great first step, and you are definitely going to make a difference in someone’s life. But are you ready for the different cultures you may encounter? How are you going to really connect with the people you serve? And what about when you come home—how do you make sense of all the things you’ve experienced? It’s easy to forget your experiences in the mission field—especially when the people around you haven’t had those same experiences. And it is easy to go back to living your life the way you were before—but if you really want to change the world, you have to change, too. The only way that is going to happen is if you spend some time before, during, and after your service preparing for and processing your justice work. As you use this journal you will start to think about— • the people you are serving • your relationship with your teammates • how God factors in to your service project • the impact your experience has had on you • how you can continue to make a difference in the world around you If you think you’re fired-up for service now, just wait! As you complete the creative and fun exercises included in this journal, you will be energized for justice work, you’ll learn how to apply this to your own life, and nothing will be able to stop you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release date: Oct 6, 2009
• ISBN: 9780310867227

Kara Powell

Kara Powell es directora ejecutiva del Instituto para la Juventud del Seminario Teológico Fuller en Pasadena, California. Es autora de una amplia variedad de exitosos libros para el ministerio juvenil. Además, Kara a través de www.ymwomen.com, anima, equipa y conecta a mujeres que sirven a los jóvenes.

Book preview

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YOUTH SPECIALTIES

DEEP JUSTICE JOURNEYS STUDENT JOURNAL: MOVING FROM MISSION TRIPS TO MISSIONAL LIVING

Copyright 2009 by Kara E. Powell

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition August 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-86722-7

Youth Specialties resources, 300 S. Pierce St., El Cajon, CA 92020 are published by Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

ISBN 978-0-310-28773-5

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, Today’s New International Version™. TNIV®. Copyright 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design by SharpSeven Design

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09 10 11 12 13 14 • 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Initial Steps: Getting the Most Out of Your Journey

1. Before: Framing

The Parable of the Cracked Roads

No-Brainers

Mentoring for Justice: A Starter Guide

Who’s Your Jesus?

Finding Myself in God’s Story

What Do They Need More?

Where I Come From

Unity of the Body

My Gifts

Some of These Things Are Not Like the Others

Local Motion

Give and Receive

Crisscross Culture

You Said What?

2. During: Experience and Reflection

Keep It Simple…

Prayer of Review

Can You Hear Me Now?

Why Ask Why?

If You’re Happy and You Know It…Smile

Smells Like…

The Face of Christ

Your Kingdom Come

Spirit Flow

Heroes

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be…

Saying Good-bye Well

3. After: Initial Debrief

Highlights for Home

Mustard Seeds and Yeast

Back to the Real World

Reverse Culture Shock

Be Like Josh

Who’s My Neighbor?

4. After: Ongoing Transformation

Reentry

Paying Attention to the Presence of God

A Picture’s Worth a Lot of Words

Cost

Net Worth

Bag It

Rocky

About the Publisher

Share Your Thoughts

INITIAL STEPS: GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR JOURNEY

BY KARA POWELL AND BRAD GRIFFIN

If you’ve been involved in service work before, you’ve probably experienced that great service high. After four days in Mexico or four hours feeding the homeless in your city, you’re ready to change the world.

But then you walk back into life as usual…

And your mom asks you to empty the dishwasher.

And your friends at school make fun of you when you invite the new kid to grab coffee after school.

And your cousin wants you to go drinking with him.

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If you’re not sure what justice means, we’ll define it at the end of these Initial Steps, and we’ll talk about it more in the opening study. In the meantime, think of it as righting wrongs for others, either locally or globally.

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Short-term mission trips and other service opportunities—experiences that we’re calling justice journeys—can help you take three steps forward in your walk of faith. But then you get back home and it seems like you’re dragged 2.93 steps backward.

Sure, you’re making progress. But if you do the math, it’s only .07 total steps forward.

What if we told you it didn’t have to be that way?

What if we told you that, although we can’t guarantee you won’t slip backward at all, we can help you and your youth ministry figure out how to not slide back so far?

This book is intended to help you and thousands of other teenagers figure out how to experience all God has to offer you before, during, and after your service projects. We’ve talked with some of the best and brightest teenagers, parents, youth workers, and researchers about how you can make the most of your deep justice journey. Here’s the model we hope you and your team follow:

THE BEFORE/DURING/AFTER MODEL¹

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Let’s unpack what all those arrows mean for your justice journey and the journal you hold in your hands.

STEP 1. BEFORE: FRAMING

A successful service or mission experience starts when you frame the sometimes mind-blowing and other times menial experiences that await you. Getting ready for a mission experience involves much more than just raising money, learning a drama, or deciding what to pack. This journal helps you prepare emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and relationally for what lies ahead.

STEP 2. DURING: EXPERIENCE AND REFLECTION

During your justice journeys, you and your friends will be placed in situations and activities that will stretch you. Maybe you’ll use new skill muscles in a cross-cultural setting that’s unfamiliar to you. Or your group will get tired, cranky, and hungry—and the glue that has united you up to that point will start to dissolve. This journal gives space for you to stop and catch your breath from time to time (every few hours or maybe every day or so)