Spiritual Exercises for Short-Term Mission Groups
Introduction:
Mission trips create openness in many ways. Spiritually, we are often made more sensitive during our mission trip. It is a great time to take advantage of the occasion and tone your flabby spiritual muscles.
Marathon runners don't run 26 miles their first day. They build their muscles and endurance over time using a variety of exercises, routines, and diet controls. In like manner, spiritual muscles cannot be built over night. It takes a variety of exercises over time. Your mission trip can become the place for many of your members to begin a spiritual exercise program.
The exercise of four daily habits builds spiritual muscles. Just as consistent training builds muscle, and as exposure to sunshine changes the color of skin so daily exposure to God changes the spirit of a man. These DAILY spiritual habits place us in the presence of God and change those who practice them.
- Rise Early.
Begin each day early. Giving God the first fruit of the day is important. Have mission team members rise half hour before the day is scheduled to begin. Because of fatigue and the likelihood that this practice is not the normal practice of team members, plan to "Walk-til-Awake".
Exercise: Our groups walk a mile together in silence before making an attempt to join in the day's spiritual exercises. Getting the blood pumping helps create an alert mind and facilitates a successful time of prayer. Silent walking also helps avoid the tendency of some members of the group to divert attention from the purpose of the exercise to them—its intent is to prepare for Spiritual growth.
Debrief: You'll have a lot to do on your first day, so simply setting the expectations and pattern for the remaining days should suffice for the first day. With everyone awake, briefly introduce the concept of Spiritual Muscle Building and then move on into your day.
- Pray.
The first of the exercises is to learn to pray for increasingly longer periods of time. The idea is that time before God making the effort to communicate with Him has value. Content deepens with time, but first the habit of daily effort to pray must be developed. This DAILY EFFORT to pray is the goal of this practice.
Exercise: Begin with 10 minutes of effort. Require members to time themselves. Some will find that they fall asleep, or that their minds wander quickly. This is normal. We're DEVELOPING spiritual muscles because we don't have strong ones yet. Encourage members not to despair. When they awake or when they realize their minds have wandered, coach them to simply admit this to God (Sorry, Lord, I fell asleep. Help me do better.), and get to praying again.
Some will have an exuberant encounter with God and feel they can go on for longer, but enforce that they should pray only until the 10 minutes is complete. The purpose of these exercises is to build the HABIT of DAILY prayer. A trap lays ahead of those who would spend more time praying before they have developed this practice into a habit. They will find that they rationalize "Well, I spent 15 minutes yesterday, so I'll cut it to only 5 today." It's a game that Satan will play on them. Better, for now, to just try praying 10 minutes and then move on to the next exercise.
Debrief: After the walk and the exercise, debrief with the group asking, "Did anyone fall asleep?" That will begin the morning with a laugh at how many fell asleep. Then ask about the experiences of others. Lastly, clarify for the group again that the point of these exercises for this trip is to develop the habit of praying daily. Content and ability will come with time. The goal for now is to develop the HABIT of DAILY placing themselves before God in prayer. Congratulate them for exposing themselves to the light of the Son---already God has been changing them.
- Journal.
After taking a "Walk-til-Awake" hike and a second day of trying to pray for 10 minutes, add the step of Journaling. The difference between keeping a diary and keeping a journal has been described like this: A diary is the written summary of what YOU did in the day. A Journal is the written summary of what GOD did in the day. The practice benefits because it forces us to put our minds on God. We recount the events of the day before and search them for evidence of God's hand. We begin moving through future days with an eye open wider to the workings of God in the everyday events of life.
Exercise: Ask that every member write for 10-15 minutes in their journal. Help them begin the process by offering questions they should consider while writing like:
- What way(s) did I sense that God was working with me/our group yesterday?
- Describe the most significant spiritual event for me from yesterday.
- Why was it significant?
Debrief: Some will easily convert their thoughts to words, others will struggle. Encourage your group by helping them understand that it is not content, or amount of writing, that matters at this point as much as it is the practice of trying to re-think the events of the day and seek to see God at work in it. The HABIT of DAILY seeing God at work will change their lives—whether they become good writers or not.
- Memorize.
"Walk-til-Awake" hikes may be shortened (due to time) by the third day, but should not be omitted. Prayer may be increased to 15 minutes for the second half of the trip, and journaling may become a before-bedtime activity. Memorization is a habit best practiced throughout the day. The idea is to strengthen our 90-pound weakling knowledge of Scripture muscle. Weight lifting requires multiple repetitions—so too Scripture memorization.
Exercise: Challenge the group in a significant way by making the exercise a bit difficult. On a 5 or 7 day mission trip, memorizing the first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount should not be too much. If your mission trip has a theme, a corresponding section of Scripture may be appropriate to memorize. The goal, as will all the habits, is to develop the HABIT of DAILY meditating on God's Word.
Debrief: Perhaps at lunch break while in line waiting to be served, randomly ask individuals to quote what they've learned. Include staff and adults in these exercises. Leaders should not be immune to impromptu requests from the other members of the team. This helps everyone be accountable and makes it more fun in the process.
Conclusion:
Certainly, there are more exercises which build Spiritual Muscles. These are suggested because they are easy for starters. Missionaries must develop strong Spiritual Muscles to manage the challenges of their work. Training your short-term mission members how to strengthen themselves will not only help them as they minister on the mission trip, but also when they return to their own backyard mission field.
