The Essential Question (Part 7): More Mission TripsSample

The Mission Team Experience

Prepare: "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" (Psalm 42:2). Ask God to meet you in his Word today.

Read: Acts 18:1-28

Reflect: Have you ever been part of a mission team- that is, a group from your church, school or youth group who spend a few weeks on some kind of outreach project? You travel together, eat together, live together, even raise funds together. But you do it all to accomplish a specific ministry objective, whether in a rural area of a faraway country, or in an inner-city neighborhood near where you live.

Our passage gives us a glimpse into the mission team experience of the apostle Paul, and it's instructive to consider what that was like. The first thing we notice is that the team had a changing cast of characters. It began with Barnabas and Paul but was reorganized into Paul and Silas. Along the way they picked up Timothy, but lost John Mark, then joined up with Aquila and Priscilla, who recruited and trained Apollos. They weren't a family; they were a team, and the players changed. Also, we shouldn't overlook the fact that Paul had a woman on his team; Priscilla was on the boat with her husband and the other men (18:2, 18). She too was a fellow worker who risked her life for the gospel (Romans 16:3-4).

Another reality of Paul's mission team experience hinted at in this passage is fundraising. Of all the tasks required for doing ministry today, that's at the bottom of everyone's list. But notice that Paul viewed resource gathering as part of his role; in Corinth, he took a day job to pay the bills (18:3). In fact, Paul is probably the most proactive fundraiser in the Bible, as we see from the letters he later wrote to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 2 Corinthians 8-9). For Paul and his companions, fundraising wasn't a necessary evil. It was an essential part of ministry.

The thing that stands out most in this passage is the way God intervened to reassure Paul (Acts 18:9-10). I remember a ministry trip I once took. I had traveled all day, was hungry and tired, and found myself sitting alone in a dreary Chick-fil-A restaurant just before closing time. Honestly, I was discouraged, and the best I could do was pray, Lord, if you aren't in this, then what I'm doing here makes no sense. The next day I had a breakthrough.

I doubt there was a Chick-fil-A in Corinth, but I'm certain Paul needed encouragement. In addition to the hardships of travel, preaching and fundraising, he had the constant threat of physical abuse and spiritual opposition (18:6). One of the best things about the mission team experience is that it often pushes us to the edge of our ability to cope, and in so doing forces us to rely on God's power more completely.

One more detail stands out: verse 24 begins "Meanwhile ..." At the same time Paul was experiencing his challenges and breakthroughs, things were happening elsewhere; in this case, Apollos was beginning what became a significant preaching ministry (18:27-28). It reminds us that the mission doesn't depend on me. We all have a part to play, but God is the mission director.

Apply: Make a list of people you know who are serving in some kind of ministry, either full time or as volunteers. Next to each name jot down a way you could offer encouragement. Over the next month, see if you can complete each one.