Upcoming spring break mission trips – what you need to know
Micah Webster, News and Feature Writer
Photo by Micah Webster
At North Greenville University, mission trips are more than just chances for students to travel. They are valuable experiences that allow for spiritual growth and Christ-like service.
Part of NGU’s mission is to equip transformational leaders for church and society, and in the words of Crystalyn Wyatt, “the society piece of that statement, to me that’s global.”
This upcoming spring break, NGU is sending out teams to four locations across the globe: Ecuador, Kosovo, the Middle East, and Los Angeles.
Several of these locations are repeats from last year, which Wyatt, the main coordinator for these trips, says is a strength.
“I have seen in my time at North Greenville how impactful it is to be consistent in a location,” she said.
This consistency also allows for both the university and the partners in each location to be better prepared and have a better understanding of what to expect, which leads to a more fruitful experience all around.
The actual work that is being done in each location varies, but in each place the goal is to serve the local ministry going on there. In the Middle East, for example, students will work with a local Baptist school to pour into the teachers and the students alike.
Embre Todd, a student who served in Kosovo last spring, described some of the ways her team helped the local church.
From helping renovate a church building to having conversations with kids at an English center, she described the service as “being a bridge between them [local kids] and the missionaries.”
One of the coolest parts of mission trips, though, is the effect it has on the students who go.
“I have seen how they have changed student’s lives,” said Wyatt.
Todd echoed this saying that she learned a lot about depending on God during the trip and wanted “to include the Lord and depend on him the same way here as I was able to there.”
For Wyatt and Todd, these trips were not just travel opportunities, but opportunities to grow closer to God.
In Wyatt’s words, “Ultimately, missions is about God calling us to himself, and the rest is just geography.”
When it comes to paying for the trip, Wyatt was encouraging, saying that she’s never seen a student who put in the work not get the necessary support for the trip.
Wyatt likes the term “support raising” over fundraising, “because ultimately what we’re doing is creating a body of believers around us to support us not just for a week, but for a lifetime, and not just financially, but prayerfully.”
NGU takes its mission trips seriously, doing everything they can to equip and train students for the task, from support raising all the way to the trip itself.
If you’re interested in being a part of a mission trip this year, the applications are open until September 29. Wyatt emphasized that filling out the application is not a final commitment to the trip, but the beginning of that process.
Email crystalyn.wyatt@ngu.edu for more information or check out the linktree.
