During the summer break many under 25s will travel to another country in the hope they will experience something new or memorable. For many young Christians this can look like a trip overseas to build houses or look after orphans or it might look like a glorified version of your typical tourist trip to an exotic location.
The benefits of short term missions trips to the participants are many and varied and are often life-changing in some way. Here are the top 6 reasons given to leading Christian research firm Barna.com by Americans in a 2008 survey:
- becoming more aware of other’s struggles (25%)
- learning more about poverty, justice or the world (16%)
- increasing compassion (11%)
- deepening or enriching their faith (9%)
- broadening their spiritual understanding (9%)
- and boosting their financial generosity (5%)
The difficulty with short term trips is the ability to continue engaging in a meaningful and ongoing way with the people and issues faced during the trip. The ‘life-changing’ experiences and the hopes of helping those you met often fade quickly giving way to the distractions and pressures of life at home. Read this Gospel Coalition article (http://bit.ly/TGC-short-term) by Darren Carlson for a good perspective on short term trips.
What if there was a way to take the experiences, relationships formed and knowledge gained from a short term trip and extend them in meaningful ways to everyday of life back home?
“EMPOWERING YOUNG PEOPLE TO MAKE
A REAL DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD”
The INF Young Ambassadors Challenge (YAC) is an initiative that takes young people on a 2 week journey through Nepal visiting young Christians, churches and projects that serve the poor and marginalised in Nepal. On return participants then draw on their own skills as well as the experiences and lessons learned while in Nepal to make lasting contributions to the lives of those they have met through a series of fundraising and awareness challenges. The final challenge is capping off their fundraising efforts with a Celebratory Gala Dinner in which the wider community can also contribute to and celebrate the team’s achievements. All funds raised will go to specific projects that participants have visited during their trip in Nepal.
To get involved with INF either as a participant or as a supporter of the YAC fundraising efforts please get into contact with INF at the following details:
James Lee, Relationships Manager, INF Australia
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (02) 9411 1195
So what exactly is the INF Young Ambassadors Challenge? The INF Young Ambassadors Challenge is not your ordinary short term mission trip. It is designed to grow the faith of young people and empower them to make a lasting contribution to missions and the lives of people they meet while in Nepal. However, the real challenge starts after participants get back from overseas.
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What exactly is the INF young ambassadors challenge?