Mission Trips
Our youth are offered fantastic service opportunities through mission trips and pilgrimages. Saint Matthew’s Youth Ministry utilizes approved Christian mission organizations and all leaders are active church members and required to go through a training program called “Safe Guarding God’s Children” to help make our church community a safe and positive places for our children, youth and members. There are several fundraising opportunities throughout the year to strengthen the bond of the group and prepare each youth financially. Fundraising opportunities include car washes, candle sales, spaghetti dinner and service for parishioners in need.
PREVIOUS MISSION TRIPS
2023 - MEMPHIS, TN
We saw God in the people and community we served as well as in each other. It’s was an amazing trip!
Our kids worked so hard at the Palmer House, a non-profit that’s been housing kids for over 100 years. No longer called an orphanage, the Palmer House consists of 8 homes, each home houses a married couple that works full time to care for and love the children in their home for the duration of the child’s stay. Our kids and leaders pulled weeds, planted trees and flowers and built fences around air conditioning units. We worshipped at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Memphis. The youth always love attending Episcopal churches when we travel. Meeting other Episcopalians, witnessing the similarities and differences, and worshipping in a familiar space is always meaningful. We are thankful for the graciousness of the St. Mary’s community for making space for our group of 24 to squeeze into their chapel for Sunday worship while their sanctuary was being renovated. Our 3rd day of service was spent laying the ground work for a new community garden in an area that does not have a grocery store nearby nor close access to fruits and vegetables. They youth pulled weeds as tall as themselves, mowed, shoveled and spread soil, and more. The transformation was thrilling to see. We got to prepare dinner for Family Movie night at Church of the Holy Communion Episcopal church in Memphis. After our service at Palmer House, we were gifted with deer meat so the teens made venison chili and chicken pad Thai as the 2 main entrees. After serving the community, we mingled and chatted before being given a tour of the youth and children’s area. What a treat! It’s was a beautiful church and the youth even enjoyed relaxing in their youth room playing ping pong and foosball.
We are thankful for the parents who share their children with us, the leaders who love every one of these youth, and the Saint Matthew’s community who support our youth and children immensely.
2022 - Ireland
Originally planned for 2020, our youth finally embarked on their once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Ireland! We were welcomed with open arms, a warm cup of tea, and a “Cead Mile Failte.”
2021 - Salem, OR
Covid-19 continued to guide our summer youth trip in unexpected ways! After postponing Ireland out another year, our 2021 trip brought us in the presence of God in the Oregon wilderness. We stayed at Mount Angel Abbey in the youth retreat center. It presented the opportunity to pray with monks, enjoy much needed group bonding and seek God in the beauty that surrounds us.
We engaged in service work on an eco project located on the Oregon coastline, hiked to a beautiful waterfall, attended church at a local Episcopal church and so much more.
2019 - Portland, OR
Our group listened to local leaders and service partners about the issues Portlanders face, including struggles of homelessness, gentrification, historic and current racism and concern over environmental issues. We served existing social service organizations and participated in the good work these organizations are doing to serve vulnerable populations of the city. In the evenings, we experienced a taste of what it is like living in Portland, explored some fun sights in the city, and hosted a community cookout for those we met during our service time.
2018 - Brooklyn, NY
Our youth were humbled to serve others by working hard, helping and growing the love of God in Brooklyn, New York! Our youth served as God's hands and feet in the world. Praise God!
2014 - Washington DC
In 2014, 27 youth and 5 leaders traveled to Washington, DC. Our hearts were touched, our boundaries extended and we bonded in ways that only a trip such as this can do.
5 REASONS EVERY TEENAGER SHOULD GO ON A MISSION TRIP
February 11, 2014 by Sam Townsend
What would you do if you discovered an incredible experience that opened eyes, softened hearts, empowered service and changed lives?
When a youth pastor saw how mission trips had drawn his students to others and toward Jesus, he asked himself that question. His answer was starting YouthWorks, an organization that now invites over 30,000 students and leaders on mission trips each summer.
For over 20 years, we have seen mission trips play a crucial role in the lives of countless teenagers, and we continue to believe every teenager should experience a mission trip.
1. Mission Trips Bring Youth Groups Together. If you’ve ever been on a weekend student retreat, you know how that experience can build community. Teenagers ride together, play together, eat together, stay up late together, get up tired together… “Together” is a powerful word. Think of “together” as glue – the more broadly it’s spread, the better a youth group will bond. Mission trips apply “together” to students’ sense of adventure, their desire serve, their relationship with God, their daily experiences, their broken comfort zones and much more (including these things below!).
2. Mission Trips Broaden Perspectives.Teenagers might be more connected than ever with what’s happening around the world, but have they seen what it’s like to live below the poverty line in small-town America? Or experienced the energy and exhaustion of inner-city living? Or felt the heartbeat of Native America beaten across the taut surface of a drum? Pulling teenagers from their typical context helps them understand that the world is larger that their daily lives would have them believe. By beginning to understand another setting, their own context comes into truer focus.
3. Mission Trips Challenge Comfort Zones.Beyond broadening perspectives, mission trips demand that teenagers participate. Painting a house, playing with kids, serving a meal, sleeping on an air mattress, experiencing a new culture – these are a few examples of ways comfort zones are crossed. But when coupled with intentional processing and worship, mission trips have the unique ability to challenge students’ comfortable perceptions of God and the world. Faith steps beyond the doors of the church and demands to be applied to real-world living.
4. Mission Trips Empower Students. God is doing incredible work through the Church. The energy, authenticity, fresh perspective and passion teenagers bring are a vibrant part of that church. Done well, mission trips help students take ownership and initiative. Eyes are opened. Passions are ignited. Possibilities are exposed. Pursuits begin. Mission trips help teenagers see what they are capable of. But first, the Church chooses to believe in the incredible opportunity of being a teenager – not a possibility to be met “someday,” but a boiling potential just waiting to overflow.
5. Mission Trips Create Sacred Space. The Israelites used to build monuments by throwing together big piles of rocks to point at later and say, “That signifies God’s faithfulness in our nation.” For many teenagers, mission trips represent a time and a place when God worked in and through their lives. More than a mere mountain-top high, these sacred spaces both anchor students in their faith and propel them forward in their relationship with God. Even in times of trouble, teenagers often point toward their mission trip experience and say, “That signifies God’s faithfulness in my life.”
Find out more about our next mission trip
