Jonah Hamman, 6th Grade:
This weekend, I went on my very first mission’s trip, ever. I went to Washington, D.C. to serve the City Church with a team of other students and leaders from my church, Christian Life Center. I took a couple things away from this trip.
One: “it’s better to give than receive”. We were basically servants to the City Church. Usually, I hate work, but in D.C., I thought what we were doing was; ‘helping God through work’ and so if I thought about what I did like that and then it really didn’t feel like work.
I also took away the feeling that we made a difference. One job we all did took five minutes to finish, but the man from the City Church said it would have taken him forty-five minutes to finish the task. Some of the staff at the church remembered some of us that came in the years before and some of us remembered some of the staff there at the church. We did big jobs and small ones. Whatever and wherever there was something to be done, we did it. Some of us even worked in their “City Kidz”, their version of our toddler nursery and Jr. Kids program.
I also took away what another church is like. They were somewhat similar to CLC but had many differences, too. Many of the songs they sing in service are the same. Many of the ideas they express as a church are the same, too. But, there are a few differences: some in look, some in song, and many in people. We, as a church could easily learn from them. They have some good ideas that we could benefit from.
And finally, I took away how much CLC cares. Not just the people who went to D.C.. Not just the leaders, who went too, but the whole church, the ones who sent us off to D.C., the ones who prayed for us, the ones who had faith. So, I say thank you to you all!
Summer Zacharias, 10th Grade:
Church family,
I love times that are set aside to partner with other churches and what they are doing in their city. It is so cool to work alongside and lift up and encourage others working to expand the kingdom of God.
On Saturday, we did all sorts of in's and outs at the church building. Some of our team did cleaning while others helped out in the offices. After we finished everything we were able to do there, we were sent out into the streets with a stack of what is called "reach cards." We split up into 3 groups and all walked in different directions to hand out the cards and invite people to church. That night, we took the metro to Chinatown and grabbed dinner. On Sunday, we hung out and had the opportunity to be a part of the services going on.
Although the whole weekend was tons of fun, the highlight of the trip for me was on Saturday afternoon when we handed out the reach cards. My group had the opportunity to talk and pray with some people and invite them to check out the City Church. Through this experience I learned that you don't have to know much about someone to pray with them. I also learned that praying doesn't have to be this long, extravagant and complicated dialogue. In fact it is meant to be simple. Nobody that we prayed with broke down into tears and excepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior right there, on the spot. As great as it would have been to have seen someone come to know the Lord, I know i'm not called to produce results but to be obedient and let him handle the rest.
Jordan Lee, 7th Grade:
To me this missions trip was really a time of being a helping hand to The City Church and the city itself. Helping out by cleaning was one of the things we did, and during the time that we spent cleaning I just kept reminding myself that we were being the hands and feet of Jesus. One of the things I was personally praying for was opportunities-no matter how small- to help with any and everything, mainly in-between jobs. And that prayer was fulfilled when Isaiah and I were walking downstairs to get something, when a man came up and ask us to hold the door for him while he got something from his car, and Jesus just told me “No matter how small of a thing this is, it can make a big impact,” and by the time he came in he was very thankful for something very small. What I got out of this was just to take the small time out of what you’re doing to help people with the small things. What really matters is where your heart is and doing what you can to help, not the expectancy of reward.
