My heart has been heavy with much of the nation this week. The world seems to be coming apart at the seams. Children are being shot and journalists brutally killed. Wars are being fought in the name of religion in the middle east and against an invisible, incurable virus in West Africa.
The world is broken, yet Jesus came. He became flesh and blood and (as Eugene Peterson puts it) moved into the neighborhood. It is as though God pulled on a sweater and tied on some sneakers and sat down among us.
Jesus knew that the world would never be made right again without personally showing us what it looks like to be the Light of the World. Then, he invited us to be that light too.
We often wonder what in the world we can do. How can we help make things right in this messed up, stressed out world? I think it begins with being a better neighbor. It begins with moving outside our comfort zones and sitting down for a minute in another zip code. It means having new conversations that begin with more questions asked and less assumptions offered.
That is why Passport offers invitations to our community. PASSPORTmissions camp is an invitation to serve others meaningfully and engage each other through fun, bible study and worship. PASSPORTchoices is an invitation to explore your passions and cultivate a unique identity as a follower of Jesus Christ. PASSPORTkids! is an invitation to learn and participate in what God’s people are doing around the world.
After many thoughtful conversations (and sometimes debates), we decided to lay down PASSPORTmissions2 and offer you a new invitation – MissionBASE.
MissionBASE is not a retreat or even a mission trip in the traditional sense. It is an invitation to visit a new neighborhood and focus on the history, challenges, and culture of a particular city. MissionBASE is a chance to live in community with one another, surrounded by new neighbors for the week.
Much like PASSPORTmissions2, youth groups will live communally and participate in six-hours of missions work, but that’s where the similarities stop. MissionBASE is not just a new name. It’s a totally new experience.
+ MissionBASE is an immersive missions experience – every aspect of the trip will point toward Passport’s philosophy of “Doing Missions Differently.” All of our MissionBASE students will be living smack-dab in the middle of the communities they are serving. MissionBASE is a chance to live in community with one another, surrounded by new neighbors for the week.
+ Instead of Rec parties and variety shows, MissionBASE offers students location-specific cultural experiences that will deepen your youth group’s connection to each other and the community they are serving.
+ MissionBASE has its own traditions and culture. MissionBASE is NOT camp. Don’t come expecting ‘Wakka Wakka’ and ‘Little Red Wagon.’
+ MissionBASE will not incorporate the yearly themes of PASSPORT camps. MissionBASE will have its own Spiritual Focus created specifically to guide our students through meaningful reflections and deeper conversations about the work they are doing, the communities they are serving, and the lessons that they are learning.
+ Each MissionBASE location will have a unique missions focus. This will allow youth leaders to sign up for MissionBASE not only based on locations, but on the kind of work being done. For 2015, MissionBASE: Birmingham will be focusing on revitalizing underserved neighborhoods through construction work and MissionBASE: Atlanta will be empowering children and families through literacy programs.
+ MissionBASE asks more of its adults and students than any other PASSPORT experience. Adult leaders and students form teams responsible for significant portions of community life and are expected to come ready to be the hands and feet of Jesus. In order to most effectively serve with our partner organizations, we ask that each group bring adults with skills suited to their location-specific mission projects.
The world has been broken for a long, long time, but Jesus came and lived in the middle of us offering us an example of what Love can look like. MissionBASE offers students a community to share Light, break bread, paint a fence or read a book, and offer bridge-building possibilities in a broken world.
We hope that you and your church will prayerfully consider our invitation to 2015 MissionBASE.
Learn more about MissionBASE here.
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Colleen Burroughs is the Vice President of PASSPORT, Inc and the Founder of Watering Malawi.