Steve Klassen, Partnership Developer for International Teams Canada urban ministry TrueCity Southlake, believes that the short-term mission experiences don't just change the lives of the host community – they are transformative for the community sending them as well. "In the late 80s, I went to the Dominican Republic as an unchurched person and came back as a follower of Christ. That first trip started my family on a journey of going around the world on missions, eventually discovering just how much these sorts of trips impact Canada on our return. When we take people to the developing world, they not only help there, but also come back with a renewed vision of how desperate Canada is on a spiritual level, and renewed compassion for all of humanity."
TrueCity Southlake sends a team to the Dominican Republic every two years. In November, 20 different participants aged 10-65, representing six different Newmarket-area churches, taught English through a week-long VBS-style day-camp, hosted healthcare seminars focusing on disease prevention, provided vocational training, and helped three families move into homes built with funds from generous TrueCity donors. Steve shared that throughout the trip, the Spirit of God reminded him what an incredible gift the trip was for the team members. "As Canadians, in our busy frantic way of life, we were once again renewed to what's really important, to love and care for people, and provide hope where there is no hope."
Steve has seen that much of the benefit of a short-term mission experience is how the participants return home more engaged in mission activities in general than they were prior to the trip. "I'm able to watch their lives throughout the 8 months of trip preparation, and I see when they return that they are much more focused on our community because of that experience. They've received a crash course in reality, and they've been reminded that Canada is an incredible country to be taken care of and nurtured through Kingdom activity."
To learn more about TrueCity Southlake's community development projects or to join the team for the next Dominican Republic mission trip, visit
www.truecitysouthlake.ca. For more information on short-term mission opportunities with International Teams, visit
www.iteams.ca and click Engage.
