Are you REALLY taking your kids!?

Being in full-time ministry, there are always questions.  Questions from other staff. Questions from friends and family.  Questions from church family.  Questions about right versus wrong. Questions about your family, your 'real' job, silly questions, dumb questions, crazy questions….incessant questions.  

While many of these questions usually don't upset me, or make me pause to really think about, some do.  My most recent onslaught of questions was received immediately after announcing that we were taking our kids on the missions trip to Brazil.  I should preface this that we also received these questions last year when we took our kids to South Dakota with the youth missions trip, and again when we took our kids back to South Dakota this summer with the same missions trip.  But I would say that the questions we fielded about taking the kids on an international missions trip were far greater.  So in some ways, I was shocked that we were still being asked "why?" but in other ways, it came as no surprise we were asked, "WHY would you take your kids with you?"

For us, ministry is our life.  Most of the time, our kids go with us.  Youth events, special church events, and sometimes even meetings.  It's just what we do.  It's who we are.  For us, we want our kids to feel a part of ministry, not just a side-note.  We want them to feel (and be) engaged.  We want our kids to sense what true ministry to others is like.  It's not just a Sunday morning sermon, it's not just a Wednesday night Youth Group; it's sometimes messy, it's sometimes awkward and it's sometimes just plain exhausting.  And now that they are a bit older, it just seemed like a natural, next step for them to accompany us on an international missions trip. 

We've done the trips just the two of us, and they are great! You get to spend quality time with the group, you get to focus solely on the ministry, you are free from the time-consuming schedule that having younger kids demands.   But it also seems like something is missing.  And, I think we finally came to the conclusion that something is…our family.  If our family is part of our ministry at home, why can't / shouldn't they be a part of our ministry abroad?  And what better way to teach our kids what we are preaching about than to show them firsthand!? Show them the cultures and people that God has used to touch our heart, and perhaps one day, their hearts will be touched as well.

I have seen too many children of Pastors or full-time ministry people  struggle, turn away from the church and God, and often times turn bitter and angry because their perception of 'what Dad does' ends at watching him leave early, come home late and always be taking care of everyone else's needs...except his own children.  I realize this may still happen with our children, but there is a large part of me that thinks including our children in our ministry lives will help combat this a bit. 

For us, our ministry is our life, and we are in this as a family.  I want my kids to see life outside of the 4 walls of our church, outside of our cozy little community at home, and I want them to develop a passion for sharing Christ with others, a compassionate heart for people around the world and to hopefully catch the 'bug' that Conrad & I have. And that my friends, is why we have chosen to take our kids on missions trips.  And even if their primary ministry will only be with people at home, they will still have been given the chance to see the people, the need and the hunger for God around the world.