JESUS' INSTRUCTIONS: Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Mission: the act or an instance of sending; a body of persons sent to perform a service or carry on an activity.
I attend Knox, Waterloo, Ont., and in 2005, our youth group decided that that's precisely what we wanted to do. Up until then we had done lots of fundraisers every year to send money towards other missions that other people were doing. In 2005, we decided that we no longer wanted to just send money, we wanted to do. So, as a group we began looking for connections that the church had or could make that could take us somewhere we could help. We learned about the Winnipeg Inner City Missions which runs programs out of two community centres in Winnipeg, Flora House and Anishinabe. So, the fundraising began.
We raised funds not only to get to Winnipeg, but also to buy dirt, sod and equipment for a park we were going to build, as well as for supplies for the kids we would be working with. In July 2005 a group of approximately 18 teens and six adult leaders got on a plane for our first real life mission experience. Once we arrived in Winnipeg, we set out right away working and helping. We painted rooms, shelves and shutters; we helped on a Habitat for Humanity build; we ran kids' programs taking them swimming, playing games and running Sunday school classes; we organized and ran a picnic/carnival for Anishinabe; and we cleaned out, sold (via a giant yard sale) and reorganized Anishinabe's storage room. We did lots!
Personally, I expected to feel the most helpful when I did things for the people in Winnipeg; and at first, I was not wrong. But, soon I discovered that it wasn't the actual things we did that were making a difference, it was the love and willingness to help that made the impact. I went to Winnipeg expecting to teach and help; I came back having been taught and helped. While I was there, I learned that a lot of aboriginal people who live in inner-city Winnipeg (young, middle-aged and old alike) have been very hurt by the Presbyterian Church and "white people." They no longer have trust or love for "those white Presbyterians" (as we soon found we were labelled). But, as we worked, loved and listened to their stories, we quickly developed our own respect for them and through that an amazing thing happened. The youth, then the adults, and eventually even the elderly began to talk to us. They began to approach us; they began to trust us. It was told to me after our trip that if any of the teenagers whom we worked with while we were in Winnipeg ever ran into a white kid in their neighbourhood, they probably would never have even given them the time of day, let alone spend a week working with them. I expected that all the manual labour I did would be what made a difference, but it was, instead, the walls we broke down, the friendships we made, and the trust we built. I learned that it's not what you do that makes a difference in peoples' lives, but the fact that you are there willing to do it and the love that you show by caring enough to help.
