Jason Locke's Blog

My wife Julie posted some great pics from our church trip to Chapultepec, Mexico. Check out her blog at post at http://julkalocke.blogspot.com/2011/04/mexico.html .

Picture from a Navigators short-term mission trip Changes in our world have dramatically altered the landscape of international missions. Those who embarked on missionary trips used to be people who packed up their entire lives and moved across the world. Their contact with their home cultures was limited by the slow pace of ships carrying the mail. The world is not the same anymore. The ease and speed of travel coupled with the relative wealth of Western Christians have allowed many more individuals to experience cross-cultural church work. Most of these are short-term workers who spend mere days or weeks on the mission field. The reality of short-term mission trips affects the way we think of the global missionary enterprise. I believe that short-term trips are here to stay. So given this reality, why should we embark on short-term trips? What theological pillars should support short-term missions? And what should be their realistic goals? In the next couple posts, ...

A large group from the College Church has been going to Ensenada, Mexico for years. Decades, actually. I'm not sure when the first group went or when. I know that our folks worked with the City of Children in many of those early trips. Our people built, painted, cooked, and did all sorts of various jobs to help that work. City of Children grew increasingly crowded as church groups from across the US showed up to serve and learn. In the process of looking for new ways to serve, some of our folks came across YUGO ministries . They have outreach centers in several communities including Ensenada. Their primary mission is to work with local evangelical churches & pastors to strengthen their ministries. One of their primary tools is house-building. For 8 or 9 years, the College Church has sent teams to build houses for families. The houses are incredibly modest by our standards. The YUGO folks at the Ensenada Outreach Center have this down to a science. They assign a local ...