Justice Trips

WHY JUSTICE?

We define justice as the way God intends the world to be. Justice is a tangible expression of love. It involves loving our neighbors in all the ways we love ourselves, standing with those who are suffering, and interrupting the systems that steal, kill, and destroy.

We’re flipping the script on the typical missions trip!

For us, missions is not just a trip, it’s a lifestyle. Our weeklong trips bring together Christians from all ages and backgrounds to enter into what God is doing in the city.

We believe God is alive in the city. We invite you to come visit us in the neighborhood, serve with us, learn from local leaders, and join in with the movement of God as you are challenged to love God and love people.

TRIP DESCRIPTION

Mission Year emphasizes a philosophy of mutuality in missions. Our mission is to not only serve others, but allow ourselves to learn, grow, and be transformed through our encounters with God and others in the city. Learning to see where God is at work in the people and places where you serve is just as important as any service work you actually perform.

TRIP Details

During our weeklong Justice Trips, participants will explore values of faith, community, solidarity, and justice, and reflect on ways to incorporate them into their daily lives back home. We offer an experience for any person, church or college group to experience the Mission Year lifestyle. During the week you will:

  • Spend time connecting intimately with God both in the morning and evening.
  • Join in with what God is doing at local service organizations and ministries.
  • Spend a day on an Urban Solitude retreat to encounter God’s heart for people.
  • Engage in evening sessions of teaching from local leaders on topics such as faith, community, and justice.

WHY SHOULD I GO ON A JUSTICE TRIP?

Mission Year Justice Trips will open your eyes to the ways God is active and moving in the city and how you can be part of it. You will explore the city, engage with dynamic local leaders and ministries, and learn how to embody justice as a lifestyle. You will have the opportunity to live out the Mission Year core values and practices of faith, justice, community, diversity, partnership, neighborhood, service, and solidarity. Through participation with Mission Year partnerships, community organizations, non-profits, and Christian ministries, your mindset of what justice can look like will be broadened. Justice Trips will expand your view of the city and also serve as a catalyst for what is possible in your own context.

WHAT’S UNIQUE ABOUT JUSTICE TRIPS?
Justice Trips are unique because they invite people not only into understanding biblical justice and systemic issues impacting our communities, but also offer faith practices one can engage in to embody justice as a lifestyle. Participants are rooted in the heart of the city to learn from local leaders and gain broader perspectives on a variety of topics and issues related to faith, ministry and justice. Justice Trips challenge the narratives we are told about certain places and people by moving participants into closer proximity. Mission Year Justice Trips acknowledge the ways in which God is already present and moving in the city and will give space for you to discern how God is present and moving in you.
WHO ARE JUSTICE TRIPS FOR?
Justice Trips are for people who are looking for innovative ways to intertwine faith and justice, people who want to bridge the gap between what one says about justice and what one actually does. Justice trips are for people who long for reconciliation and who want to practice building bridges across dividing lines (denominations, political parties, race/ethnicity, gender, etc.). Justice Trips are for anyone who wants to broaden their worldview and understanding of biblical justice. Justice trips give people who want to respond to God’s command “to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8) an opportunity to experience the fullness of what a lifestyle of justice can look like.
Our spring break trip with Mission Year was a transformative experience, both individually and communally. I saw the ideals of justice and compassion, of walking alongside the marginalized and the outcast, that I’d read about in my Bible being lived out in today’s world and was challenged to figure out how to do so myself. Our group was exposed to injustices and hardships that our comfortable lifestyles had sheltered us from, and getting to process that together shaped the way we went on to relate to one another and those around us.
Jenna Marchese
(college student at Denison University)

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