It must have crossed your mind. If I were you, and I saw our Facebook posts of perfect sandy beaches, gorgeous mountain hikes and laughing groups of friends, I’d be thinking it. “Am I paying for my missionaries to go on vacation or do missions work?”
We sure wouldn’t blame you for asking. Maybe you’re more gracious than I am, because you haven’t asked. But if you in any way support our work, here’s what you should know about backpacker ministry and why it’s actually important that it looks like we’re on vacation.
Backpackers are tourists. So, if you want to hang out with backpackers, you have to do touristy things. Like go rock climbing or hang out on Brazil’s most beautiful beaches. That’s where the backpackers go, so that’s where we go to talk to them.
Backpacker ministry is living the dream. YES we will go to amazing places and do amazing things with amazing people. YES this means we will get to do what we love much of the time. YES we count ourselves ridiculously blessed. But please believe me when I say… backpacker ministry definitely doesn’t feel like vacation most of the time.
Ministry is hard work no matter where you do it. True, we’re hanging out on breath-taking mountain tops in Patagonia and sipping coconut water on Copacabana, but while we’re in those places, we’re doing much more than enjoying the view. We’re constantly on the lookout to make new friends, actively scouring the area for Israeli shoes (yes, shoes) and conversations in Hebrew. Once we connect with a couple of Israelis or other backpackers, we are working hard to build up that connection and find any way we can to naturally and strategically turn the conversation to spiritual things. This may be the coolest thing we can imagine doing, but it’s anything but easy.
We are not “missionaries.” Yes, that may be the best way to describe what we do on Sunday morning when we share in your church, but when we leave that church building, we avoid the “M” word like the plague. For us to be able to connect with these backpackers, it is absolutely critical that we present the right image to them.
So, when we volunteered at the Shelter on the Lake, we were simply that – volunteers – and part of a team who is passionate about showing God’s love to travellers. To anyone who asked, we said that BJ is studying Intercultural Studies at a college in Chicago and we were on winter break and wanted to visit our friends at the Shelter and do some backpacking in the Andes. We also freely told our new friends that I’m a Jewish follower of Jesus and we both love to talk about our God – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and celebrate the Jewish heritage of our faith. 100% true story. Just a critically different way of explaining it. And our public Facebook posts must reflect that story.
When we tell people that we want to open a guest house like the Shelter on the Lake, we tell them honestly that it is our passion to bless and serve travelers and show them the love of God and Jesus, His Son.
Pouring into other people – spiritually, mentally and emotionally – is an incredible and exhausting ride. I can’t think of anything I would rather do than this. It is crazy rewarding and uplifting to show the love of Jesus to people who often have only known hurt in His name, and to share with them things about their history, their Scriptures and their God that they often have never heard before. But pouring your soul out like that is exhausting. And it takes consistent committed time alone to rest and be refilled from God’s Word to keep going each day, even if you are going to the beach…