CHINA - 2013

What are you going to do?

Depart: Return: Estimated Cost: Deadline to Signup: Maximum Team: Sept. 26 Oct. 8 $3000 April 10th 8 people

C3

So what's all this about a mission trip?

Imagine what it must have been like to be Joseph. Sold off into slavery by your own brothers, wondering if you will ever see your family again. Some of our lives are similar to Joseph's. We would never have chosen the path we were given. Now consider the possibility of being Jonah, and God has spoken to you saying go to a place where you don't want to go. Or maybe you were more like Abraham and one day God told you to leave everything you had based solely on a promise. You are to go on day after day waiting on that time when you will finally be told to stop. Then there is the story of how Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan to the land that God had promised them. Remember the spies and how they went and met Rehab the prostitute. If the spies had not gone and met her, she and her entire family would have been killed. And what of Jonah, had he not finally listened to God, the entire city of Nineveh would have been destroyed. And then there is Abraham, the ultimate missionary, called the father many nations for a reason. He was obedient and God provided. Imagine if he had not listened. These are all great stories but they can seem somewhat out of context for us today. But if you will, think about the person who came and first told you the good news and how different you are. Now imagine your life without His grace and presence in your life. Joseph didn't choose to be where he was, but God used him to change the entire course of events for Israel. Nineveh was saved from absolute ruin because they heard and repented. Rehab along with her entire family lived because of the faithful obedience of men and women

who simply did what God told them to do. Imagine if you had not heard, how different would your life be? How different all of our lives would be if someone didn't take the time, listen and obey the call and go. All of these events are what are referred to as divine appointments. Each of us had one. It was the providence of God who orchestrated the timing and events for each of us and He continues to do so in each of our lives. A mission trip is an opportunity to experience God and His love, in a way we may not notice in our busy lives. It is an opportunity for you to become part of the bigger picture; a chance to experience life in such an exciting new way that it changes people's lives. All of these people and anyone who takes part in an opportunity have at least one thing in common. They all listened, obeyed, and were rewarded for it. Their reward may not have been money or status but they were personally rewarded by seeing the life of a person changed, forever transformed before their eyes as they allowed God to work through them. You have this opportunity by participating in this experience. You won't forget it. Those around you will see Him in your actions by your love for them, regardless of their condition.

Who am I to do mission work? Why should I go?

In Gen 4: 10-12 Moses said to the Lord, Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue. Then the Lord said to him, Who has made mans mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. Many people say they don't want to go because they don't feel qualified. This is certainly not an unrealistic

CHINA - 2013
What are you going to do?
thought in human terms. 2 Cor. 5:7 reminds us though, that we are to walk by faith and not by sight. God does not care nor does it matter how many degrees you have or how much scripture you have memorized. What God cares about is whether you are available. If you will only make yourself available, God will use you just as He used others in the Bible. Isa 55:11 says so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. If you are willing to be available God will use you. We should not discount even one person from our own judgment. Every human being who has a physical or spiritual need is a valid mission field and we should seek to fulfill the Christ's command (Mat 24:14) to go to all the nations and peoples wherever they are China is a country in great need. There are 449 people groups there and 406 are unreached. It is in an area of the world with the greatest concentration of unreached people groups. We should not discount even one person from our own judgment. This is a hard to enter country which means that open proselytizing is illegal. There are ways in which we can speak but caution and judgment must always be used. Even with this, the church is growing. This trip will offer a real opportunity to make a difference by simply meeting and talking about life. This trip is about relationship building that can be used by the field missionaries to follow-up with. There is a tentatively planned excursion on the last day to the sight see.

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active ministry to the local community and we will be going to work and support their ministry efforts. What you will do is come alongside of these missionaries as helpers. We will work in smaller groups once we get there, possibly doing prayer walks but primarily we will be doing outreach on the local University Campus. There is a hunger to learn English and that is our strategy on this trip. With the assistance of the missionary, we will go to regular gathering places on and around the campus to interact with the students who gather to have open discussions and practice their English. An opportunity to meet and talk with Americans is a very exciting thing to them as it allows them to try their language skills on real people. You will meet and get to know the people. It will be a relationship building time offering you the opportunity to show the love of Christ by your friendship and actions. This trip will provide an opportunity to see and experience what it is like to live in a eastern culture for a week. It will challenge you spiritually and personally. Expect great things. It will be equally challenging and exciting to the first traveler or to the experienced traveler.

Where will we be staying?

On this trip we will be staying in a hotel. It is a place that others who go and serve stay at and from discussions with the field missionary, it will be more than adequate. It is not what we will consider a 4 start type place but it is clean and safe. Prior to our departure the exact needs will be provided to each participant. A packing list will be provided as well.

Who will be on the team and how is it organized?

Representing C3, there will be a team leader and a coleader. The team is limited to (8) people at this time. We will be partnering with a field missionary who lives in our host city with his wife and family. They have an

CHINA - 2013
What are you going to do? What to expect?
You should expect to meet great people, make new friends and to grow ever closer to Christ in your personal walk. The temperature there is much like that of Louisville, Kentucky. At that time of year it should be cool but not cold in the day but it may be chilly at night. The days may be long but it will go by very quickly. When you are doing what He asks, what may seem to be difficulties don't really seem that way when looking back. That is when you will often see all of the things He did. There will be some guidelines that we must all follow for a couple of reasons. First we are visitors and guests, we do not want to do anything that may cause residual problems for the field works once we leave. Second they are there for your safety and that of the team. Please at all times listen to what is being said by your host leaders and do it. Your decisions may impact more than just yourself. You should expect to ride in a vehicle and do a lot of walking while making new relationships with people you never knew and to make great relationships where there were casual ones before. You will experience Christ in a way you have never felt before.

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need to begin to pray with one another and for one another. Prayer needs to begin immediately specifically for this trip and for potential team mates. We are always subject to spiritual warfare and we need to be sure that we are prepared both physically and spiritually for when the testing comes. Having said that it is of even greater importance to begin to prepare spiritually so that we can grow individually and as a team, seeking God and His direction. You should pray for, His guidance, His provision, His protection, and His perfect will in your life. Also you should pray that He will prepare the hearts of those you will meet in anticipation of great things. Expect great things and He will do even greater. Second, it is very important that you attend the meetings for some pre-trip cultural explanation and training. It is important that you understand the culture and the people that you will be ministering to. There is not test and you don't have to do pushups or run a mile. You just need to participate and get to know your team mates better so we all function as a team. It is also from these meetings that the sub-group leaders will be selected.

Why are we going?

God found us in our wretched condition and still loved us. We now must show the same love for others. 1 John 4:7 - 11 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

What do I need to do if this is where I feel led?

Right now all you need to do is sign up. You will be contacted with more info as it becomes available. As a participant on this or any C3 trip, you will be required to attend at least (2) team meetings that will be held prior to our departure. The purpose for these meetings is for a couple of reasons. First as a team, we need to be organized and we each need to know one another. We