Pastors & Clergy

Giving your "blessing" to
a Travel Ministry

Have you taken a trip with your faith community?

The title says it all. Have you taken a trip with your faith community? If the answer is “yes,” you probably have witnessed all the wonderful fruits it bears for your community. In addition, you probably thoroughly enjoyed exploring the world and God's creation while sharing faith, fellowship, and worship with your members.

If you answered “no” to the chapter title, what a wonderful opportunity lies before you. However, don't put traveling with your community off for another day. If you are just too busy with all the ministries you are currently running, think of the larger picture. As faith-based travel embraces virtually all ministries, each of your church or organization's respective ministries can be fed into the trip you lead. And possibly best yet from the vantage point of your members, they will now have a faith-based vacation option to choose from.

Just as your community looks to you for guidance about faith-based movies to watch and books to read, they also are looking to you for faith-based travel ideas and opportunities. If you are like most pastors and religious leaders, let's face it – you have little to no time to organize a trip. No worries though, just give your blessing to someone else to either organize or launch a travel ministry program. By serving as the spiritual leader on your community vacation, you will probably see that the trip becomes the highlight event of the year – and the  blessings it brings are often irreplaceable.

Vacations are a prime opportunity to build faith & fellowship

If you're looking for the right reasons to host a trip for your community, you should consider the enriched faith and fellowship it will bring to your members. As one of the primary objectives for many pastors and religious leaders is to build people's faith, few ministries can be as effective as religious travel. For those of us who know someone who has traveled to holy sites or embarked on a mission trip, there is one thing almost certain – people often come back with a greater clarity, understanding, and love of their faith. 

The same applies to fellowship. As you may know from your members who traveled together before, many of them probably now possess an unshakable bond with each other. That too is the beauty of faith-based travel; it strengthens bonds faster and more effectively than almost any ministry or activity. That alone is reason enough to promote community travel.

If there is one last thing to convey, it is this: For good or bad, the subject of vacation has traditionally been pushed aside by religious leaders when preaching or teaching. The result is people of faith are left with little to no insightful teaching on how to spend their leisure time or how to best combine their faith with travel. Although there are of course many topics that take precedence, as a large part of people's lives are spent in leisure time, vacation and holiday – they need your guidance. Along with speaking about combining one's faith with travel, be sure to also offer or provide them with opportunities.

Are you providing your members with faith-based travel opportunities?

As the pastor or religious leader, how can you best provide faith-based travel opportunities? First and foremost, make room for a new ministry at your church or religious organization called “Travel Ministry.” Then make a public announcement regarding the new ministry and ask for a volunteer (or volunteers) to head up the program. You might also ask your congregation if any travel agents or tourism professionals exist in the community. If so, they would be a natural for serving as the travel ministry leaders, or at the least – lending their travel expertise or professional services. For example, they could become the official travel provider for the new ministry.

How involved or not you become with the travel ministry is up to you. In short though, what the program and travel ministry would need the most is simply your approval and support. Travel ministries are often quite self-sustaining and as most people love to travel, the program should have no problem thriving on its own. The two-fold key is your support and a good, quality travel program leader.

Lastly, assist the travel ministry by providing updates and announcements on behalf of the program. And whenever possible, have yourself or another religious leader join the trips, especially any which are long-distance or overseas journeys. Spiritual direction and leadership is priceless on such trips. And possibly best yet, many congregants and members will often join a trip once they hear that the pastor or religious organization leaders are coming along as well.

By promoting the trips and lending your support, not only will you see your community flourish, but you will also hear many people express “how thrilled they are about the faith-based travel opportunities presented to them."

© Copyrighted Material; Property of the World Religious Travel Association (WRTA)