It’s Easy
TeenServe will take care of all of the details! We have developed web-based software that handles everything. We bring a trained staff and everything that is required to turn a local school into “teen missions central.” All you need to do is register the participants through our online software system, raise needed funds, make transportation arrangements, and show up on the first day of camp!
It’s Life-changing
You don’t need to leave the country or travel far to find an elderly couple in need of a wheelchair ramp or a single mother whose home is in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint. After providing people with love, respect, and the practical help that they need, they are more open than ever to hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Your group will be a part of blessing up to 100 residents with much needed home repairs.
You will be able to provide your students and adult leaders with the opportunity to serve others and attend powerful evening programs that include a national youth speaker and a great worship band.
It’s Faith in Action
We believe that the defining moment in the spiritual walk of many teenagers is the opportunity to serve others. This helps teens move from “What does the church have for me?” to “I am the church!” At each mission trip the participants put their faith into action by serving people in need. The focus is on “others” instead of “ourselves.”
It’s An Opportunity To Build Relationships
We at TeenServe are excited about relationships. The participants give a boost to their relationship with members of their youth group and adult leaders, build new relationships with members of their work crew and the residents whose homes they work on, AND, most importantly, strengthen their relationship with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
It’s Safe
All TeenServe mission trips take place in the United States. You will not have to worry about safety issues related to international travel. All worksites are carefully screened and we do extensive safety training. You will find that parents will quickly agree to allow their teens to attend a domestic mission trip.
It’s An Excellent Value
As one youth leader put it, “It’s a one-two punch!” Where else can you receive the blessing of serving others while getting the opportunity to provide your teens with life-changing times of worship and teaching? Every night your group will worship the Lord together with hundreds while led by a professional worship band and then be challenged by an experienced, national youth speaker who is passionate about teenagers living for the Lord.
Faith Based Community Service Provides Serious Benefits For Your Teens
“Community ministry is an important way of enhancing faith maturity and faith practices of adolescents in congregations. Adolescents should practice their Christian faith…in the sense of consistently working on their skills, habits and virtues analogous to musicians or athletes practicing their skills. Some of these practices are worship, Bible study, prayer, giving financially, providing hospitality, telling and listening to the Christian story, and serving others in need.
“Engagement in community service is related to positive outcomes in the lives of adolescents. Researchers have found that those involved in service as children and teens are much more likely to be involved in service as adults. Through the right kind of volunteer work, teens can find the role models and moral incentives that will instill a calling to service that they often carry into adulthood.
“Young people need experiences that lead to the realization that small actions count, even though they do not solve all the problems or make the world more perfect. In interviews students said that they had experienced transformation of their attitudes and values as a result of service. Students wrote and talked about Christian duty, seeing God in the lives of persons who are poor and homeless and fulfilling the teachings of Christ through their service. As adolescents contribute to their communities, researchers have hypothesized that they develop a sense of self-transcendence.”
The foregoing is excerpted from a 2007 report called “The Role of Community Service in the Faith Development of Adolescents” by Michael E. Sheer, Diana R. Garland, and Terry A. Wolfer