The Volunteer’s Back Pocket Guide to Youth Mission Trips
By Toby Rowe
Group Publishing, 2010, 52 pp., $4.99
This book could have been called The Volunteer’s Back Pocket Guide to Youth Camp with the exception of a few pages. It is incomplete as a guide to how to be an effective volunteer on a mission trip. It operates on the premise that mission trips are more about the people who go rather than the people who are being served.
I was hoping to find material such as how to help students not offend people of other cultures, or how to help students understand the bigger picture of why they’re going on a mission trip and how they can be a part of God’s purposes during and after the trip, but I was disappointed.
Aside from not living up to its title, this book does have some good advice about how volunteers can connect effectively with students during a youth event. It also reflects the author’s obvious passion for working with students. I would recommend this book only for your volunteers who are coming along on a retreat or youth camp trip. If your mission trip involves students coming in contact with other people, skip this book and go ask your missions pastor for some personalized short-term mission trip training for your volunteers and students.
