Serving in New Orleans
Ignite Youth has an opportunity to serve in New Orleans with an organization called Restorations Journeys. We would be looking at going during spring break this year.
Needed Costs
First off, each youth should be in prayer if God wants them to go. If He does, he will be faithful to provide. We are estimating the cost of the trip to be around $400. We will coach the youth though on writing support letters, and it is a great faith-building experience to see God provide for the needed expenses.
What is a Restoration Journey?
A Restoration Journey is not a mission trip in the sense that outsiders come in to help and save others in poor neighborhoods. Instead your experience is about recognizing that the privilege of some and the poverty of others are connected to each other through complex histories and injustices.
Understanding one another
We unpack that complexity so that we can better understand one another and reveal the poverty (spiritual, relational, etc.) and gifts in each one of us. A Restoration Journey, then, is as much a camp or a training center for formation, as it is a mission trip because we approach as learners rather than teachers.
Journeying together
It’s from this place of recognizing our mutual brokenness that we can truly help one another. Waiting in line becomes a chance to share Jesus. Sitting through traffic becomes a quiet time. Listening to people share their stories becomes a chance to encourage one another and learn a new culture and grow relationally.
Sarah Barnett
Missiologist, Restoration Journeys Director
Thank you for your interest in serving in New Orleans through Restoration Journeys. We are thankful for your partnership in carrying out the work of restoration God has called us to in this incredible city!
Restoration Journeys is a part of a larger nonprofit, The Restoration Initiative for Culture and Community, and each part of The RICC has the same vision: to see wholistically thriving communities cultivating peace in a more just and caring world. Each component of The RICC accomplishes this by creating environments and solutions that expand possibilities, cultivate character, and restore relationships of individuals, groups, and families.
When you serve through Restoration Journeys, you have the opportunity to learn in tangible ways how this work of restoration is carried out, and you get to be a part of that right here in New Orleans! We know that God has a heart for our city and a passion to see lives and relationships be restored – as we see in Colossians 1, He is reconciling all things to Himself!
So as you look at the checklists and fill out the forms, please do not miss the heart and passion of our mission. How do we live out our calling as followers of Christ and as part of the Body, day in and day out? We look to the One who is reconciling all things to Himself, and we join in that work of reconciliation! We are so glad that you want to be a part of that too!
Grace and peace,
Sarah Barnett