How do we share the gospel on a mission trip?

One of the biggest questions when planning a short-term missions trip is “How do we share a clear gospel that our audience can understand?” When you think of the village or people group you are going to meet, can you picture what you would need to teach them so that they understand the gospel clearly? What if the people do not have any Bible knowledge or know nothing about the God of the Bible? How do you explain the good news?

One church had an innovative idea. They were planning a trip to northern Thailand. They took the story of “The Lamb” and turned it into a play, complete with portable backdrops made of cloth, cardboard props that were easy to transport and actors made up of Sunday School children who had previously been taught through “The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus”.

The text of “The Lamb” was translated into Thai and a local narrator read out the story while the mission trippers, dressed in costumes, acted out the story for the local children.

Over the course of a full day that included games and meal breaks, the locals were presented with the Gospel, beginning at the beginning and working through the text of “The Lamb” so that the gospel presentation would be complete.

By late afternoon, the villagers knew who Jesus was and what he had done for them on the cross. If they wanted the salvation he offered, all they had to do was to put their trust in Jesus.

For the sake of identifying those whom the local church could later follow up with, the ones who believed came up and placed their names on a cardboard cross to signify that they trusted Jesus. It was quite a moment.

Resources: The Lamb