More Than a Trip: Missions as a Kingdom Journey

Oct 3

Most people think of missions as a trip.

You pack a bag. Fly across the world. Spend a week building something, teaching something, or serving somewhere. Snap a few photos. Then head home and check it off the list.

But missions was never meant to be a 10-day project. It’s more than that. It's a Kingdom Journey.

Seth Barnes says it well in Kingdom Journeys: mission is not a checklist, it’s a crucible. It’s the place where God presses us past comfort and past self, so His Kingdom can break through. A trip may carry you to the edge of the map, but the deeper reality is that God also takes you to the edge of yourself.

That’s where He does His best work.

The Edge of the Map. The Edge of Ourselves.

At GO InterNational, we live in that tension. We send teams — and we always will — but not because trips are the goal. The goal is joining in what God is doing in people and places all around the word for His glory.

A trip becomes holy ground when your story collides with God’s story:

Peru: standing in a slum where local believers dreamed of a school for girls — so they could choose discipleship over exploitation — and realizing you’re witnessing the Kingdom breaking in.
Georgia: sitting across from a Kurdish pastor running youth camps and starting a coffee shop to share the gospel — and realizing God’s imagination for His Church is bigger than yours.
Mongolian towns and villages: walking with pastors who carry the gospel alone, unseen and under-resourced — and realizing your role is to hold up their arms.

Trips to these and other places don’t just change communities. They change us. They strip away performance. They pull down self-sufficiency. They bring us face to face with the God who calls us to trust, to walk humbly, to live for what lasts.

Whatever It Takes

Our calling at GO is simple, but never easy: Plant the Church where it isn’t, whatever it takes.

That means we go where others won’t, and we stay long enough to see discipleship multiply. Sometimes that looks like a GO EquipHer training. Sometimes a new school. Sometimes a coffee shop, sometimes a sports ministry.

And yes, sometimes it looks like a short-term team. Not to “do the work,” but to join the work. To identify with those on the frontlines. To step to the edge of the map — and the edge of yourself — so the gospel can take root in both places.

That’s what it means to live the Kingdom Journey.

Your Part in the Journey

Here’s the truth: not everyone will go. But every one of us has a role to play.

Your prayers.

Your advocacy.

Your generosity.

They fuel the long-term work of planting the Church where it isn’t. Your giving doesn’t just build projects — it fuels people. It strengthens pastors. It births worship in places where it didn't exist before.

Some will go.

Some will send.

All of us can walk together — until worship rises in every place and the Great Commission is complete.

Until All Have Heard.

join the movement

Dr. Curtis Elliott serves as Vice President of GO InterNational, bringing deep experience in global missions, leadership, and partnership development. With a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, Curtis has led and mobilized teams across cultures, facilitated global partnerships, and served in local ministry in the Republic of Georgia. Before joining GO, he worked with organizations including The Salvation Army, The Christian and Missionary Alliance, and Adventures in Missions. At GO, Curtis champions the global Church—equipping leaders and advancing gospel-centered collaboration around the world.

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