• Summer mission trips: 100s of Baylor students head out as research validates trips’ effects

    Baylor missionsAs approximately 250 Baylor students head out this summer to nine different countries as part of 16 different teams on university-sponsored mission trips, new research by a Baylor professor shows those who go really do return as changed men and women.

    Students in Cambodia will deliver training on therapeutic art techniques to staff in aftercare facilities for female victims of human trafficking. Teams will head to Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda to work with local ministries serving children’s homes and people in extreme poverty. In England, Greece, Honduras, and even closer to home in Los Angeles, groups of students will put what they’ve learned in the classroom to use serving others, while at the same time acquiring skills and lessons in service that they can use the rest of their lives.

    Dr. Dennis Horton, BA ’84, PhD ’95, a Baylor religion professor, recently completed a study on the spiritual return students receive for the investment of their time, money and energy. His research found that, as one might expect, students who participate in short-term mission trips tend to have lower levels of materialism, greater appreciation for other cultures and a better understanding of missions as a lifestyle. In general, the greater the amount of trip experience, the greater the impact in all three areas, he said. (Read more on his findings — including the importance of post-trip follow-up — in this article from the Baptist Standard.)

    Sic ’em, Bears with hearts to serve!

    [If you’d like to support Baylor students in their service, click here for more information on how you can give to support Baylor mission trips in general or by specific team/country.]