Why Your Short-Term Mission Trip Wasn’t Enough

A deeper story of calling, formation, and the future of missions

It usually starts with a plane ticket, a packed duffel bag, and a nervous sense of adventure.

For many in Gen Z, short-term mission trips have become a rite of passage. A week in a new country. New food. New culture. Real need right in front of them. And for a moment, the world feels wider—and God feels closer.

I’ve seen it over and over again. Eyes lighting up in the presence of poverty and joy. Hands reaching out. A teenager in tears at the end of a worship night in a tin-roof church.

Something shifts. But all too often, it doesn’t last.

A few weeks later, back home, the pictures are still there—but the fire has faded. Not because the experience wasn’t powerful. But because a week, for all its potential, isn’t enough to carry someone into a life of purpose.

It’s not a failure of mission. It’s a failure of formation.

Gen Z is one of the most spiritually hungry, globally aware generations we’ve seen. But they’re also deeply tired, bombarded by distraction, and cautious with commitment. Many feel like they’re carrying a calling they don’t know how to name. They want to help—but they don’t know where to start. And they don’t want to sign up for something unless it feels real.

So here’s the tension: they show up. They go on the trip. But when the trip ends, so often the question that haunts them is, Now what?

Because what Gen Z needs isn’t more adrenaline. The world doesn’t just need passion. It needs people who’ve been formed. They need depth. Roots. A space to wrestle with calling and identity and risk—before they try to build a life that matters.

This is a space that Christian colleges and ministries used to fill. But Gen Z knows that the answer it’s looking for is not found in classrooms. They’re looking for reality – real relationships, community and purpose.

That kind of depth takes time. Intentionality. A community that tells the truth, listens well, and holds space for the long road.

There are answers

College may be broken, but there are those who are trying to bring solutions. Looking for community? Excel College, Unbound, Antioch College, and College of Athens all can give you a degree track wrapped in an experience of community.

Looking for purpose? 8,000 Hours, Faith Driven, and World’s 25 Greatest Problems can get you started.

I have been deeply invested in answering this question of “how do give young people the gift of spiritual formation after the World Race?”

One of the best answers I’ve got is Journey School. It begins with a 3 month experience in Albania and Italy that gives you the opportunity to continue on. Get a degree if you want or just focus on getting intense preparation for a life of impact while in community.

Journey School doesn’t begin with a textbook. It begins with a question: Who are you becoming?

At Journey School, students live in community, serve globally, and learn how to carry their faith into every part of their future. They study Scripture not just to pass a quiz, but to hear the voice of God. They learn to lead teams, to listen across cultures, to ask better questions. They travel. They serve. They fail. They pray again. They grow.

I’ve watched them wrestle with real-world problems—not in theory, but on the ground. I’ve seen them engage with poverty, loneliness, injustice, climate, addiction—not with pity, but with humility. They meet partners who’ve been building in silence for years. They realize that solutions don’t come quickly. That God’s Kingdom doesn’t move at the pace of social media. And that their gifts matter—but only when rooted in love.

It’s not flashy.
It’s not easy.
But it’s the only kind of learning that lasts.

If you’re in your late teens or early twenties—and you’re tired of feeling scattered…
If you’re spiritually curious, but unsure how to grow…
If you care about the world’s brokenness, but wonder what your place is in the story…

Then maybe it’s time to stop rushing toward a career and start moving toward calling.

Maybe the gap year you never planned is actually your invitation into purpose.

Real community. Real faith. A path toward becoming the kind of person the world needs most.