TEEN MISSION JASPER COUNTY
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
-Mark 12: 30-31
(219) 866-5665
Where it Started
6 teens at a dining room table.
Teen Mission started as a typical youth group discussion of mission trips.Of course, the usual ideas were shuffled about, but when a question was posed, the answer took the discussion in a surprising direction.
The question was:
"Why are we excited and willing to go help people around the world,
but we do not help our neighbors and friends right here in Jasper County?"
One teen quietly said: "Well, why not?"
Such was the beginning of Teen Mission. The concepts, format, and idea of 'treating it just like a mission trip in another part of the world' was culled directly from the minds of these six teens.
Since then, many Christian ministries, businesses, service organizations, and individuals have partnered with us in this endeavor. The Jasper/Newton foundation has privileged TMJC with a few generous grants and has made it possible for us to expand our efforts... All of this has allowed us to help our neighbors.
From repairs and painting, landscaping, and wheelchair ramps TMJC has been privileged to be a part of neighbors caring for their neighbors. The last few years we have held a Community Day, where we sponsor Food Finders and offer other items free to those who need them; allowing us to impact many more families in Jasper County.
Our prayer is that this little idea will continue to impact our community and will spur others to do the same.
How It's Going
We are an interdenominational Christian ministry of R.A.M.A., Rensselaer Area Ministerial Association. We have been at work helping our friends and neighbors here in our own county since 2010.
Often, mission and teen groups step up to help people in need in other places around the country and around the world, and rightly so. But just as often, our neighbors and friends right here also find themselves without the resources and the physical ability to make the needed home repairs.
With this is mind, TEEN MISSION set out to bring a mission trip to our own hometown; to help anyone who just needs a hand when they cannot do it for themselves. In doing this, we train teenagers to care about their community, their neighbors, and their friends.
We help develop them into leaders who are strong enough to step up when and where they are needed. We train them to be involved; right here at home and wherever God may take them. Many of our teens have gone on to be leaders in other places around the world – doing mission work through YWAM, 8 Days of Hope, and other programs, Habitat for Humanity, and helping their new neighbors in other places around the country. Some of our teens are now TMJC leaders themselves, training the next group of students!
