Travel Discernment

Paraclete Associate, CJ Callahan about to
Board an MAF Flight in Indonesia

Travel has always been a significant ministry tool for Paraclete, and the Volkhardts.  We, Paraclete, and the world, are operating without that option in the pandemic, or at least we saw it greatly diminished.  We're happy for the technologies that allow us to meet remotely, but we're sad that they are our only option in many cases.

Last spring, as I was doing an annual review with Paraclete associate Steve Spinella (distanced and outside, of course) he shared with me his hierarchy of meetings.  I think he had a different name for it, but that's the label that stuck with me.  It goes like this:  When there is an opportunity to minister, the options, in descending order of preferability, are:

1. I go to you.
2. You come to me.
   
3. We meet somewhere.
4. We Zoom.

Zoom/FaceTime/Skype/pick-your-favorite is way better technology than the victims of the 1918 flu pandemic had at their disposal for staying connected.  It's even better than email.  But it leaves a lot to be desired.  So as the first wave of the pandemic began easing in the summer of 2020, Paraclete associates began thinking about travel once again.  A few made international trips.  The countries where some would have gone remained closed to Americans.  Some asked for guidance.

As a result of one such request, I developed guidelines for Paraclete associates to use in making decisions about travel.  Later, the Paraclete Communications team took the same information, turned it into a list, focused it on church missions trips, and posted it on paraclete.net.  Missio Nexus (an association of mission agencies) carried the post on their website.  

Because of the positive feedback, we decided to make the foundation of the travel guidelines--a simple philosophy of risk--into another post for a broader audience.  You can find it on both paraclete.net and missionexus.org.

For more info and examples:

Document: Travel Discernment Document for Paraclete Associates

Post: Planning a Missions Trip During COVID-19? Ask These 25 Questions First 
Post: Theology of Risk 

We had to put the guidelines to work for us in deciding on a teaching opportunity next month in Idaho.  So far it's a go.  Still watching and praying!

PS: A reply to the Theology of Risk post on paraclete.net suggested I add Jesus's words "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."  I like the idea.  It is definitely worthy of contemplation in decisions about risk. I haven't gotten around to adding it to the doc, but I will.