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TL;DR:
One summer, a university student arrived in New York expecting to join a united, ministry-focused short-term team of other college students. He soon began to question whether his teammates shared his expectations and sense of purpose. Unsure how to address the growing disconnect without seeming self-righteous, he wrestled with whether—and how—to help restore the team's unity and mission focus.
The "honeymoon" period following the Youth in Mission training camp had ended, and Nathan was exasperated. They hadn't been in New York long when he began sensing that he and several of his teammates weren't on the same wavelength.
"Oh, no," he thought to himself, "am I going to have to deal with this all summer?"
Youth in Mission training camp had been an exciting time. There was the joy of making new friends from other universities. The worship times together each morning and evening had been awesome. The team-building activities were a lot of fun.
During that week, Nathan thought he sensed that his teammates were looking forward to the summer together in New York. However, with the excitement of training camp fading into the background, everyone on his team seemed to be reverting to their former attitudes and habits.
As the group settled in at their ministry site, Nathan began to wonder whether his teammates shared his reasons for applying to Youth in Mission. He wasn't sure they shared his desire to make a difference for Christ in New York. He sensed little togetherness or agreement about their goals.
Nathan felt that some had come merely for the excitement of spending two months in the "Big Apple."
Nathan thought Fred was there mainly to hang out.
Nathan remembered Nancy saying that what she wanted from the summer was "to learn something from the people."
To Nathan, his Youth in Mission group no longer seemed like a ministry team focused on shared goals. By the end of the first week, Nathan, who was intensely focused on serving others in a Christlike way, began to feel that his team was merely going through the motions and following the schedule without a shared sense of purpose.
Were his teammates really that shallow? Had they been faking it at training camp? Had he read them wrong? Was he reading them wrong now? Could they recover the sense of shared purpose Nathan thought he had felt at training camp?
"I didn't come on this trip expecting to deal with conflict within the team," Nathan thought. But it looked like he was going to do just that.
Nathan thought carefully about the situation for a couple of days. He didn't want to come across as self-righteous or overly spiritual. On the other hand, he didn't just want to go through the motions all summer.
"I don't want to go through the summer just spinning my wheels," he said to himself.
Finally, Nathan decided ...
Note: This case study is based on actual events. Names, places, and identifying details have been changed.
Dealing with Sharp Disagreements within Short-Term Mission Trip Teams