S.L.A.M. Trips
S.L.A.M. TRIPS is a program of Mending Wings—a nonprofit, Native American youth organization located on the Yakama Reservation in Washington State. We offer cross-cultural, summer youth mission trip experiences on our reservation.
There are many summer mission trip opportunities that your youth group could be a part of, but we believe we are unique for several reasons:
* We are Native-American owned and operated. Something you won’t see very often!
* We immerse groups in our culture—not just talk about our culture.
* We offer an indigenous perspective on missions and Christianity vs. a Western perspective.
* All food, lodging, and programs are covered as part of the fee so that you don’t have to worry about it.
* You will receive cultural orientation from local Native people—not from non-Indian people who live on the reservation.
* We are a cross-cultural destination without your group ever having to leave the country—and for much less money!
S.L.A.M. TRIPS exists to provide youth groups with a Christ-centered and cross-cultural mission trip on the Yakama Reservation where students are taught to think and function within an Indigenous missiological paradigm instead of the historical Western paradigm.
Values—there are 3 values at the core of SLAM TRIPS:
We Value Students
We believe that students have much to offer the Body of Christ. They are the church leaders of tomorrow, but we must invest in them today. Mission trips, if done in a good way, provide students with both leadership training and a place to put what they learned into practice. And what is leadership but serving others?
We Value Relationships
Intrinsic to our Native American culture is relationships. We are taught at a young age that relationships are more important than time or business. Thus, we are relationship-oriented at our core. We desire to pass this value on to our SLAM TRIPS participants. We understand that most participants will be coming from a time-oriented, or task-oriented, culture. We believe that we have much to offer groups coming from this paradigm.
We Value the Church and the Yakama People
Because we love the church so much, and we love our people so much, we so desire there to be reconciliation between the two. We desire there to be healing from past abuses and injustices. We love the church too much to let her continue to abuse and treat our people unjustly. And so, we present to the church and our people, a different missiological paradigm within which to think. A model of reconciliation. A model of forgiveness and asking for forgiveness. A model of the church listening before she ever gives a word of teaching. When the church models these things then healing can begin for our people. And when healing begins for our people then healing can also begin for the church.
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We believe there is one God eternally existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God as Father, is Author, Creator, and Sustainer of all creation. According to His good pleasure and will, He created all that is, including animals, plants, earth, skies, waters, and First man and woman.
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We believe the Bible is God's recorded revelation to humankind, and that it is divinely inspired, authoritative, and written for all peoples and all languages everywhere. These are the sacred writings of God.
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We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, physical death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, and His return to earth in power and glory. He is the Bright and Morning Star, Ancient of Days, and Chief Shepherd for the peoples of the earth. We believe that He alone is the sent one, the only mediator between God and man.
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We believe in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit, that he empowers and indwells believers to live godly, mature, and fruitful lives.
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We believe that humankind was created in the image of God, but because of rebellion, rejected the path of beauty, wandering in darkness and alienation from God. Only through faith, trusting in Christ alone for salvation, can that alienation be removed and the peoples of the earth be restored to the path of beauty once again. Jesus performed the "once and for all ceremony" through His death on a cross, and resurrection from the dead. By this He broke the power of death and made a way for all tribes and nations to return to a loving relationship with Father/Creator.
