As we seek to mobilize the next generation of missionaries to the unreached, we continue to ask ourselves, “What best mobilizes students to these places?”

“Mobilization” is a word that gets thrown around often in the missions industry. At its core, it means readying someone or something for movement. In the context of missions, this means that our goal is to ready this emerging generation to move their lives strategically for the mission of God. 

So how does Cafe 1040 ready this generation?

We take 18- to 30-year-olds to live among some of the largest unreached people groups in the world. We plan incredible excursions and home stays to soak them richly in culture and customs. We overwhelm them with language and cultural adjustments – all for the purpose of mobilization. But we’ve found time and time again that it is never these “plans” that accomplish the goal.

What mobilizes people to the unreached? Deeply abiding in the presence of God, so that they begin to see Him at work in places they never dreamed He’d be working.

Our students are deeply compelled to move their lives to strategic places for the glory of God because of the simple, daily, normal interactions with locals where they see God stirring in hearts.

“Being a foreigner in a new land, sticking out and feeling isolated is a pretty common experience. But when your new local friend opens up about feeling the same way in her life, you remember why you are here. You remember that in every heart, there is a pain, a loneliness, exaggerated by suffering, that only Jesus Christ can answer.” – SEA Grad

It is the “random” coffee dates with neighbors. It is the woman and her children at the local park. It is the dinner huddled around a table with local friends or the last minute invitation to a local friend’s wedding.

The experience of God being far beyond culture and language leaves them changed forever, revealing a greater purpose for their lives than they ever thought possible. The thought of their friends and neighbors spending eternity without even having a chance to know Jesus is too weighty and the invitation to tell them the hope that Jesus brings is too grand to reject.

There is only one reason that people pick up their lives and move them across the globe. It’s the opportunity to join God’s story and His work. It’s in response to His invitation to jump in and watch Him work in ways you never dreamed.