Mission Trips - In many of EM’s partner communities, residents lives’ are consumed by the most imposing challenge of immediate necessity: Making enough money to feed, clothe and house their families.

While some in Scotland do struggle with that, the majority of residents in need there struggle with an equally discouraging and tangible, if not visible, challenge.

Scotland has delved into something of a spiritual void. While the country stands out with high rates of alcoholism, teen pregnancy and drug abuse, it is on par with other Western European countries in another area – church attendance.

“The needs of Scotland are great. In all of the European Union, if you look at statistics about social problems...Scotland usually leads the way,” said Marco Palmer, an American who has been ministering in Scotland for more than 20 years and is now working to coordinate EM service projects.

“There’s a lot of social depravation,” Palmer said.

Palmer said that while Scotland enjoys a rich and famous culture, the dark side of Scotland is one he deals with all too frequently.

“In God’s hands the culture is wonderful and great, and in the Devil’s hands it’s twisted,” he said. “In Scotland, I think a negative aspect is a lot of low self-esteem – smallness of thinking. Not thinking they can achieve very much and settling for status quo.”

However, Scotland has several unique windows of opportunity for ministry.
One of them is the public school system. Unlike in the United States, predominantly Christian religious courses are mandatory for all students in the United Kingdom.

That fact gave Palmer 11 years of opportunities to reach youth there. From 1991 until 2002, he traveled from high school to high school, performing Christ-centered comedy programs with fellow artist Rod Christenson.

“We wanted to do outreach beyond the church. We wanted to go outside the doors of the church, and there was this fantastic opportunity to work in schools,” he said.

Since retiring the act, Palmer has started working with geography teacher Ian Kline in the highland city of Inverness, on the northernmost tip of famed Loch Ness, to help establish a stronger Christian presence in the schools there. Palmer said Inverness, a city of more than 65,000 and an important gathering point for bagpipers, is rife with spiritual need.

Spending time with youth there – even doing something as simple as playing soccer – can help lift their spirits and combat the overriding sense of depression that many of them suffer from, Palmer said, and that’s exactly what he hopes EM teams will be able to do.

“Teams would be much appreciated coming in. The target would be socially deprived areas. There are rich areas of Scotland. We’re going to target the needy, socially deprived areas,” Palmer said. “We’ll have the local skill and the knowledge, and they’ll be able to target areas of specific need here.”

EM Executive Director Chris Clum is traveling to Scotland on Jan. 15 to participate in “Deep Impact,” a gathering of 300 Christian youth leaders from across Scotland. That’s an extraordinary number for a country as small as Scotland with a steadily declining church attendance, both Clum and Palmer said.

To serve in Scotland with Experience Mission on youth mission trips or a specific mission trip for all ages, call us at 360-732-0986. To check out additional media about Scotland, visit our news website at www.ExperienceMissionNews.com. Register now for a future mission trip with Experience Mission.