Benefits of a City on a Hill Urban Missions Trip
Pastors, Church leaders and Church Members will have a new way to invest in the lives of their adults and youth and to help them see the works of God first-hand. 
Pastors/Church Leaders will be able to send their church members to a place where they will receive hands on ministry training in many different aspects.
Participants will take part in many life changing experiences. They will be encouraged to be lights in their own communities.
Trip Testimonies
"City on a Hill in Milwaukee was a powerful experience for students and leaders. Here are four reasons YOU should go:
1. Learning about poverty through film, visiting America's Black Holocaust Museum, discovering compelling stats, researching relevant biblical passages, and debriefing after each segment helped us walk away with so much information 2. With City on a Hill directing the trip, leaders were able to focus less on logistical stuff and more on being spiritual directors for students. 3. The low cost of the trip enables students to come up with most of the funding through their own efforts. 4. You become familiar with the world of the poor and the broken. It is one thing for us to hear a sermon about God's heart for people trapped in poverty, drug abuse, or false religion; it is another thing for us to join those people in their desert and take a look around. My view of the poor in my own community has changed. I will be less critical and more willing to hear their story and to help whenever possible. God has given me more of His compassion through the City on a Hill trip."
-Pastor Jason Holmes, Kingsford MI
"At City on a Hill I learned of the need for inner city missions trips right here in the U.S. We were taught about racial reconciliation, compassion, servanthood and evangelism and then lived it out. We served at Milwaukee Rescue Mission and Second Harvest, did follow-up with families in the City on a Hill neighborhood, participated in a poverty simulation, worked in street evangelism and conducted the Super Saturday children's event. The poverty simulation was hard. It gave me a very small taste of what living a life of poverty would be like. I got to see the ways that God provides and I had to place my full trust in Him. [We] still had the hope that in 40 hours our poverty simulation would be over, while others living in poverty do not know when or how they will ever escape. I will never forget my experience. It has entirely changed the way that I think about things. After returning home and talking with my parents I began volunteering at a soup kitchen in the community of Madison.
- Brittany, Madison WI
"I learned that poverty can really make you depressed and hopeless. I now truly understand how poverty is a cycle. I also realized these people are not always just lazy, many reasons for poverty are completely out of a person's control".
-Cait, Michigan
"They [The youth] now know their testimonies better and see a real need to share it, and to share Christ, with others. As for myself, I loved it. I could lead but also follow. The leaders at City on a Hill did a great job at preparing it. This experience is invaluable for me. I have different, almost new eyes of compassion. We are not confronted with poverty and racism in our hometown. We need to experience it to truly understand why God tells us to do something about it. Real people live in poverty every day, too many not to take seriously.
I hope my youth understand how being a Christian isn't just about their personal relationship, but also how that relationship must be used to help others."
-Pastor Preston, Marquette MI
"[The trip] really made me realize what poverty is and how much we are called to help those in poverty. I also now realize how much I take for granted. Now I think more about others that are less fortunate...I want to start volunteering at shelters or food kitchens. I also want to raise money or collect things for those who need some help."
-Lindsey, Pound, WI
"I learned that everyone is different and we all have our own needs, I also learned a lot about different cultures, I never could of believed how life was here if I wouldn't of come".
-Logan, Cedarburg WI
"As a staff member of my church, I can help bring awareness to our local church. I think every pastor should go through this to gain compassion and inspire them to do more in their community"
- Pastor Brenda, Belgium, WI
"I would tell them that they should learn that the world is bigger then them. It helps to break the barriers that we, as Americans build between the poor. You never know what it's like to be poor until you've experienced it".
-Kristin, Michigan