You love your teens. But if the thought of traveling with them is stressful, don’t worry. You can take parent-teen trips together that tap into your teens’ natural desires to explore and ask questions during this stage of their lives. One powerful way to do so is to take trips that focus on your faith. When you step outside your usual routines together, you open yourselves up to new experiences and new ways of seeing God at work in the world. You can enjoy discovering fresh inspiration together by planning trips that can help you all grow spiritually.
Here are five ways to travel with teens and plant seeds of faith along the way.
1. Discover your family’s spiritual heritage together.
Taking trips to explore where your ancestors lived and worshipped offers a powerfully personal way for your teens to connect with their spiritual heritage. Family spiritual heritage journeys bring family stories to life and can help your teens appreciate the faith that was important to generations before them. You can research the specific places of worship your ancestors attended and then visit those places. For example, if you have any Irish Catholic ancestors, find out what parishes they were a part of, and attend worship services at those churches – both in the United States, and in Ireland. You can also explore historic cemeteries where your ancestors’ graves are located to reflect on their lives and faith. Understand why your ancestors immigrated throughout history and how their faith influenced them to do so.
Then, take trips to places that relate to their immigration. For example, if any of your ancestors were Scandinavian Lutherans, explore the Lutheran churches they established in the Midwest. You can also visit the places where your ancestors first immigrated to the United States, such as the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration in New York City, and talk about how they needed to rely on God to help them as they began their lives in a new nation. If any of your ancestors told family stories or wrote in family letters about being inspired on any particular trips during their lifetimes, visit those same places together with your teens. Try to understand how your ancestors experienced spiritual renewal and revival.
On your travels together, talk with your teens about how faith in God flows through your family, across all the times and places of different family members’ lives. Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Encourage your teens to trust the same God their ancestors did, for whatever they need, anytime and anywhere.
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2. Enjoy God’s creation together.
2. Enjoy God’s creation together.
Taking nature adventure trips together can connect your teens to God by inspiring them with awe for God as the Creator. Away from the distractions of screens and social media, your teens can slow down and pay attention to how nature reveals God’s wonderful qualities to them. Exploring nature can show your teens that God made everything and sustains everything with love and wisdom. When you immerse yourselves in God’s creation, it’s impossible not to feel a sense of wonder. You and your teens can visit any kind of natural setting to discover the wonder of God’s work together since it exists everywhere. Psalm 65:8 celebrates that reality when it says to God: “The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy.”
Encourage your teens to use their God-given senses – seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting – to fully experience the natural world around them on your trips. Choose destinations for different types of natural environments – mountains, beaches, forests, deserts, etc. – to experience the variety of places God has designed. It can be especially fun to visit different national parks together, both throughout the United States and in other nations around the world. Some parks, like Yellowstone National Park in the United States, feature lots of wild animals to encounter together. All parks offer ranger programs that can spark your teens’ curiosity and motivate them to learn as much as they can on your trips.
Try to include as many activities as possible on your nature trips so your teens can explore in exciting ways, like water sports, mountain biking, and skiing, in addition to hiking. Talk together about how natural wonders show you God’s eternal power and creativity and how that helps you all put your concerns into perspective and inspires you to rely on God to help you with everything you need related to those concerns. While enjoying the natural beauty around you, also discuss ways to protect and preserve natural wonders by doing your part as a family to take good care of the earth and all its creatures, as God calls you to do.
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3. Explore history and culture together.
3. Explore history and culture together.
Visiting places with different types of history and cultures can help your teens better understand God’s work in the world. It lets them see how faith has shaped civilizations and inspired them in all times and places. When you explore history and culture with a focus on what it can show you about God, you can help your teens notice God’s constant presence and motivate them to connect with God themselves. This kind of travel gives your family opportunities to see the truth of Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” While societies change, God’s character stays the same. By learning how people have practiced their faith in different times and places, your teens can discover and appreciate who God is and what God has done and can do.
You can visit all sorts of inspiring places together – both in the United States and around the world. Key places to consider for learning more about history are museums, U.S. National Historical Parks, and historical sites or events that feature historical interpreters playing the roles of people from history. The more interactive the experiences are, the more your teens are likely to pay attention and learn. Visiting places with different cultures will also help you experience the history of that culture, and to do so while focusing on faith together, plan some spiritual pilgrimages together. If possible, travel to areas that are mentioned in the Bible, such as where Jesus walked during his earthly life or where the Bible reports the early church spreading as people spread the Gospel message. Visiting the locations where events in the Bible happened can help your teens connect to the Bible in personal ways that can inspire them long after the trips are over.
You can also visit locations that help you learn as a family about the different ways people worship. In the United States, consider visiting Amish and Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania and Catholic mission churches in California. Internationally, you can visit Wittenberg, Germany, where Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation, enjoy an Orthodox worship service in Ethiopia, and much more. You can also inspire your teens with awe by visiting some of the world’s great cathedrals together – both in the United States and in other nations. As you enjoy these experiences together, talk with your teens about how people can trust God anytime and anywhere, with confidence.
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4. Serve others together.
4. Serve others together.
Helping people in need pulls teens out of their comfort zones and exposes them to needs far greater than their own so they can develop the compassion that God wants them to have. Plan some service trips together as a family to live out the truth of Acts 20:35: “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Your teens are bombarded with messages of consumerism that encourage them to focus on what they can get. Serving others shows them that focusing on giving will fulfill them. When they experience the gratitude of those they help or see the positive impact of their service, they’ll learn that.
You and your teens have many opportunities to serve. Consider what your teens are most interested in and what talents God has given them as you all choose ways to serve together. Be sure to choose volunteer opportunities that line up well with causes your teens care about the most and the ways they can contribute the best. Locally, you can take day trips to food banks, homeless shelters, or other places to serve in the region where you live. Nationally or internationally, you can join a mission trip through your church, partner with charities like the Salvation Army or Habitat for Humanity to help people in need, and much more. Choose destinations where God leads you to help, and be willing to do whatever is needed on the trips you take together.
As you serve, talk about what God is showing you all through the experiences together. Ask your teens what they’re learning about themselves, about God, and about humanity. How are they seeing God working through their efforts and the efforts of others on the trip? How is their perspective changing as they get to know people from different backgrounds? These conversations can help your teens internalize the lessons of compassion that God wants them to learn.
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5. Seek God together at spiritual retreats and conferences.
5. Seek God together at spiritual retreats and conferences.
You can plant seeds of faith in your teens’ lives by creating space for spiritual focus, away from the usual distractions. Spiritual retreats and conferences designed specifically for teens or families offer focused environments to hear from speakers, participate in worship, and connect with other believers. This kind of focused time can be a valuable opportunity for your teens to strengthen their personal walks with God. Spiritual retreats and conferences offer well-being breaks from the stress of your daily routines, which can help you listen to God’s messages without being interrupted. James 4:8 encourages seeking God wholeheartedly: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Traveling to spiritual retreats and conferences gives you all the resources to draw closer to God with full concentration. You can visit Christian camps and retreat centers together. Those trips often offer outdoor activities, team-building exercises, and spiritual programming that appeals to teenagers. Look for camps that emphasize worship, small group discussions, and opportunities for prayer and meditation together as a family.
Participating in retreats and conferences together can create an open and comfortable environment for discussing challenging topics together and considering new ways to rely on God to overcome those challenges. After a trip to a spiritual retreat or conference, follow up by asking your teens questions about what resonated with them and what they learned about God and themselves. Encourage them to think and pray about how they can apply what they’ve learned to their daily lives moving forward.
In conclusion, traveling with teens can be both challenging and rewarding, but doing so is worth it. Taking trips together that focus on spiritual growth gives you valuable opportunities to enjoy adventures together and plant seeds of faith along the way. Those seeds of faith can grow over time to lead your teens into thriving relationships with God!
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Originally published June 13, 2025.
