How to Choose a Short-Term Mission Trip

Katie Back Salmon • Feb 07, 2017

A new interest in missions is often accompanied with an urgent desire to just go. But choosing a mission trip isn’t always easy. Where will you go? To do what ministry? And when?

As you process through the thousands of opportunities available to you, here’s some practical advice on how to choose a mission trip.

Pray About Three Topics

It sounds like a Christian platitude, but really, the first thing you should do is pray.

Prayer can help you discern your direction, but more importantly, prayer centers you on God’s direction. Here are three prayer topics to pursue as you ask God to show you what he is already doing around the world.

1) Where should I go on my mission trip?

Famous missionary William Carey said, “To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map.”

Wesley Mills, TEAM mobilization team leader, encourages potential missionaries to follow this advice literally by praying over a map. During this exercise, ask God to reveal a particular region, people group or religious group to pursue further in research and prayer.

2) What should I do on my mission trip?

Consider your talents, and ask God to show you how your skills can meet a need on the mission field. It might be helpful to make a list of your gifts and browse service opportunities that relate.
For example, maybe you have an education degree and could teach English as a second language . Or maybe you are skilled at leading children and would thrive as a summer camp volunteer.

3) When should I go on my mission trip?

Prayerfully consider your life stage and current commitments. Beyond trip dates, you will also need to budget time for preparation. Hannah Smith, manager of short-term ministries , says to expect to spend one to two hours per week on training and support raising.

Consult Wise Counsel

Your decision to pursue a mission trip is not an individual one. Throughout scripture, missionaries (short- and long-term) are commissioned and sent out by their churches (Acts 13:2-3).

Involve your church early in your missionary journey by seeking counsel from a trusted pastor, mentor or friend. In your meeting, communicate your motivation for going on a mission trip and outline your particular ministry interests. Your mentor will be able to affirm God’s leading in your life and also illuminate the challenges you may have not yet considered.

Ask your mentor if he or she could connect you with a mission trip opportunity through your local church or point you to a missions agency like TEAM .

For a list of questions you and your mentor can use in conversation, click here .

Do Your Research

If you pursue a mission trip outside your church, there are hundreds of missions agencies and thousands of opportunities to explore. Consider these four factors when researching your options.

1) Statement of Faith

A statement of faith articulates an organization’s Gospel convictions. Serving with a missions organization means you affirm their beliefs, so it’s critical to study what is included (or not included) in this document.

To help you make an evaluation, you might find it useful to compare your church’s statement of faith to the mission agency’s statement. You can read TEAM’s statement of faith here .
If you have concerns about a doctrinal belief, voice them to your pastor or mentor before moving forward with the missions agency.

2) Vision Statement

An organization’s vision statement will help you see how your short-term mission trip contributes to their long-term strategy.

TEAM’s vision is to establish reproducing churches wherever the most people have the greatest need. Other organizations focus their work around serving certain regions or populations.
It’s important to evaluate an organization’s vision statement to confirm that you desire to work toward the same goal.

3) Preparation and Training

Different organizations will offer you various levels of preparation and training for your short-term mission trip. Look for an organization that will help you with logistical support, safety and security, and cultural awareness.

To support the tools your missions organization offers, here are a few resources TEAM recommends for short-term missionaries:

4) Post-Trip Debrief

After your mission trip, you will need to process your spiritual and cultural experiences to prayerfully consider, “Now what?” Ask potential missions agencies if they have a debriefing process in place to help you reflect on your trip. If they do not but would be willing to meet with you post-trip, you can use this debriefing journal as a guide for your conversation.

Make a Decision and Apply

Even after following the above steps, you still might feel uncertain you are choosing the right mission trip. Use the wisdom you have gathered, and just apply.

Maybe this step will lead you to a different, better-suited direction, or maybe you will be on a plane this year. No matter the outcome of your application, though, God receives glory as you reflect His desire for all nations to know and worship Him.

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.