Serving in Short-term Missions: Orientation

ORIENTATION “Don’t Leave Home Without It!”

Preparation for serving in short-term missions is more than just booking a flight and packing your suitcase. A question that must be asked is, "How can your engagement with those in communities, countries and cultures different than your own, bear fruit for building up God’s Kingdom?" How can your lives and that of others be transformed through opportunities of service? What do you need to know about yourselves and the people you’ll meet and build relationships with? What are some of the pitfalls of doing short term missions if you’re not prepared for what you’ll encounter? How might you do harm to a community or ministry, if you know very little about them? So along with booking flights and packing suitcases, it is vital that those who plan to serve with our ministries are as best prepared as possible.

Orientation workshops for those serving with CRC ministries and their partners, currently take place at the Home Offices in Burlington and Grand Rapids. Sessions engage participants on topics ranging from understanding one’s worldview; issues pertaining to poverty; maintaining one’s health; roadblocks one may encounter living in a different culture; listening and learning; cultural interaction; re-entry etc. Those who have plans to serve with CRC ministries will be sent an invitation to participate in a workshop prior to date of departure.

Read a quote from a previous orientation participant:

Read what it means to come “Face to Face With Poverty”