Why our Missions Trips?
Why our Missions Trips?
"Why choose our Cross Cultural Mission's Trip?"
How are our mission trips different than the many excellent mission trip opportunities to destinations all over the world? Missions trips come in all sizes and varieties; some are large (30 people), some are for “newbie’s”, some are in very rugged environments, some concentrate on “hands-on” projects, others focus on medical benevolence or concentrate on education.
Our mission trips are not the primary focus of our ministry; but rather they are used to promote our ministry efforts. When the typical mission team returns home, its influence is gone until the next team arrives. Our visiting mission teams help us provide on-going ministry, resources, and training needed to establish structured and consistent Children’s Ministry programming.
It is our belief that the mission teams involvement will lead to the strengthening of the churches in the training of their youth from which the next generation of leaders will come.
By design, our teams are diverse and small enough (6 to 8 people) that we do not overwhelm the local churches' facilities or environment. The relatively small size of the groups help to foster relationship building within the team and the local church. The addition of conferences allows us to have larger teams (25 to 30) to facilitate/participate in the conference (click here for information on conferences).
Team activities include:
- Maintaining the "Resource Center/Mission House" in the Dominican Republic and ensuring that adequate (free) materials are available year-round for participating churches for their Children’s Ministry Programs (lessons, supplies, lesson aids, etc).
- Participating in Children’s Ministry Programming events and Children's Lunch Programs. Our visits and resource materials will serve to strengthen and encourage these churches as the Apostle Paul did when visiting the churches he had planted to see “how they were doing” (Acts 15:36). In this manner, the influence of our teams goes beyond the short time of their visit.
- Other occasional activities might include assisting a Dominican medical team in a medical outreach to an outlying/remote community, a building project, or a “hands on” help project that the local church needs. (click here for list of current ministry activities)
The churches we serve can be modern with video and audio capabilities or very basic without technology. Lodging for visiting Voluntary Missionaries is in the "Mission House/Resource Center" located in a spacious 5 bedroom house in Santiago.
Three hearty Dominican meals per day are provided (with an occasional fruit smoothie)!