The M-DAT staff devised this list late last year in order to guide students at Urbana, and elsewhere, in choosing short-term opportunities wisely.

• Why are you going? What is your motivation?

• What type of experience are you looking for (discipleship, cross-cultural exposure, ministry experience etc.)?

• Which level of cross-cultural experience is right for you?

• Fit: Do they have programs that match your interest and experience?

• Experience: Do they have experienced mature leaders onsite? Does their communication with you show signs of quality and professionalism?

• Preparedness: Have they thought things through (expect some flexibility but also thorough planning)? Do they have emergency management procedures in place?

• Comprehensive: Do they provide adequate training to prepare you? Do they help you process the trip with a debriefing?

• Dependable: Do they do what they say they do? What do people who went last time say? Do they practice the Standards of Excellence in Short Term Missions?

• Long-term plan: Does it fit into a broader long-term plan for the area you will be ministering in? How does it match up with local churches and career mission work in the area?

• Great Commission focus: How does what you will do help accomplish the Great Commission? Is there an evangelism or outreach element even if its mainly a construction trip?

For more on finding the right Mission trip, see ShortTermMissions.com.

This article is part of the May 2007 issue. It is filed under Choosing a trip, Mission trips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Share this post on Facebook.