| |
In recent years, short-term missions experiences have
grown in popularity. As a result, students and adults are
seeing the world around them in ways others may not.
The opportunity for great benefit or potential harm rests
in the quality and intensity of pre-trip preparation and reentry
debriefing.
Since 2000, BENCHMARK has had a part in the preparation
of about 100 people per year for missions trip experiences.
These short-term team members have traveled
in the United States and overseas with diverse purposes including work projects, evangelistic efforts,
literature distribution, cultural awareness, teaching English and prayer.
|
 |
|
BENCHMARK helps groups of individuals become teams,
enabling them to work more effectively and to resolve
conflict in more productive ways. Through intense group
development activities and other challenging experiences,
participants are assisted in:
|
“I highly value the way Benchmark does an
amazing job at making students learn to think!
Think about what is going on around them, think
about how they are reacting and why, think about
how they can work together, think about what
God is doing, think about how to process it all.”
Joni Hubbard, Student Missions Coordinator
Free Will Baptist International Mission
|
|
• Recognizing their unique personal and group strengths, which may be an asset to the experience.
• Discovering individual and group weaknesses, which could create difficulties for the team,
the missionaries and the national church.
• Understanding how an effective ministry team functions.
• Developing an understanding of cultural differences before arriving on the field.
• Cultivating group cohesion and unity of purpose.
• Fostering communication and listening skills.
|
Many people return from short-term missions experiences, and give little consideration to its potential impact
on their daily lives. Reverse culture shock, emotional and cultural adjustments, personal growth and assimilation
back home are all concerns for the recent short-term participant. In addition to BENCHMARK’s work with
pre-trip preparation, we are also equipped to assist your group with issues of re-entry and post-trip life application.
Through post-trip debriefing and purposeful reflection, your team members will be guided toward positive life
change. Allow BENCHMARK to help you prepare for and return well from your short-term missions experience.
|
Prepare Well, Travel Well, Return Well
|
|
|
|
