Short-Term Mission Trip Funds Available 

One of the main objectives of the Missions Ministry Team in 2007 is to encourage Calvary attenders to personally participate in missions activities. Because life is busy with work and family responsibilities, finding time to participate in a short-term mission trip may be challenging. Opportunities are frequently available for us to give something back to our community and the world by participating in short-term mission trips.

There are many personal and spiritual benefits of going on a short-term mission trip. Common benefits include gaining a first-hand perspective on God’s work in other cultures around the world, experiencing God in a different setting, being able to explore personal interest in being a career missionary, and being able to feel God's calling to go. Calvary desires to raise up and send new missionaries to unreached people groups around the world, and short-term mission trips are one stepping stone toward achieving this goal.

Short-term mission trip opportunities may be sponsored by the church, as in the upcoming Dominican Republic short-term trip (June 23 - July 7, 2007), the yearly New Orleans trip supporting Urban Impact Ministries during MEA week, or Middle School ministries summer trips. Trips may also be sponsored by mission agencies, such as the EFCA-International Mission, or other organizations with specific purposes. In 2006, Calvary attenders went on individual shortterm mission trips to transition to full-time service as local representatives of BridgeBuilders, to New Orleans, northern Cameroon in Central Africa, Peru, Camp Noah in Baton Rouge, LA, The Gambia and Ghana in West Africa, China, Mongolia, and Honduras.

Once Calvary attenders decide to go on a short-term mission trip, several further decisions must be made. Requesting prayer support for your trip from others who know you is a key decision, particularly for personal health and strength, safety in travel, and success in ministry during the trip. This prayer support is most often recruited with support letters addressed to family and friends, or to your mini-congregation, small group(s), or other support networks at Calvary. You must also decide how to raise the funds to cover the cost of your trip. Depending on personal finances, many Calvary attenders include requests for financial support with their prayer letters. However, personal and donated funds are not always sufficient to cover the cost of the trip.

The Missions Ministry Team has limited means to help provide financial support for individual or churchsponsored short-term mission trips each year. The missions budget contains $9,700 to help support shortterm mission trips outside Olmsted County in 2007.

Since all the church-sponsored trips are supported financially by the church missions budget, and the groups going on these trips raise funds at Calvary to help cover their costs, most short-term mission trip support is given to individuals going on trips not sponsored by the church. However, the ministry team is willing to consider financial support for individuals going on church-sponsored trips if financial needs are not able to be met otherwise.

If you wish to request financial support from the Missions Ministry Team for an individual or churchsponsored short-term trip, please contact Jeanne Allen by by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it for an electronic or hard-copy short-term mission trip support application. This application is also available for downloading from the missions homepage on the church website in the near future. We strongly encourage you to apply for support more than four months before your departure date to allow adequate time for processing and review of your application.

The application for short-term mission support seeks basic information about your trip, your purpose in going, previous experience, where to send support if it is approved, prayer requests to help the Missions Ministry Team pray specifically for you, and estimated budget for your trip. This information is reviewed by the ministry team and used to prioritize applications for funds, and to help with the decision regarding how much support to give you. The ministry team reviews applications for support only once a month, typically at our meetings on the second Thursday of each month. Because our budgeted funds are limited, these are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. If the ministry team has questions about your application for support, you may be invited for an interview, but an interview is not always necessary. You will typically be informed of the decision for support shortly after the monthly ministry team meeting when your application is reviewed.

General questions regarding short-term mission trip support should be directed either to Bart Clarke, Chair, Missions Ministry Team, or Pastor Todd Olson. The Missions Ministry Team looks forward to helping you achieve your goal of going on a short-term mission trip this year!