The cost of our trips vary depending on location, but we use a team approach to raising funds. You don’t have to get on the plane to be part of the team. It takes lots of prayer, the people going and the people sending for a successful mission to take place! All teams build a support base for each mission. Our goal is to raise awareness about the needs around the world and spread the gospel. Each team member sends out support letters to family, friends and neighbors asking people to join them in the mission. Don’t let the fact that we send letters out for support deter you from joining a team. If this is the only thing holding you back, you are missing out on so many opportunities for God to work in and through you.

The biggest requirement for any trip is to have a willing, servant’s heart focused on glorifying God. More can be done with that than anything else! There are the obvious requirements like needing a current passport and certain inoculations dependent upon destination, but we do have requirements such as attendance at team meetings to prepare you logistically, culturally, spiritually and emotionally. Each team member will take on a leadership role of some sort. Just as 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the diversity and unity in the Body of Christ, we encourage and desire for each team members gifts to be utilized. These roles will be defined in your first team meeting. Other requirements we ask each team member to meet are signing a team covenant, submitting all necessary paperwork and giving a deposit as a form of commitment to the trip. All requirements are covered in Info Meetings prior to team formation, as well as in the team meetings.

Our domestic trips are typically 3-6 days and international trips are anywhere from 5-12 days, depending on destination.

We welcome all Christians, brand new to the faith or long-time believers to join us in the mission field. If you are a new believer, this is a great way to grow in your faith, to focus on God, to serve others, and to meet other believers who could be a great encouragement for you.

We engage in relational and physical ministry, sharing our faith in word and deed, and meeting the people we serve where they are. We typically have a work project of some sort and an outreach component in the community we are serving in. What those look like exactly depends on where you are going and the giftings of your team members.

St. Philip’s is blessed to have partners around the world. Through these partnerships, we have contacts in each country that help with all our in country logistics.

There is always some level of risk in all international travel, but we prepare for that and stay in close contact with our in country liaisons. If travel becomes unsafe in the area we will be traveling, we will make the determination at that time whether or not it’s wise to go.

It’s not a vacation! Our days are usually very full. We are up around 7:00 am, eating breakfast by 7:30, we have morning devotion as a team, head to our worksites by 9:00 am, break for lunch, continue with our projects and end work between 3:00-4:00 pm, dinner at 6:00 pm with team devotion following. It’s up to each team leader to set the schedule for the day based on outreach projects, weather, health of team, and many other factors.

We would love for you to go on the Youth Mission with your child. Serving alongside your youth and modeling your faith is very important. On the Youth Mission, you are considered an Adult Leader and are there for all the youth, not just your child. There will be times when you and your child are not together for a specific activity, or you may not be in the same small groups for discussion. But the shared experience is just as impactful and priceless.

It’s a good question and one that is asked a lot. Sometimes sending money is the best option. St. Philip’s mission model is a both-and model. We don’t just send money because God created us to be in relationship with each other. Money can’t speak. It can’t tell people or show people who Christ is and what He gave His life for. It can’t hug a child that needs to feel loved. It can’t teach a teacher the best way to make lesson plans. As westerners, we tend to think money is the answer to all problems, but it’s not, Christ is. Our teams get as much out of the trip as the people we go to serve.

Ever heard the phrase “actions speak louder than words”? We have translators on each of our teams, so you will have the opportunity to communicate with the local people. And even if you can’t speak the language – your presence, your smile, your help, your time, your love – speaks louder than any words you could say.

We don’t impose our beliefs on anyone. We go with the love and spirit of Christ to serve others and it’s through our actions and words that they see Christ in us. That is when people might ask why you are doing what you do and you then have the opportunity to tell them, just as Christ loved us, we love them.

God created each of us uniquely with different personalities, skills, and life experiences to draw from. Mission teams are the greatest way to see the depth that God created in each of us. He brings people of diverse backgrounds together and it’s amazing to see how each of those people are used for His glory. We have mission teams from tall to small, young to old. If you or your family feels called to serve, St. Philip’s has a place for you.