Leading an international short-term mission trip requires lots of prayer, preparation and attention to detail. Visas and passports comprise just a few of the many details you need to tend to, but they are among the most important details. The country your team visits may or may not require a visa, but it will certainly require a valid US passport. In recent years, more and more countries have adopted the mysterious “six month passport rule,” a rule that continues to catch unsuspecting travelers by surprise. The “six month passport rule” is a policy adopted and enforced on a per-country basis. If you are traveling with a U.S. passport to Europe, Asia, South America or a host of other areas, the country you are visiting will likely require that your U.S. Passport be valid for 6 months following your expected date of departure (not date of entry). Often perceived as just a nuisance or ...

Insurance coverage for team members going on short-term mission trips is a smart and affordable part of preparation to travel abroad. Your regular family or employer health insurance policy typically will not cover illness or injury sustained overseas. You can call and check on your existing policy, but sometimes even such a call will raise unnecessary eyebrows. In addition to coverage for unexpected medical expenses, many short-term travel policies will include coverage for lost or stolen luggage, emergency medical evacuation, and canceled flights. Cost is basically a factor of three components: (1) destination location, (2) trip duration, and (3) age of team member. For example, a 20 year-old going on a two week trip to Mexico will pay around $20 for $500,000 policy, whereas a 60 year-old traveling to the Middle East for one week would pay around $80 for the same amount of coverage. Given the potential for the unexpected, both are quite ...

Questions. Questions. Questions… You’re going to be asked lots of them! Be proactive and get answers out there before all the questions start. A little up-front work now will save you hours down the road and also help prevent those awkward, or even dangerous, moments on the field. Let’s develop your list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) now and get it in your team’s hands before that first meeting. If you’ve run the same trip before, you can probably type up a list of FAQs in 30 minutes or less. And it doesn’t have to be final; post it on your website and update it periodically, distribute them out via email, or make copies available during your team meetings. Also, you can you team management tool like MissionMinder to host your FAQs and other key documents online for easy and secure team member access. Need some help getting started? Click here to download a starter list of Mission Trip FAQs: Mission ...

One of the most important steps in planning a short-term missions trip is building the budget. On large teams, a few errors or simple oversights can cost you thousands of dollars. Apart from the highly visible expenses like tickets, taxis, hotels and food, there are dozens of items that are too easy to overlook until it’s too late. Click here to download a detailed mission trip budget worksheet you can use to help build your team’s budget. Mission Trip Budget Worksheet (Excel Spreadsheet) Be sure and give your budget a generous cushion. There will always be unexpected expenses, – equipment repairs, travel delays, etc. Your goal is not to get the budget as low as possible. Also, ask yourself the following questions when building your budget: Do members need to help cover the costs of one or more team leaders? How much administrative expense will result from running a trip through your church or organization? Are ...