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For most of us, the decision to cancel or reschedule a short-term mission trip was made for us with the cancellation of international flights and other quarantines.

That still left the remaining question of having to simply cancel the trip all together or reschedule it for a later date. Both have their reasons and both have their benefits.

Let’s unpack the two sides to better assess which might be best for your organization.
 

Here are a few times when it's good to strongly consider CANCELLING?

• When it’s time specific

• When the team you’re visiting isn’t on the field any longer

• When there are fixed variables

• Project was time sensitive

Here are a few times when it's good to strongly consider RESCHEDULING?

• Because of government travel restrictions

• Because it’s the wise thing to do

• When you have a flexible team, team leaders, field host, and logistics

Have you made your decision yet? Here are a few questions you could/should be asking:

• Is it possible to reschedule?
• Do you want to reschedule the trip?
• Would participants be able to reschedule?
• Can we accomplish the same goal if we reschedule?
• How much work will it be to reschedule the trip (and is it worth it)?
• What are our absolutes for rescheduling?

Hopefully, for those of you considering cancelling or rescheduling, we've helped you unpack the two sides to better assess which might be best for your organization. 
 

This is one post of many we're doing related to the current crisis. Download Cancelled: A Guide to Maintaining Missions Engagement When Your Short-Term Trip is Cancelled.

One of the key elements that will drive questions from participants, leaders, and parents is “what happens to the funds I've raised for this trip?”

Some key elements to prepare yourself and your teams for this include the following, which may include things you are already doing, but perhaps can do better/different to make this easier each time that you go through this process. 

You already understand your role as a leader when it comes to short-term mission trips. Here are a few ideas for how to improve fundraising communication with participants, leaders, and parents

Involve your Accounting Team and Financial Leaders

This one is pretty obvious, but there are some critical questions that they will need to help walk you through, including:

✓  Tax implications and verbiage you can use when people ask for a refund (because they will, even if you’ve told them many times what the process is)

✓  What should we do with the funds that were already provided?

✓  Are there any restrictions and/or considerations we should make when deciding to cancel or postpone a trip?

✓  Identify which funds or trips that already have expenses and determine what do to in order to recover or eat that cost (e.g. travel costs, etc.)

Involve your Leadership Team

Depending on the involvement of your leaders, some may already be well aware of what is going on, but here are some thoughts to consider:

✓  Be prepared to summarize for them (or provide them a summary that they can provide their own leadership/board).

✓  Provide options with benefits/drawbacks to each approach. For example, reschedule versus cancel.

✓  If you decide to reschedule, have a general timeframe for communication... or at least determine what information you will need to decide on a timeframe.

✓  If not involved in the financial communication with your accounting team, provide your leaders a roadmap/summary of the financial impact and approach that is suggested (as they will likely be asked this by their leadership)

Communicate Clearly to Participants and Leaders

✓  Create a communication plan, even if a very simple one. For example, write up a communication to the teams and create some common questions people will ask.

✓  Clearly communicate what will happen with any funds that have been raised (based on your conversations with accounting and leadership).

✓  Have others review your communication. This can be a review for typos, tone, etc., but it is important to make sure that you get buy-in from others.

✓  Copy and Paste...once you answer a question once, either copy it to a word doc so you can use it later or add it to your common FAQ area/web page.

✓  Provide some education or guidance to the process. For example, participants are not aware of the tax situation for non-profit donation. Provide some simple guidance that helps them understand enough, while keeping communication focused.

✓  Provide assurance that their concerns are addressed. While you may have gone through this process many times, this might be the participant’s first time a trip was cancelled. Try to put yourself in their shoes and address uncertainty. Assure them that you have done this before and will guide them through the process.

We hope this helps you improve fundraising communication when speaking with participants, leaders, and parents. 

This is one post of many we're doing related to the current crisis. Download Cancelled: A Guide to Maintaining Missions Engagement When Your Short-Term Trip is Cancelled.

Who ever wants to be quarantined?! Maybe a few people out there but it’s not likely.

Thankfully there are tons of creative things you can do (and should do) to engage your participants even now as people are home.

We've mentioned how vital communication during a crisis can be. Don’t miss this opportunity to guide your people into a greater missional journey. Point to God with these ways to serve during quarantine.

• Prayer - create a prayer guide around missions (partners, projects, people, regions, needs) to send out to your participants to be praying each day for something missional.

• Learn - encourage them to keep learning in their missional journey either through a missions book or programs like Perspectives on the World Gospel Movement.

• Books - send out books about missions that people could read - biographies of missionaries, missions philosophy, stories, etc.

• Support Local Healthcare Workers - remember the work that local healthcare professionals are doing to combat the COVID-19 virus and reach out to provide a meal or help them in some way.

• Elderly in Area - reach out to local nursing homes or other facilities to see if could use assistance with supplies, errands, or other needs.

• Encouragement - write encouragement notes to missionaries, partners, donors, or others who are part of your missional community.

• Assessments - encourage your participants to take an online assessment (Enneagram, Meyers- Briggs, Strengths, etc.) to learn more about themselves and how their unique design could be used for missional purposes.

• Donate to a Cause - there are tons of causes out there now helping people in need around the current virus or financial circumstance, donate to one of those causes.

• Missional.Life - create a Missional.Life account to learn more about who God has made you to be, what story He has written, and where He might be calling you.

• Research - learn more about the specific field you were planning to visit to learn more about their culture, the religious makeup, their history, and their needs.

• Zoom Meetings - host a team Zoom meeting to keep everyone connected and engaged. Zoom meetings can be great to keep everyone’s mind in the game.

• Share Stories - have everyone share stories (online if possible) about what they are learning through this season about their short term trip hopes.

Have you or are you planning on using any of these ideas? Let us know on our facebook page. 

This is one post of many we're doing related to the current crisis. Download Cancelled: A Guide to Maintaining Missions Engagement When Your Short-Term Trip is Cancelled.

No matter what your official title might be for your role in short-term missions, you are a leader...now more than ever. It’s important to remember that people are desperately looking for direction in a time like this and amazingly, they will likely do what you suggest.

Perhaps another way to think of yourself is a guide...someone who is walking a few steps ahead of others, someone who has a plan, and someone who knows the path. And here’s the great thing, you only need to know the path a little better than everyone else to help guide them well.

Leading well

So this begs the question, how do you lead well? There are many attributes of leadership that we could discuss here but let’s focus on a few that intersect the most with the current circumstances.

• Transparency: don’t hold the cards of information close to yourself (either from participants or other team members). Share what you know and share it openly and quickly. Far too often, people hold onto information as some form of capital. Leaders share information quickly so those who are following have the tools to make the best decisions on their own. Be transparent about what you know, what you’re hearing from partners, your concerns, alternate plans for the future, and so on. It’s really a matter of honoring other people well when you are transparent.

• Communicate: we all know this but if you think you are over communicating then you’re closer to where you should be. You might want to consider building a weekly communication plan as a means to touch base with everyone about the current status, how things are looking for future plans, what your partner groups are doing, how they can stay engaged, and anything else that could help them. It’s always better to communicate out to your constituents before they are requesting information from you.

• Engage: everyone is feeling like a caged animal right now. Remember that your offering of short-term missions trips has a goal for people to use their skills for something bigger. You don’t offer short-term trips so people can see the world - you offer them to make a difference. In a similar light, you can be engaging and encouraging people to make a difference right here and right now. Check out some of the suggestions later in this resource.

These are simply a few suggestions. Just remember that you are a leader and people are looking to you to lead them and to guide them. People want to be led, especially by people they know and trust. And even as these are uncertain times for all of us, you still have an incredibly unique opportunity to lead others well.

This is one post of many we're doing related to the current crisis. Download Cancelled: A Guide to Maintaining Missions Engagement When Your Short-Term Trip is Cancelled.

Staying on mission at home isn't easy. For many, the mission trip begins well before they even touch down on a foreign land. It starts in their city maybe even in their neighborhood. With so many trips being shut down right now and living in uncertainty, I want to provide five ways we can encourage our mission trip leaders and their teams to engage the world right around them. After all, that’s what Jesus did.

1. Take your neighbor or those in vulnerable situations a meal

There is a phrase that begins with “You never really know someone until...”, the facetious side of me wants to say “until you know them” but one way we often see Jesus getting to know people involves a meal or inviting them into a meal. So take your team or encourage your team to share a meal with someone they may not know.

2. Spend time online with people from the community

Know a local church that focuses on that demographic, check out their website and see what they are doing to carry on through the quarantine. Maybe watch their live service, and see who can learn more words or pick up phrases and then debrief with your team. Remember things may be different, but they aren’t weird.

3. Go to a restaurant that serves food from the place you would have visited

Two years ago I was sitting in the Louisville airport when a conversation began between myself and an older woman from Ethiopia, we began sharing stories of traveling and different cultures. She encouraged me to visit an Ethiopian café and share in a coffee ceremony. Most people think the way I make my coffee is ceremonial in and of itself (Chemex pour over anyone?!).

4. Read a book or watch a movie.

I have found books to be more accurate than movies, but unless this quarantine plans on lasting a couple months I better just watch a movie. If you love books and reading grab a book from that country or city and learn everything you can about it, study it, research it, and get together with your team over Skype or Zoom and share what you learned. God has created some amazing cultures that reflect the uniqueness and beauty of who he is so go learn about them.

PS. Geography Now is a must on YouTube, you can thank me later.

5. Serve

When in doubt, don’t over complicate it. God has you right where He has you. Live out the confidence and hope we have in Christ by serving those around you. Write a card to all of your neighbors, call your grandparents, or the nursing home to check in on them. Thank the superstore workers when you can only get one roll of paper towels. Deliver food to families who might be affected by the loss of a job. When in doubt, do something, anything, don’t overcomplicate it. You are an image bearer of the Father, live out of your identity in Him and walk confidently and wisely into serving those around you.

This is one post of many we're doing related to the current crisis. Download Cancelled: A Guide to Maintaining Missions Engagement When Your Short-Term Trip is Cancelled.