Grace Baptist Church Short Term Mission Policy - Draft
November 2011

Definition:

A cross-cultural mission event of less than 90 days involving a single individual or group.

Goal:  

Short term missions are part of the overall Mission/Vision of the Missions Team to raise up next-generation Long Term Missionaries.  Grace Baptist Church's objective for short term missions has three components with the following ranked priority:

1.	Building the faith and experience of the participant(s) toward their discipleship growth, with an eye on their potential calling in the ministry field.
2.	Building the faith and experience of the Church body, by bringing the experience back to the Church to increase the knowledge and vision of missions, to motivate congregants to support missions, and to go themselves.
3.	Support the efforts of missions such as participation in evangelism, education, logistics or other forms of support.

Participant Responsibilities:

1.  The Participant must be actively involved at Grace Baptist Church (GBC).  They should have a mentor or sponsor within the Church.  They shall give evidence of having a true conversion experience and been baptized as testimony of their spiritual rebirth.  

2.  The Participant must recruit a prayer team of at least 10 people who agree to pray for the participant every day prior to and during the trip.

3.  The Participant must complete and submit a GBC application and a letter of support from their mentor.  If the mission event is under the auspices of another Missions organization such as World Venture, a copy of the application to that organization should be included as well.

4.  The Participant must actively seek to raise their necessary funding for the trip.  

5.  If the trip is sponsored by GBC, contributors should be requested to send their donations to Grace Baptist with a note stating who the funds are for.

6.  The Participant shall successfully complete pre-missions training and orientation by the sponsoring organization and/or GBC.    

7.  The Participant shall prepare a plan for the GBC Missions Team detailing post-ministry presentations upon their return.

Grace Missions Team Responsibility:

1.  The Team shall review the participant's request to be a Short Term Missionary.  GBC wishes to help finance Short Term Missions with the following priority:

a.	Youth and young adults (age 14-24) who may be interested in determining if God is calling them to full time missions or other full time ministry. 
b.	Adults who may be interested in determining if God is calling them to full time missions or other full time ministry.
c.	Adults interested in meeting a spiritual or logistical need of a mission.  (See Goals above)

2.  The Team will confirm non-GBC sponsoring organizations are compatible with the doctrinal beliefs and practices of Grace Baptist Church.

3.  The Team agrees to arrange for a commissioning event for the participant(s).

4.  The Team will attempt to match dollar for dollar raised by the participant toward the Short Term Mission project.  Funding will be earmarked within the Missions Team fund in the name of the participant or group.  If a participant or group raises more than enough money for the published cost of the trip through support donations and/or personal funds, any excess can be used to reimburse the participant for certain trip-related expenses.  These expenses would include: passport, visa, immunizations, etc.  Original receipts must be supplied for each item for which reimbursement is requested.  No reimbursement will be made if Missions Team funds were used to finance part of the published trip cost.

GBC will attempt to provide funding to as many as feel God's calling.  The Missions Team may need to prioritize multiple mission events.  The Goals stated above will be the first guide.  If God is truly calling, then we believe He will provide.  However, the lack of resources may be God saying no, or an indication the participant may have more to do first.