At Sojourn Midtown, Short-Term Trips provide more than an opportunity to serve; they allow participants to form deeper relationships, grow spiritually, and discover their role in God’s mission. By experiencing diverse cultures, the global Church, and cross-cultural ministry, participants witness firsthand how God is at work around the world.

The Bible reveals that the triune God is a sending God. Just as the Father sent the Son, and the Father and Son sent the Spirit, we too are sent into the world (John 20:21). For this reason, we believe all followers of Jesus are everyday Sent Ones—called to know God, glorify him, and make him known wherever they are. While all believers share this general calling, some receive a more specific calling to serve a particular people, place, or vocation. We refer to these individuals as vocational Sent Ones. This deeper conviction is affirmed through Scripture, community, and the Spirit. Short-Term Trips act as catalysts, encouraging participants to live into the calling of everyday Sent Ones while also helping some discern if they are being called to serve as vocational Sent Ones.

As Brad Bell and Nathan Sloan emphasize in A Healthy Way to Do Short-Term Missions, Short-Term Trips can have positive impacts by engaging churches in global missions, supporting long-term missionaries, and fostering discipleship in participants. However, they also risk diverting resources from sustained efforts, creating dependency, and leading to shallow cultural engagement if not aligned with long-term goals. At Sojourn, we strive to navigate these challenges by aligning our Short-Term Trips with our broader vision of sustainable kingdom work. We want our short-term efforts to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing ministry of our Sent Ones and the global Church.

The Impact of Short-Term Trips

For the Sent Ones: We partner with our Sent Ones to strategically support their ministry efforts, both domestically and globally. These trips are designed to come alongside their long-term work, increasing their effectiveness by helping with special projects, everyday ministry work, or joining them in prayer. By aligning ourselves with their vision, we help their ministries stay healthy and sustainable, encouraging them to persevere in faith. Together, we become part of something much bigger than a short-term effort—we participate in God’s global mission, transforming lives and communities.

For the trip members: Short-term trips are designed to foster personal growth in our members by exposing them to diverse cultures, the global Church, and cross-cultural ministry. As they engage with different people groups and ministries, they learn more about themselves, their mission, and God's work among the nations

Vision and Strategy for Healthy Short-Term Trips

We want trip members to feel equipped and supported through their process, from application to post-trip celebration. We train each team before their trip, focusing on team bonding, cultural understanding, prayer, evangelism, and fundraising. After the trip, we lead each team in a debrief, helping them process their experiences and kindle their passion for mission work.

We’re also careful only to offer trips that align with our long-term global vision and the strategies of our Sent Ones. For this reason, we don’t typically offer trips that are mainly about doing service projects. At the same time, our trips do still come with many opportunities to serve others. Past trips have included opportunities for evangelism, prayer, VBS, working with indigenous churches, music festivals, and more.

Short-Term Trip Levels and Types

We offer a range of short-term trip levels and types to provide intentional ways for participants to engage in God’s mission.

Trip Levels

We rank trips in three levels based on their physical, travel, and security requirements:

• Level 101: Accessible to all ages and physical abilities, with shorter travel times, larger teams, and destinations that don’t typically require visas or security training. Examples include the US, the Dominican Republic, and Germany.
• Level 201: Requires moderate physical activity like extended walking or climbing stairs. These trips are best suited for adults and college students. Travel times are longer, and some locations may require visas and basic security training. Examples include certain locations in France and London.
• Level 301: Our most rigorous trips, designed for adults only. These trips involve high physical demands, smaller, vetted teams, advanced security training, and visa requirements. Examples include Thailand, North Africa, and Nepal.

Trip Types

We also categorize trips by type, each with a distinct focus:

• Exposure Trips: These trips offer participants a firsthand look at cross-cultural ministry, opening their eyes to the global Church and God’s work around the world.

• Evangelism Trips: Focused on outreach, these trips provide evangelistic support to our long-term Sent Ones in a particular region, city, or neighborhood.

• Sent One Care Trips: These trips refresh and sustain long-term Sent Ones through personal support and encouragement.

• Specialized Trips: These skill-based trips focus on specific areas like medical missions, sports, or music to meet the unique needs of our Sent Ones and their communities.

Accessibility

We're committed to making Short-Term Trips accessible to people from all backgrounds and life stages. Our trips are intentionally designed to include participants from multi-ethnic and multi-generational groups, to better reflect the diversity of God's kingdom. Whether you’re a family with young children, a student, or an adult, there is an opportunity for you to engage in God’s mission.

Additionally, trip participants are encouraged to fundraise for their trips, which not only helps make these experiences more accessible financially but also supports the ongoing ministries of our long-term Sent Ones. For those who cannot go, giving towards these trips is another way to actively participate in God's kingdom work alongside prayer.

Continuing Commitment

Short-Term Trips are a vital part of how we live out our calling as a church. They strengthen relationships within the body of Christ, provide critical support to our Sent Ones, and connect participants to God’s kingdom work around the world. These trips also serve as a tangible expression of our dedication to partnering with God in His mission. They are not merely events but an ongoing commitment to share the gospel and invest in God’s kingdom locally and globally.

---