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The World Wide Ministries Committee of the presbytery recommends the document "Seven Standards for Excellence in Short-Term Mission," a set of seven guidelines for short-term mission trips, for mission trip member selection, and for debriefing upon return from a mission trip.
These standards are meant to assist congregations and mission communities as they prepare and engage in short-term mission.
Short Term mission trips offer their own special challenges. Because the essence of mission is the relationship developed with those whom we work with in another place or culture, it is hard to develop a healthy mission relationship on a 7 day mission trip.
World Wide Ministries recommends these guidelines as a good foundation on which to build a mission program that will do no harm. These are to be paired with the PCUSA resources when planning and executing any short-term mission, whether it's local down the street or across the world.
Download a copy of the guidelines from the presbytery website at: www.shenpres.org/WWMindex.html .
Shenandoah to Host Mission Workers in 2012
In the coming months, Shenandoah will be host two mission workers from Ethiopia on two occasions.
Rich and Marilyn Hansen are PCUSA mission workers based in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia, where Rich teaches Systematic Theology at the Evangelical
Graduate School of Theology. Marilyn teaches and works with students in
developing English skills for better communications.Rich and Marilyn will be here July 31 - August 2 when they will be resident at the Massanetta Springs Bible Conference. Rich will present a workshop at the Bible Conference on Thursday, August 2, at 2:00pm on "Worldviews of the Global South." They will be in area churches as well. A schedule wil be published as the time nears for their visit.
Carolyn Weber, PCUSA mission worker at the Mekane Yesus Seminary
also in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will be in Shenandoah Presbytery November
1-15. Her schedule is still fairly open for hosting. She will be the Guest
Speaker at the Ethiopia Partnership Banquet on November 2 at Cooks Creek
Church. She will also speak at the presbytery meeting November 13
at the Woodstock church.You can learn more about these two mission workers by visiting the Mission Connections pages of the PCUSA website at pcusa.org.
Maury River Water Team Visits Guatemala
Members of the Maury River Mission Community recently visited their mission partner in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, where they had installed a Living Waters for the World purification system.
This was the 5th time someone from Shenandoah had visited the La Iglesia Allianza Church in Santiago. Members of the team included the Rev. Carl Moore, and David and Betty Dax. David and Betty had been a part of the original team that installed the system several years ago. A team from Shenandoah had also visited the site in January 2011.
The La Iglesia Allianza church has had a positive experience using the system. It has been a real benefit to the community - by improving the health of the users, and enabling the congregation to build basic housing for those needing a place to live.
Future plans include cooperating on more projects and on maintaining a relationship.
Members of the Maury River Mission Community recently visited their mission partner in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala, where they had installed a Living Waters for the World purification system.
This was the 5th time someone from Shenandoah had visited the La Iglesia Allianza Church in Santiago. Members of the team included the Rev. Carl Moore, and David and Betty Dax. David and Betty had been a part of the original team that installed the system several years ago. A team from Shenandoah had also visited the site in January 2011.
The La Iglesia Allianza church has had a positive experience using the system. It has been a real benefit to the community - by improving the health of the users, and enabling the congregation to build basic housing for those needing a place to live.
Future plans include cooperating on more projects and on maintaining a relationship.