a short-term missions guide for Canadians

Cost: $15 (PDF) or $25 (binder version)

The Lead Team of the STMnetwork has collaborated on a project designed with Canadian sending churches in mind. Eight of the nation’s sharpest STM minds came together to contribute to and expand upon a strong guide already developed by one of our partners, Global Youth Missions.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Planet is now available for distribution.  To obtain the guide, you have 2 choices:

1. Download the Hitchhiker’s Guide here from our site.  The Guide is a 136-page, 4.3MB PDF. For best downloading results, right mouse click on the link and select “Save Target As”. Select a destination on your computer for the download and save the file there. We are asking for a donation of $15 per downloaded copy of our guide.  Donations can be made online through the PAOC secure donation site.  You can enter the amount there, and after selecting “This is a one time contribution” leave us a note that it’s for the “Hitchhiker’s STM Guide“.  Please do not copy and redistribute this digital version of our Guide.
2. Order a pre-assembled Hitchhiker’s Guide in 8.5″ x 11″ format.  The Guide will be shipped to your address in a binder format. Each binder costs $25, and you may order as many as you’d like.  Shipping will be calculated once the order has been placed, and will be added to your total.

Click here to download the digital version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Planet: A Short-Term Missions Guide for Canadians.  Thanks for the donation!

For binded printed copies, e-mail infoATstmnetworkDOTca to request the number of Guides you’d like to order, along with a shipping address and a payment method.

other great resources…

books, guides, manuals, etc.

We’ve been classroom and field testing some solid STM material for a year now, and want to share our findings with you!

We don’t have an online store set-up yet, but you can order any of these books through us by e-mail. We get great deals on these books, and pass along the savings directly to you!

NEW – STM Devotionals and Journals – Adult & Youth

Get all three Adult STM Devotions and Journals – Called, Challenged, and Changed – for one great price!

Each book regularly costs $15.00, but you can get all three for only $35.00!

Purchase the set of three for every member of your team and be on the same devotional page before, during, and after your mission.

Called

The first in a three-book series, this book will help adults spend time with God and prepare for a short-term mission trip. Inside are 15 devotions and journaling space after each. The devotions in Called will give adults a solid spiritual assessment before they head full–force into ministry on a short–term mission trip. A mission trip leader will want to ceremoniously present the book Called to all trip participants at least fifteen days before they leave. Then each member of the mission team can read the same material and prepare together.

Challenged

The second in a three-book series, this book will help adults be spiritually focused and productive during a short-term mission trip. Inside are 15 devotions and journaling space after each. The devotions in Challenged focus on the spiritual transformation occurring in adults’ lives as they are in the midst of serving others on the mission field. On the way to their destination, a mission trip leader will want to ceremoniously present Challenged to all participants. Adults will be inspired each day of their trip while reading the devo for the day and spending time with God.

Changed

The third in a three-book series, this book will help adults spend time with God and debrief from their short-term mission trip experience. Inside are 15 devotions and journaling space after each. The devotions in Changed empower adults to put their servant spirit into action in their own communities once they return home. When the mission trip team returns home, a mission trip leader will want to ceremoniously present Changed to all team members. The adults can then spend time deconstructing what they learned and how they grew from the trip.

Get all three Youth STM Devotions and Journals — Anticipate, Experience, and Reflect — for one great price!

Each book regularly costs $15.00, but you can get all three for only $35.00!

Purchase the set of three for every member of your team and be on the same devotional page before, during, and after your mission.

Anticipate

You’re leaving soon, and you’ve got questions.

What will I eat?
What will I face while I’m there?

What’s on your mind? Write, draw, and think it all out in this journal where you’ll find spiritual nourishment and devotions to help you get ready for your mission trip.

Spend time with God every day, preparing you for what he has for you.

Experience

You’ve finally made it, but now you’re wondering.

How do people live like this?
How can I make a difference today?
God, what are you teaching me?

What’s on your mind? Write, draw, and think it all out in this journal where you’ll find spiritual nourishment and devotions for your mission trip.

Spend time with God every day, learning what he has for you.

Reflect

You’re back home, but you still have questions.

Ok, God, now what?
Will I ever be the same?
How can I make a difference now?

What’s on your mind? Write, draw, and think it all out in this journal where you’ll find spiritual nourishment and devotions to help you debrief from your mission trip.

Spend time with God every day, seeking his will for you.

Picture This…Nine Ways To Look At Mission

by Sheldon Armitage

This exciting new book by Sheldon Armitage will help you journey through the question of what it means to be missional in the 21st century. Through memorable images and thought-provoking questions, Picture This…explores the adventurous but often misunderstood world of global missions with a twist.

Perfect for working through with your church mission committee, your STM team in training, or installing “missional living” DNA in any one you care about!

Cost: $15 + shipping

The Short-Term Missions Workbook

by Tim Dearborn

Going on a short-term missions trip can be a life- and faith-transforming experience. It can enrich the way you view the world. It will cause you to rely on God more fully. It is an opportunity to develop deep relationships with your team and the people you serve.A short-term missions experience can also involve weeks of physical and spiritual distress. An unprepared team can wreak havoc on each other and the people they intend to serve. To get the most out of such a missions trip, you need to go prepared. Whether you are going on your own or with a team, the keys to preparation are here in Tim Dearborn’s workbook. It includes:

• Concise summary of crosscultural principles
• Help in facing spiritual warfare
• Tips on avoiding a tourist mentality
• Spiritual preparation through individual or group Bible study
• 8-week course for teams to do together

You’ll get a biblical perspective on the world, gain crosscultural understanding and even prepare for reentry when you return.If you are planning to go on a short-term missions trip, don’t leave home without working through this book!

Cost: $15 + shipping

How To Get Ready For Short-Term Missions

by Anne-Geri’ Fann & Greg Taylor

Can I drink the water?

But I don’t speak the language.

You want me to sleep where?

They eat what?

How am I going to raise that much money?

Is it really God’s will for me to go?

I don’t know how to share the gospel.

Are you ready?
More than one million people will go into all the world on short-term missions trips this year. Are you ready to be one of them?

Anne-Geri’ and Greg have been in the field and led teams there-and back. They will help you prep and pack for the trip, put their arms around you while you’re gone, and offer perspective as you reenter “normal” life.

How to Get Ready for Short-Term Missions will help you:

• Pack your suitcase and prepare your heart
• Build genuine relationships with the locals
• Understand cultural differences
• Deal with physical fatigue
• Combat stretched emotions

There’s even a chapter for clammy-handed parents!

With humor and experience, Anne-Geri’ and Greg ask questions you can’t hide from and help you focus on your true mission.

Cost: $10 + shipping

Serving With Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions With Cultural Intelligence

by David A. Livermore

More than one million people participate in short-term mission projects outside of North America every year–and millions more are involved in domestic cross-cultural missions right here at home. This is encouraging news. But the work is not done. There are weaknesses in our approach and practice. And these volunteers need resources to help them prepare for effective cross-cultural engagement. Serving with Eyes Wide Open helps Christians understand the changing face of Christianity and how that affects short-term missions. In three parts, author David A. Livermore will take a broad look at what the twenty-first-century church is doing on the mission field, the assumptions people make about Christianity, and what it takes to adapt effectively to new cultural contexts. Perfect for all who engage in short-term missions trips–either at home or abroad–Serving with Eyes Wide Open will equip readers to serve more sensitively.

Your passport to learning how short-term missions can best serve Christ’s kingdom Short-term mission trips are great ways to impact the kingdom. Yet they can lack effectiveness because of mistakes or naiveté on the part of participants. In this insightful and timely book, David A. Livermore calls us to serve with our eyes open to global and cultural realities so we can become more effective cross-cultural ministers. Serving with Eyes Wide Open is a must-have book for anyone doing a short-term mission or service project, whether domestic or overseas.

Cost: $15 + shipping

Creating Hope

by Cherilyn Orr

iTeams Canada has just released the newly published book “Creating Hope”, by Cherilyn Orr. This book is a valuable resource for anyone working with children who are going through crisis.

Creating Hope for Children in Crisis provides a unique approach of interpreting healing from trauma through the lens of resiliency factors. This book offers readers a wealth of culturally adaptive ideas, activities, programs and strategies that build resiliency not only within children, but also within families. This is a resource you will keep coming back to at various stages of your ministry development.

Cost: $35 + shipping

Unearth: Exploring A Land With No Name (Re-entry)

by Christy Vidrine & Autumn Rogers

This book recounts the lessons of confusion, peace, struggle, and love within the rich journey that God works in a missional heart. The transition from the mission field back into the Western world is challenging, deep, and unsettling. However, the stories and insights shared by these experienced mission workers will help you bring balance to the vertigo of re-entry and help you unearth the heart of God as you process the time you spent overseas and explore your personal middle land, a land with no name.

About the Authors
Vidrine and Rogers, once roommates at Texas A&M, went on their first adventure together on a semester abroad in Central America. Since then they both continued sporadic traveling and missions, as Rogers spent two years working in the Dominican Republic and Vidrine attained a Masters Degree in Counseling. Both have worked for missions agencies, leading trainings and short-term trips. Unearth was birthed from the challenges they and their team members endured each time they returned from overseas. As they wrote it seemed there were too many stories of struggle to reach all that is encompassed in re-entry. Their prayer is this book might support you through your journey and that God would reach the world with no one’s heart lost in the process.

Cost: $10 + shipping

Mission Trip Prep Kit: Leader’s Guide

by Kevin Johnson (Youth Specialties)

The Missions Trip Prep Kit is an easy-to-use resource that offers several options designed for training and preparing either middle schoolers or high schoolers for short-or long-term missions projects.

You work hard planning mission trips. Now make mission trips work for you and your group.

Headed to inner-city America? Appalachia? A border of Shantytown? Overseas? Wherever your destination, the MISSION TRIP PREP KIT contains all you need to prepare your students for an unforgettable cross-cultural experience – and tools to debrief them after they’ve returned to their worlds.

Use this kit to get on-site impact as well as long-term spiritual change in your students. Whether you’re a mission-trip novice or a savvy traveler outside your comfort zones. Whether your group is geared toward reaching others with the gospel or to disciple your young missionaries. In several sessions spread over a month or two – or in an intensive, two-day training session or retreat.

IN THIS LEADER’S GUIDE you’ll receive not only the rationale, the how, and the logistics of planning and pulling off a missions trip, but – and this is the genius of the leader’s guide – 4 PRE-TRIP TEACHING SESSIONS that will help your students:

• Assess their EXPECTATIONS, their fears, their motivations.
• Adjust their PERCEPTIONS of the culture they’ll be working in.
• Improve their emotional and spiritual STAMINA for living for a week or a month in a very different world from their own.
• Practice the skills and ATTITUDES (teamwork, servanthood, Christ-centeredness) they’ll need for a missions trip.

And to make sure your trip’s goals are accomplished and the benefits stick around for a long haul, you’ll also receive 2 POST-TRIP SESSIONS that will help you DEBRIEF your students, ease them back into their own worlds, CELEBRATE with them, and make missions and ministry part of their EVERYDAY LIVES WITH JESUS.

What’s more, in these pre- and post-trip teaching sessions are a variety of ACTIVITIES…processing points…creative PRAYER IDEAS…take-home applications…BIBLE STUDIES relevant to mission tripping…TALK OUTLINES that both instruct and inspire…and lots of sessions options you can tailor to your own HIGH SCHOOLERS OR MIDDLE SCHOOLERS.

Cost: $20 + shipping

Mission Trip Prep: Student Journal

by Kevin Johnson

Nope. Mission trips aren’t all fun and games. In fact, they can be pretty trying. Heat. Bugs. No bathrooms. Bad water. No pizza for hundreds of miles.

But if you want it to, a mission trip could change your life. And that’s the case whether you’re seriously praying about becoming a missionary – or you just want a taste of what it means to serve God outside your comfort zone. One changed life – yours! So are you headed to inner-city America? Appalachia? A border shantytown? Overseas?

Wherever your destination, this journal pretty much says it all: MISSION TRIP PREP: A STUDENT JOURNAL FOR CAPTURING THE EXPERIENCE. It contains all you need to understand what you’re learning on your trip, to digest and incorporate your experiences so they become part of you – and maybe even have some serious fun while you’re doing all that spiritual stuff! Inside these pages, you’ll receive DEVOTIONAL Bible readings and studies…reflective questions that GET YOU THINKING about the trip ahead or behind you…and, of course, journaling opportunities for expressing yourself before, during, and after the trip. Just watch and see what happens as you get into this journal. Who knows? Lives could change. MAYBE EVEN YOURS!

Cost: $15 + shipping

To order any of these great STM resources, send us an e-mail with the names of the books you’d like, quantity of each title, and we’ll ship them out immediately.

Thanks for your support!