What are Short term Missions?
What do AIM's Short Term Missions Teams Do?
Do I need any special qualifications to be a part of a short term missoins team?
What is the average length of AIM's short term missions trips?
How much does it cost to participate in one of AIM's short term missions trips?
Where can I go on a short term mission trip with AIM?
Who are AIM's indigenous partners around the world?

What are Short term missions?

Short term missions became increasingly popular methods of cross-cultural evangelism in the 1980s. This trend in missions seeks to mobilize thousands of missionaries and put them on the field for a short period of time, typically from a few days up to one year. Short term missions projects tend to be project oriented rather than process oriented. Long term missionaries systematically seek to integrate into a community and reach the lost, while short term missionaries seek to accomplish a specific task that either directly impacts the unsaved or directly assists indegenous workers or long term missionaries to accomplish their goals.

What do AIM's short term missions teams do?

Short term missions teams working through AIM are designed to assist indigenous ministries in reaching their long term goals. Along the way, our teams also attempt to take action to evagelize the lost directly. A typcial short term team will have a specific project that it seeks to accomplish during its stay in the field. Common projects include the following:

• Medical Missions - medical teams set up and operate clinics intended to provide basic health care and health care education for the people of a specific region. Non-medical support personnel assist by providing manpower for the clinic itself and by operating prayer centers for those who come seeking medical treatment.
• Construction Missions - construction teams typically undertake specific projects to either build a structure (such as a church, orphanage, home, school, etc.) or to do repair work on an existing structure.
• Leadership Training Misisons - leadership training teams typically conduct short bible schools and seminars on specific spiritual topics. Pastors and church leaders are invited to attend free of charge to obtain training that would otherwise be unavailable to them.
• Evangelism - in each of the mentioned mission team scenarios team members are encouraged and provided opportunity to engage in relational evangelism, friendship evangelism, door-to-door evangelism, open air crusades, one-on-one evangelism and other forms of evangelistic endeavors.

Do I need any special qualifications to be a part of a short term missions team?

No. As long as you are a born again Christian who is willing to share your faith, maintain a servants heart and be hungry, humble and teachable, then you qualify.

What is the average length of AIM's short term missions trips?

Most trips sponsored by AIM are between 10 and 14 days in length. Occassionally both longer and shorter trips are planned and we can assist in custom planning trips of any length for groups who are interested in traveling together.

How much does it cost to participate in one of AIM's short term missions trips?

The costs of AIM's short term missions trips vary widely depending on the destination and the length of the trip. The average trip of 14 days to either East Africa or Russia will cost $1500 plus the cost of your plane ticket. (As of January 2007 typical airfare costs were $1300 to Kenya and $1000 to Russia). Since trips to South America, Mexico, Europe and other destinations are planned on an individual basis, the costs of such trips can be calculated only after the trip has reached the early planning stages.

Where can I go on a short term missions trip with AIM?

Most annual trips planned by AIM are to East Africa or Russia, however, many other destinations are examined on an individual basis. In the past AIM has sent short term teams to Mexico, Peru, England, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, India, Russia, Ukraine, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Short term teams are currently being planned for Jamaica, and the Phillipines. While we have long term committments to East Africa and Russia, AIM partners with indigenous ministries and other missions organizations to help you reach the area that God has placed on your heart.

Who are AIM's indigenous partners around the world?

In Kenya AIM partners with Jesus Harvesters Ministries and Agape Fellowship Centers, a network of over 80 churches throughout Kenya and the surrounding nations.
In Tanzania AIM partners with Tanzania Field Evangelism, a large network of churches throughout Tanzania.
In Uganda AIM partners with Namarumbe Christian Fellowship, whose pastor has planted or assisted in planting over 3000 churches in Uganda and Connect Africa a ministry devoted to building bridges among believers throughout Africa.
In Russia and Ukraine AIM parnters with Barnabas Foundation, a US based ministry that brings together independent churches throughout those two countries for the training and equipping of pastors and leaders.