Planning and leading a traveling mission trip:

If a person or group of persons are interested in organizing a CCUMC mission trip they must first come to the mission committee and express their interest in the fall prior to when they plan to travel. If the trip does get approved for consideration as a church sponsored trip, the committee will help you begin your plans.

Use the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission Leader handbook as your main guide. In the handbook you will find the details that are involved in leading a trip. Some of the responsibilities include: travel arrangements, accommodations, securing insurance, getting the team involved with fund raisers sponsored by the traveling mission committee and following the guidelines set up for fund raising, setting a budget, recruiting team members than delegating the team responsibilities to your team members. The traveling mission committee will help with any planning or preparations and be supportive throughout the process and trip.

Financing a mission trip:

There are financing guidelines set up and a copy will be in the training handbook. The traveling mission committee of CCUMC will show support for the traveling teams that they sponsor by paying for team members registration and insurance through UMVIM. We ask that each team member, if they are able, to contribute the remaining amount of the cost of the trip. The large majority of persons going on mission trips pay their own way. The financial commitment is a way each team member will witness to his or her faith. The mission team as a whole will be doing group fund raising, and the money earned will help defray the costs of all, and help to pay for transportation to and from the national airports, and help those unable to pay all their expense of the trip without additional help.

The mission committee will be able to help individuals with ideas of ways that they can earn their own funds, for example in the past some team members have received the money by writing family members and friends and telling them about this wonderful experience they are planning and asking for support or sponsorship.

If after a team members personal contributions and trying to raise the funds themselves and still find they are a little short, the Mission Committee will give a small scholarship with no questions asked. This funding is available to all mission team members who need it, but limited to 200 dollars for an international trip or up to 100 dollars for the cost of a national trip. If a team member finds they need a lot of help, and they have tried to raise as much of the cost themselves, they can apply for a scholarship in writing to the Mission Committee for additional help. These scholarships are limited in number. Primary consideration is given to active church members who have never been on a mission trip, or who have indispensable skills for a particular trip. Scholarships are given for up to 75% of a national trip and 50% of an international trip. For more information contact Kathleen Tager, 424-2496.