STEM’s Approach to Christian Mission
About STEM Mission Trips
STEM Int’l organizes, trains, leads, and sends short-term mission outreaches nearly every month of the year (nearly any age, nearly any Christian church background). More than 90% of all STEM Teams are sent through STEM Ministries, while our 10/40 Window Teams are sent through STEM Share.
Overview
STEM Ministries Teams are involved in a balance of evangelism, construction, and mercy/service/creative ministries during the on-field portion of their outreach.
STEM Share Teams spend their on-field time in huge amounts of on-site prayer among unreached people groups, while also providing appropriate human aid and relief/development assistance as needed.
As an individual (1–11 people) you can join any "open" Team.
As a group leader (with 12–30 people), we'll help you form a STEM Ministries Team from your own church, school, or organization. STEM Share Teams can be formed with 6–14 people.
our biblical mandate
In response to Matthew 28:19–20 and Mark 16:15–16, STEM exists to
bring ever-increasing glory to God by helping you make disciples from
every tribe, tongue, and nation. Our organizational passion reflects
itself as we mobilize North American Christians of any age or any
Christian church background to reach the world’s remaining peoples
still hidden from the Gospel of Christ. We strive to make each STEM
Team an accountable hands-on, life-giving, heart-changing outreach —
from the going/sending side and the field/receiving side.
To help you get a better handle on how and why STEM short-term mission teams function the way they do, we’ve listed the major decision-shaping statements and commitments that guide the formation of each STEM Team.
STEM Ministries: Mission Trip Identity Statements
Purpose Statement
Through the process of short-term mission, STEM encourages Christians to discover God’s purpose for the world, and fulfill their strategic role in God’s global plan.
Strategic Team Goals
We strive to provide a mutually-beneficial, ‘win-win’ mission for "goer" participants and for "field/receiving" participants. Therefore the 2-fold goal of every STEM mission outreach is to:
- do strategic, bona fide mission work according to Biblical standards; and
- allow each short-termer to grow in his/her knowledge of God and of His mission heart.
Peoples Served
Our primary “people served” is ‘God’s intended church’ worldwide, which we define within our 2-fold strategic goals:
- In every mission outreach, our first goal is to do genuine
mission work according to biblical standards that touch lives of
peoples served in these first target groups: churched, unchurched, and
unreached hidden peoples. We specifically seek to address the needs of
the following peoples:
- unsaved nationals, who will have an opportunity to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, with the national church growing and being strengthened
- poor, hurting, destitute nationals (in infirmaries, prisons, orphanages, etc.) who will have some of their personal needs met
- Since our
second goal is to provide a life-changing, mission-growth experience, our second target group are ‘volunteer’ missionaries from the
North American church, including all denominational,
non-denominational, and independent church people of any age or
background throughout the United States and Canada. It is out of this
‘volunteer’ group that mission teams are drawn. By doing their mission
outreach, this second target group is strengthened in the following ways
- many of our returning short-termers will consider full-time mission careers in unreached or other needy parts of the world, or intentionally modify their lifestyles (career, plans for school, prayers, financial spending, etc.) to more effectively fulfill the Great Commission.
- many of our returning short-termers’ North American sending churches will have had their mission vision renewed and strengthened during the short-termers’ post-field return, and will have become determined to more actively fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ both at home and abroad.
U.S. Standards of Excellence
STEM Ministries is a Provisional Member in good standing with the “U.S. Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission.” As a result, all STEM Teams are also shaped by STEM’s voluntary adherence to these 7 nationwide standards (published in 2003).
MISTM Theory
MISTM Theory — Maximum Impact Short-Term Mission — was developed and published in a 288-page book in 2003 by STEM Founder/CEO Roger Peterson and Wayne Sneed, a colleague from Memphis (President of Orphanos Foundation). MISTM Theory is a major shaping philosophy of all STEM mission teams.
MISTM Theory states that all short-term mission endeavors exist through these three phases:
- Pre-Field
- On-Field
- Post-Field
MISTM Theory further claims that short-term mission “participants” are not just the short-termers who go, but also those who send, and those who receive. MISTM Theory states that these three groups of participants are equal participants, and that one is not more important than the other:
- Senders
- Goer-Guests
- Host Receivers
MISTM Theory is visually organized into the MISTM-Grid.
MISTM Theory concludes that all organizers of any short-term mission outreach must consider and take into account all those who Send, all those who Go, and all those who Receive during the Pre-Field, On-Field, and Post-Field phases concerning every plan or idea being made, and every decision or action being taken.
