Intercultural Learning Opportunities
Explore opportunities that will expand your intercultural understanding and skills. Cross cultural opportunities start at home, cross borders and take you away on a trip across the world. Is your passport current? There are also local intercultural opportunities to check out.
Even if you can’t make the dates below, we will let you know about future opportunities and options. Sign up here if you want to begin the adventure or engage in an intercultural learning opportunity.
Short Term Missions and Serving Projects
Sign up here for these specific missions trips or learning opportunities.
Opportunities to serve abroad start with meeting people whose lives have been changed on previous missions trips. WACC teams will be planning for trips to Mexico, Estonia and Malawi and more in 2024 and beyond. Come to at least one general orientation.
Sign up for a team. Get started in a journey of learning and adventure. Each trip has different requirements for joining. There are simple one day trips to Mexico (level 1) and more complex trips (levels 2 & 3) that will start you on a learning adventure over the next few months. Join us in an informative session to learn how you might fit on one of the teams.
We require anyone who wants to go on a short-term mission to attend at least 1 orientation. If you are interested in one of our short-term trips, sign-up for that trip date and an orientation date beforehand.
What is Short Term Missions?
“How will you be changed?” is the starting question for Short Term Missions in WACC’s Global Engagement Department. This question invites prospective participants to think about how their hearts and minds will be transformed as a result of their intercultural engagement. On the outside, it may look like missionaries go to serve another country less fortunate than them, but this is not the entire picture. We believe that mission trips are mutually transformational for the missionaries and the community being served. Through interacting with members of another culture and country, we are changed because we get to live and see life from their perspective. We learn from them, and they learn from us. We are both changed.
The WACC Global Department has over 30 different global partners all across the world. Our current short-term mission trips are focused in the areas of Malawi in Africa, Estonia in Eastern Europe, and our near neighbor Mexico. On our trips, we connect with the global partners in the area where we plan to serve, then collaborate with the local community. In Estonia, we partner with Josiah Venture to help local Estonian youth to connect to local churches. In El Testerazo, Mexico, we partner with a local youth program to provide general support, prayer, school supplies, and renewed infrastructure. In Malawi, Africa, we visit local villages and bible colleges to prayerfully support their communities.
Why we do this
Short-Term missions align with WACC’s vision statement to “bring Jesus to People and People to Jesus”. One of the three tenets of our mission statement is to “Go serve our world”. Mark 12:31 tells us to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We believe that God has called us to love our local and global neighbors.
We are committed to inspiring and creating leadership opportunities for the next generation of missionary leaders. This is exemplified by the two current leaders of our Estonia mission trip, Jake (24) and Jenna (22). We invite a culturally and age diverse population to serve as short-term missionaries so that all people can experience the wonder and joy of serving abroad.
How you can help
One of WACC’s 5 core values is “Courageous Generosity”. Being generous financially takes courage, but God assures us that he will abundantly provide for us if we submit our hearts and finances to him. 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 tells us “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” and “God loves a cheerful giver”. It is from a cheerful heart that we give to support our short-term missionaries. Our gifts will mutually bless our missionaries and the communities they serve.
Each team member raises much of their own support. But that is not usually enough. Today your gift can make it possible for the next generation to get engaged in missions, serve God in another country and discover God’s work and join in that work. We invite you to participate through prayer and generous giving.
You can use the button at the top to give. Checks made to WACC need to be noted Global Fund on the memo line and mailed to WACC, Global Engagement, 8100 Colima Road, Whittier CA 90605.
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