Compelled by the love of Jesus and the desire to reach our world with the Gospel message, Grace Fellowship strives to make a global impact by strategically partnering with exceptional people and organizations that long to help people meet, follow, and share Jesus. We do this by going and serving international churches and ministries with both short- and long-term trips, giving generously, and praying without ceasing. We believe God makes it our individual and corporate responsibility as messengers of the Gospel to help meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people. Begin to partner with us through prayer, learning about our Global Partners, and financially supporting our missions and missionaries.
Grace believes that God makes it our individual and corporate responsibility as messengers of the Gospel to help meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of people, both locally and globally.
We do this by mobilizing Grace on short term teams to help people meet, follow, and share Jesus.
CHICAGO (The Commons) Do you want to learn about and get hands-on experience in living missionally and reaching the nations who live among us in our communities? Do you have an interest in cross-cultural ministry? We will learn about the foundations of missions, cross-cultural ministry, and how to share your faith with people from different cultures. We will spend time each day learning about a culture and get to go into a community of people from that culture and put into practice what we’ve learned. We will have the opportunity to talk with and work alongside International students from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds, Central Asian Muslims, and Central & South American immigrants and refugees. Our days will be filled with exposure and practical application along with a lot of fun.
Who should participate?
Young Adults age 18 - 29
Cost
APPROX. $300
Application Fee
$250.00 (due at the time of registration)
Application deadline April 30, 2026
Short-term trip applications are typically available 6-8 months prior to the travel dates. Application deadlines are stated on the web site and are usually 6 months prior to travel.
An approximate cost for the trip will be posted at the time the trip is opened for application. We base this approximate cost on past trip costs to the same location. We don’t know the final cost of the trip until after the team is selected and airfare & ministry costs are determined.
Your $250.00 application fee goes towards the final costs of your trip. We highly encourage team members to fundraise the remainder of the costs. At the first team meeting, the team leaders will go over the rules for fundraising and some tips on how best to do that.
Final ministry projects and serving opportunities are determined by the partner church we will be serving while gone. Our partnering church does take into consideration our teams’ strengths and skills along with our ministry budget to make the final decision on how best to serve their church and community. Examples of ministry projects from past teams include VBS, kid’s camp, food distribution, local outreach, basic painting/construction, women’s & men’s bible study, and church member home visits.
Lodging accommodations vary for each destination based on what lodging accommodations are available in that community. Most teams sleep in a dorm-style bunk house or a hotel. Lodging accommodations are separated by gender. Occasionally, a married couple will be able to room together if the team numbers make sense for that to occur. Otherwise, lodging is separated by gender.
Our teams eat very well while traveling. Most church partners will have members of the church prepare homemade meals for our teams. We also get the opportunity to dine at local restaurants as well.
Dietary restrictions are accommodated as much as possible depending on the location of travel.
Our Global Missions staff is constantly updated on world travel alerts issued by the US State Department. If there were a change to the safety level of travel to a specific country, Grace Fellowship’s Global Missions Board and the Elders would make a decision on the team’s ability to travel to that location.
Our short-term missions teams typically meet monthly for the 5-6 months prior to travel. You are expected to attend each meeting. Team meetings are an opportunity for you to get to know your team leaders, team members, plan ministry, and prepare spiritually for your trip.
BrightStart Learning, Inc.’s mission is to provide disadvantaged students in developing countries with educational opportunities and assistance to help them reach their full potential as productive adults and leaders. BrightStart’s board of directors are devout Christians with firsthand mission experience in Cambodia. Their core values are to honor God in the lives of the people they serve, their staff and relationships with sponsors and partners; equipping and changing lives; and partnering with like-minded organizations. BrightStart provides educational opportunities and assistance to over 500 children and young adults in the province of Battambang, Cambodia and the capital city of Phnom Penh. Their vision is “Brighter futures start today,” recognizing it is never too late to point lives in the right direction. Through education, BrightStart strives to break the cycle of poverty in Cambodia by equipping people with hope, morality, and wisdom for a brighter future.
Design Outreach (DO), headquartered right here in Columbus, OH, engineers life-sustaining appropriate technology solutions to help alleviate global poverty. DO has been working to help solve the world’s water crisis in developing countries by inventing the LifePump, a new hand pump technology that is able to reach year-round aquifers, last years between maintenance, and be monitored with a satellite based remote sensor. The first permanent LifePump, installed in Malawi, has been providing safe water since 2013, and the community has been transformed. DO serves around the world in Haiti, Malawi, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan, CAR, Zimbabwe and Guatemala. DO desires to serve the millions of people in our world today whose basic needs are not being met. Tools such as the LifePump aid our missionary partners in building trust with community members to share the Gospel. We love because Christ first loved us, and it is this love that motivates our work.
There are a variety of areas within Northern Central Africa where being a Christian is rough, and being a missionary is nearly impossible. Despite this dangerous reality, groups of Christians have been able to enter these communities, along with their families, and begin adapting and making disciples. They’ve worked hard to learn the language and culture, establish relief projects, and become co-laborers within the communities. Given these realities, please pray for these teams and groups, for their faith and endurance, and for the communities in which they’re serving and reaching.
International Friendships, Inc. (IFI) is a non-profit community organization that partners with Grace Fellowship and other churches to promote friendship and hospitality for international students, scholars, and their family members at The Ohio State University and other campuses. There are opportunities for you and your church group to pray for and get directly involved.
For more info visit columbus.ifipartners.org or email recruit@ifipartners.org.
Momentum Urban Centers have been training followers of Jesus in effective hands-on evangelism for over 20 years with locations in Philadelphia and Los Angeles! Momentum Ministry Partners offers unique life-on-life training sessions on how to start conversations, how to tell your story, and how to share your faith in simple and life giving ways. They also provide practical, easy-to-use evangelism tools that make engaging with others simple. Their field experiences make our time together practical and profitable by immediately putting the lessons learned through the training sessions into practice!
Hands-on Ministry Field Experiences
Here’s the wide variety of “in-the-field” ministry you will experience at Urban Centers:
Roots of Grace Cambodia is a registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Cambodia began in 2015 that “Introduces Jesus into broken situations with the hope of changing generations.” The vision of Roots of Grace is to have the children living on the streets of Cambodia and their families (if present) become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. The strategy is to help break the generational cycles of living on the streets through expanded opportunities for spiritual investment, education, hygiene, physical and emotional care, and vocational training.
What started out as a shared burden by two Americans and one Cambodian for those living on the streets continues to grow and flourish. In 2018, with a staff of two missionaries and five Cambodians, the ministry started sending 6 children from the streets to school. Currently, Roots of Grace has six missionaries and 42 Cambodian staff that regularly minister to more than 1200 the poorest of the poor in Battambang, Cambodia. In 2020, Roots of Grace begin the process of merging with BrightStart Learning, a 501(c)(3) charity in the U.S. that focused on education in Cambodia. Now, all of Roots of Grace Cambodia activities fall under that charity and are overseen by an accomplished Board of Directors. Those activities are primarily accomplished through 8 different programs.
Those programs include Bible Studies on the streets and providing education for young children. The Bible studies are weekly and take place in 9 different locations across the city having more than 200 people attending every week. There are now hundreds of people that had previously never heard the name of Jesus Christ that are now devoted followers of Him.
Monday through Saturday, the staff of Roots of Grace picks up the children from the streets (66 for school year 2023-2024), takes them to the ministry center, gives them an opportunity to shower, helps them change into a clean uniform for school, gives them breakfast and takes them to school. School in Cambodia is half a day/six days a week. When the school day is over, the staff picks the kids up from school, feeds them lunch, helps them with their homework, teaches them the Bible and worship songs, teaches them English and gives them time to play and be kids before returning them to the place they stay.
SEEDNet is a church planting movement planting churches in spiritually, emotionally, economically, and developmentally oppressed areas. Through the Gospel of Jesus, we give hope to Spiritually, Emotionally, Economically, and Developmentally oppressed people. This type of ministry can be scary and feels risky to some people who want to help, so SEEDNet builds the bridge between you and those who desperately need hope and your help. By helping us give them a church of their own, you are helping give discipleship opportunities, a place for vital needs to be met, and a hub for personal growth and development over a lifetime. By partnering with us to plant churches, you are having an impact on future generations for Christ.
Are you interested in joining a crisis response team, short-term mission trip, or local trip? Complete the form, and we’ll be in touch!
*Crisis response trips often have a quick turnaround due to the sudden need. A member of our team will be in touch as soon as opportunities come our way.
Are you interested in Global Missions? We recommend these two books:
