Missions teams & venues

Find your missions team number, bus number and venue, according to your GO Camp booking number, in (Listing) Missions Teams

Culture & People

Indonesian culture:

• Greetings between 2 persons of the same gender usually involves a handshake. Muslims may prefer not to touch people of the opposite gender unless they are a close friend or relative. Men would normally wait for women to extend their hand.
• Some Indonesians may place their hand on their heart or bow slightly after shaking hands. A younger person may greet someone by kissing the hand of the elder. People may also greet close relatives by shaking hands and kissing one another on both cheeks.
• The head is considered the purest or most sacred part of an Indonesian’s body and should never be touched, not even children’s head.
• Avoid using your left hand. This could be for touching someone, handing something to someone, or pointing towards something. The left hand is used for all bathroom activity, and considered ‘dirty’. When receiving or accepting a gift, use both hands or right hand only. When passing food, always use the right hand.
• The feet are the lowest part of the body and therefore the most “dirty”. Do not use your feet to point/touch and do not sit with the soles of your feet pointing out.
• In general, shoes are taken off at the door before entering a house or religious building. When in doubt, observe how the host/locals do so. (Therefore you are advised to bring footwear that is easily put-on and taken off.)
• When entering a home/room, in general, it is polite to allow the elder to enter before the junior. The men will usually enter the room first.
• For women, wear shorts at knee length or longer.

Language

Role Description

1. Team Leader

• Overall responsibility of team.
• Facilitate pre-trip meetings and discussions with the support of a pastoral staff / missions committee member.
• Assign team members to different roles, tasks and devotion duties.*
• Work closely with the missionary on the ground during the trip.
• Conduct debrief during the trip and when required, after the trip. (see below)
• Compile the team report with the Team Scribe.

*Done in discussion with pastoral staff and team members

Tips for Debrief

Debriefs are to be conducted with the team, on a daily basis. The objectives of the debrief are to:

• review the events of the day.
• suggest areas for improvement.
• look out for areas of frustration that team members face.
• encourage the members to share either their God moment for the day or how they have seen the H.I.G.H.E.R values in action in the team.

2. Assistant Team Leader

• Assist the Team Leader.
• Work with pastoral staff to produce missions handbook for the team.

Missions Handbook*

The Missions Handbook serves as a quick reference guide for ministry. The Handbook should contain the following:

• Trip programme / schedule
• Grouping (e.g. Home Visitation group, etc, as needed or for big groups)
• Encounter Journal bible references for team devotion
• Culture, people and language
• Worship songs
• Teaching materials (as needed)

*Generic template of the handbook may be obtained from the Missions Pastoral staff.

3. Group Leaders

• Only required for teams that consist of more than 15 members.
• Provide care to the members in the sub-groups.
• Surface any areas of concerns to team leader during the trip.

4. Treasurer

• Obtain cash advance from church for trip expenses (includes meals, transport, accommodation, ministry expenses). Work with Missions Pastoral staff to determine the amount of cash advance.
• Manage the budget before and during the trip. Keep an account of all expenses incurred for the trip (includes items purchased in Singapore before departure, e.g. craft items).
• Change currency into local currency. Obtain the official receipt of money changer for filing purposes.
• Pay for team expenses (meals, transport, accommodation, departure tax, etc) during the trip, including expenses incurred by the locals for the team (e.g. drinking water). Where possible, keep copies of receipts for submission at the end of trip.
• Prepare a statement of expenditure supported by receipts at the end of the trip. Where receipts are not available, the team leader shall acknowledge on the statement of the expenses incurred.

5. Logistics I/C

• Co-ordinate and where required, source for items needed for the trip (e.g. craft items, games logistics, etc).
• Provide personal logistics list to team members.
• Ensure that critical items are made available to the team for all activities.
• Ensure all bags that the team will be carrying, are accounted for, before departure and upon arrival at destination.

Note: This position may require two persons if there are many items to be prepared and/or brought along.

6. First Aider

• Prepare first aid kit to be brought along for the trip. Note: Check with church office if first aid kit is available for use. Otherwise, assemble a basic kit for the trip. Ensure that the kit is well stocked with basic medicines and items are not expired.
• Take note of team members who may have certain medical conditions that may require attention during the trip.
• Administer first aid when necessary.

7. Photographer

• Take photos and video clips of team activities during the trip.
• Upload the photo and video clips to a shared folder after the trip. Obtain link to shared folder from Missions Pastoral staff.
• Produce presentation/video of trip which may be shared with congregation post-trip.

Tips for Photographer

Take pictures/videos of:

• The locals, especially people whom the team is ministering / interacting with.
• The host church / missionary.
• The location and surroundings.
• The team in action.

Note to ALL:

• Avoid posting on social media, pictures / video taken with locals and / or missionary. Check with team leader / missionary / host, if not sure. If posting, do not tag locations.
• Pictures / videos may be posted on official social media accounts, i.e. TPMC accounts.
• For clarifications, approach the Missions Pastoral staff /

missionary on the ground.

8. Prayer Co-ordinator

• Co-ordinates and collates the prayer requests of the team, before and during the trip. The list will then be shared with the team who may decide to share with their families, friends, connect groups, ministry groups, etc.
• Shares a copy of the prayer requests with the Missions Pastoral staff or Missions committee. The Missions Pastoral staff shall share the prayer requests with the church office and TPMC prayer ministry.

9. Team Scribe

• Record important notes and discussions covered during pre-trip meetings, and more importantly, the final team debrief and team evaluation.
• Record events that took place during the trip.
• Record the reflections of team members (shared during debrief).
• Work with Team Leader to submit the trip report, at the end of the trip, using template provided – see Report Format under Additional Information.

The scribe works closely with the team leader and records the following:

• Each day’s activities during the trip.
• An evaluation of the day’s events.
• Team members’ reflections and evaluation.
• Blessings, thanksgiving and frustration shared during the trip.