Our programme of short term mission trips is called Serve Asia.
It’s for anyone who wants to experience a cross-cultural work in East Asia. Going on a Serve Asia trip will enrich your faith in Jesus as you see how God is at work in East Asia.
It can also open up possibilities for using your skills to serve God. Join us and find your place in mission.
How long?
Serve Asia trips can be from one week to a year. You’ll get to serve alongside OMF workers, getting a feel for East Asia and what it’s like to share the good news of Jesus in that context. It’s likely to stretch your faith and get you out of your comfort zone. But it will also give you a fresh perspective and open your eyes to what God is doing in East Asia.
How much?
Serve Asia trips normally cost £1250-£1600 depending on where and how long you go for.
Got more questions? Check out our FAQs.
What about training?
However long you go for, we’ll get you fully prepared with an Orientation weekend. And when you return, a Debrief weekend will help you process everything you’ve learned and experienced. Beyond that, we can also connect you to conferences and small groups to guide you along your spiritual and cross-cultural journey.
We operate under Global Connections’ Short-term mission code of best practice. This means you can be sure we follow the highest standards in how we run the Serve Asia programme.
We provide a range of Serve Asia trips
What is it?
A Vision Trip is a 1-3 week visit that gives you a taste of what God is doing in East Asia. Expect to have your eyes opened, faith encouraged and prayer life stretched.
If you know others from your church or CU who would be interested in going, let us know and we can help organise a team trip.
Interested in a Vision Trip? Get in touch with your local Area Representative.
What is it?
Join a team spending 2-6 weeks alongside OMF workers in East Asia. Get involved in sports ministries, prayer, sharing the good news of Jesus, English teaching, student work or children’s camps.
What can I expect?
You’ll get an up-close experience of East Asia, encountering its people, language and customs. You’ll see how the good news of Jesus is lived out and communicated in another culture. You can meet Asian Christians and see how their faith impacts their daily lives. You’ll have the opportunity to share Jesus through building friendships. And you’ll get to help out OMF workers of different nationalities. There are even opportunities to see what things are like in countries where normal outreach activities aren’t allowed.
Want to find out more? Get in touch with your local Area Representative.
What is it?
If you really want to delve into the experience of sharing Jesus in East Asia, a placement is ideal. It gives you the opportunity to stay in East Asia for a longer time – up to a whole year. During your placement you’ll serve alongside long-term OMF workers, giving you hands-on experience of what life is like as a cross-cultural worker.
We arrange your placement to match your skills and personality. Just let us know your availability and what you’d like to be involved in, and we’ll help work out a programme just for you.
Interested in an Individual Placement? Get in touch with your local Area Representative.
What is it?
If you know others from your church or CU who would be interested in going, let us know and we can help organise a team trip.
Interested in a group trip? Get in touch with your local Area Representative.
Frequently asked questions
You can do a wide range of things, from student outreach and prayer journeys to medical work and English teaching. We work in diverse locations across East Asia, from huge cities like Tokyo to the villages of Thailand. Each placement contributes to our long-term work to share the good news of Jesus.
If you’re looking for a team experience, we regularly partner with churches, Bible colleges, seminaries and schools to send short-term teams.
Serve Asia placements are available in 17 different East Asian countries where OMF has long-term workers. You can browse current Serve Asia opportunities by location on the OMF Opportunities website.
The Serve Asia programme runs all year around. You can serve for anything from one week to 12 months alongside OMF’s long-term workers in East Asia. Some of the Serve Asia opportunities listed online have set dates, while others are more flexible and can be arranged to suit both you and the host country.
One or two week mission trips are popular with those who are already in close proximity to the ministry location. Although only in the field for a short time, Serve Asia workers can be involved in many ways that work towards growing God’s church in Asia.
For those looking to go on a more long-term mission trip we have lots of opportunities available. We will do our best to find a place where you can serve in a ministry using your specific skills and gifts to meet a need in the field. By going for 6 weeks to 12 months it gives you an opportunity to be immersed in, and learn about, culture and language. You will also receive spiritual and personal support and mentoring from an OMF missionary.
If you are unsure which placement is right for you the Serve Asia Coordinator in your home country can help you to prayerfully consider how your gifts and skills could be used on the mission field and help to match this to current short-term mission opportunities in East Asia.
You can get in touch with your nearest OMF centre using the contact form.
Serve Asia regularly partners with churches, bible colleges, seminaries and schools to send teams to East Asia. We want to support and serve churches and other sending communities as they find ways to be more strategically involved in reaching East Asia’s peoples, and as they spur their members into deeper areas of discipleship.
To find out more about group mission trips please get in touch with your local OMF Area Representative.
Serve Asia trips normally cost £1250-£1600 depending on where you go and how long you go for.
Find out more about raising support, including fundraising for mission trips.
If you are interested in applying for one of the Serve Asia mission trips listed online, please register with the OMF Opportunities website. Answering these few quick questions helps us to connect you with your local OMF team. Once you have created an account it enables you to submit an inquiry about the opportunity which interests you.
After you submit an inquiry the Serve Asia Coordinator in your home country will contact you and ask you to complete a set of application forms. Once these have been reviewed you will meet a local OMF representative for an interview. After the interview your coordinator will let you know whether you have been accepted into the Serve Asia programme.
In some cases, people may not be able to participate in an on-the-ground Serve Asia placement because of medical or personal issues. The wellbeing of both the applicant and the long-term ministry are paramount to us as we thoroughly screen each application.
Once your application has been accepted you will be invited to attend a training day or weekend in your home country to help you to prepare for your mission trip.
You’ll benefit from our help and support in learning the language and culture, pastoral care and medical care.
Our support doesn’t stop when your placement ends. We hope your time with Serve Asia will be part of your life-long growth as a disciple of Jesus playing a part in his global plan. We provide mentoring, ways to stay involved in God’s work in the world and advice to help you and your church make the most of your experience with us.
By mission discipleship we mean that we hope to walk alongside each Serve Asia worker as they try to discern where and how they fit into God’s mission.
Before the great commission (Matthew 8:28), Jesus simply asked his disciples to “Follow me.” For three years the disciples walked, talked, ate, slept, witnessed miracles, cast out demons, and more as they followed Jesus. Through their following they learned. Through their following they were equipped. Through their following their commitment grew – so much so that when Jesus gave the great commission, their hearts were fully engaged, and their lives shaped for the long-term journey.
Serve Asia is not just about the “doing”.
In Serve Asia we don’t just focus on going to the mission field and “doing” something. It’s all about learning and finding out more about what is at the centre of God’s heart. It’s about learning more about what it means to follow God, even if this is to hard places. Serve Asia is not just about the short-term, it’s about gaining long-term vision and commitment.
Upon returning home, we help each Serve Asia worker to integrate and process their experiences. We walk with them as God leads, exploring further involvement in mission through praying, going, sending, learning, mobilising, or welcoming East Asians.
