Wheaton College has a long history of sending students around the world in missions and service work. These experiences have been at the initiation of students responding to various needs and crisis around the world. Student Missionary Partners continues this work in organizing trips during the school year and summer!
Spring Break Trips
Envision Atlanta serves the needs of the refugee community while developing missional leaders in a multicultural setting through innovative ministry strategies and short-term mission opportunities. Envision Atlanta aims to see the lives of refugee neighbors transformed personally and spiritually, and missional leaders developed holistically through collaboration, community, development, health, hospitality, and humility. From teaching English to providing quality grown food, students are meeting the practical needs of the Clarkston community while bringing the light of Christ into the lives of individuals and families. Students will be able to engage with Envision Atlanta and learn what it looks like to be hospitable and how to love our neighbors well.
His Mansion Ministries is a Christ-centered residential recovery community that works to minister the love of Christ to see peoples’ lives transformed. His Mansion works with young adults ages 18-35 in a year-long recovery program, helping them find freedom from addiction through a relationship with Jesus. Residents experience restored lives through authentic relationships, formational learning, Christ-centered counseling, and a healthy work ethic, including harvesting from their garden and preparing meals together. His Mansion’s beautiful property is located in south-central New Hampshire, where you can find a working farm with livestock and gardens as well as various facilities such as men’s and women’s dorm buildings, a chapel, a multi-purpose building, and staff family homes. Students will join the His Mansion Residents, Servant Leaders, and Staff in their work crews and live, converse, eat, and worship alongside them. All students are invited, especially those who wish to serve in ministry in the future or are skilled in carpentry.
Students will partner with the Wheaton College Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Campo Amor, which is a network of dozens of house churches that participate in holistic ministry in their communities. The church often focuses on the term diakonia, the emphasis of helping one another in the family of God. Visitors to Camp Amor will be welcomed by a warm, vibrant community of faith who genuinely enjoy building friendships with guests. They will serve and share among these brothers and sisters in Christ, and also enjoy their cultural traditions, such as cafecitos and dancing.
Students will have the opportunity to witness what the Lord is doing in Mexico City by partnering with various organizations. Students will be able to experience the culture of Mexico City through visiting markets, meeting locals, going to an anthropology museum, going to church, and eating out. The team will specifically partner with Milamex, which is run by a former Wheaton alumna. Students will learn about the ministries of Milamex, including their choir, publishing of Christian content, a program about Christ-centered health, and their guesthouse. Students will also be able to engage with Brave Heart Collective, which serves vulnerable communities and migrants in Mexico City through activities and programs for both children and adults that aim for educational, recreational, and spiritual development.
The Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief team will have the opportunity to assist homeowners affected by a recent disaster, helping in Jesus’ Name. This trip will help those in need experience God’s love and the true hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The nature of the work is dependent on the type of storm. Students will likely be aiding with home repair and assisting with yard clean up. No skills are necessary prior to serving, just a desire to love and serve those who are hurting. The work is dependent upon the need that arises, therefore the domestic location of this trip will be determined closer to Spring Break. “Samaritan’s Purse is here to help and we’re doing it all in Jesus’ Name. We want every homeowner to know that God loves them and hasn’t forgotten them.”- Franklin Graham
Skivangelism is partnering with Student Missionary Partners to bring Wheaton College its second spring break trip designed specifically for snowsports ministry! This year they are partnering alongside of Snowboarders and Skiers for Christ, which exists to bridge the snowboard and ski culture to Jesus Christ, while partnering with the local Church. Participants get to witness and learn first-hand how SFC missionaries spread the Gospel out on the slopes and in their local community.
Wheaton Football Ministry Partners (WFMP) is a spring break missions opportunity conducted by the Wheaton football program. This year, the trip will be to Ensenada, Mexico. Most often, these trips partner with former Wheaton football players who are in full time Christian ministry. These trips are open to students, faculty, and staff. If interested in learning more please reach out to Mike Schauer (Director of Athletics) or Jeff Peltz (Program Director) for more information.
Summer Trips
In a North African city on the Mediterranean, you will discover how our partner organizations integrate business and ministry to impact communities and transform lives. At the same time, you’ll engage in meaningful relationships and share Jesus with Muslim university students in and around a local training and co-working center. Your summer includes language and cultural study, social activities with the co-working community, and discussions about church planting and entrepreneurship principles with experienced practitioners. The experience is further enriched by visits to active Kingdom businesses and cultural sites throughout the country.
In Southeast Asia, students will engage in a Business as Missions (BAM) model in the hospitality industry. This particular BAM ministry is dedicated to spreading the gospel among an unreached people group in Southeast Asia and bringing sustainable, positive impact to employees, the ecosystem, and local economy. During their two-months, students will not only lend their skills to a purposeful project but will also dedicate time to language acquisition. Moreover, they'll delve into the intricacies of a BAM operation, observe pivotal decision-making procedures, and learn the art of connecting with unreached and unengaged people groups. This immersive experience entails spending time both within the business environment and on remote islands, living with host families, and fully immersing themselves in the subsistence lifestyle of the local fishing communities. The opportunity is tailored for adventurous students ready to fully embrace life rhythms of both the city and remote villages. To thrive in this experience, students should have a passion for adventure, a desire for cultural & culinary exploration, adaptability, and an eagerness to go with the flow of everyday life. Beyond the adventure, student participation plays a pivotal role in advancing the partner organization’s two-decade-long mission to reach unreached and unengaged communities.
Intermission Youth Hostel is a summer hostel operated by Laget Vest, a local Christian university organization located in Bergen, Norway. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population near 300,000 people. The town is known for its many universities as well as its port, the busiest in Norway, for both commercial and tourist business. Intermission is a hostel ministry that aims to serve the backpacking community through hospitality. Students will first walk the Camino de Santiago, a famous pilgrimage route in Spain, for 7-10 days where they will walk alongside fellow pilgrims and stay in multiple albergues. After completion of the Camino, students will then fly to Bergen. They will be responsible for setting up Intermission and making the space open and welcoming. Once the hostel opens, students will be responsible for general cleaning and upkeep of the hostel, keeping track of hostel bookings, checking guests in, and engaging in spiritual converstaions with guests. Students will have the chance to host weekly waffle and movie nights, organize group hikes and city tours, as well as any other opportunities they wish to provide for guests.
In Spain, students will engage in two ministries of One Collective: Pilgrim House and APOTHECA. Pilgrim House is a welcome center located in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, for backpackers freshly off the Camino de Santiago, a walking pilgrimage with various routes ultimately leading to the Cathedral of Saint James. Santiago has a population of only 100,000 people, but the town swells with 200,000 pilgrims visiting each year. Most of the local industry is focused on tourists. The center was founded to be a space of reflection and rest “for the engaged heart and searching soul” of pilgrims who need an inviting and hospitable environment to process their time on the trail. APOTHECA is a nonprofit seeking to care for the local, residential community of Santiago through community development work. Students will first walk a portion of the Camino, engaging in the rhythmic act of traveling the same path as the one the pilgrims they meet will have taken. After arriving in Santiago, they will split their time between serving at the welcome center alongside Pilgrim House staff to lead Camino debriefs and reflections and to welcome pilgrims into their final destination with biblical hospitality and kindness and serving with APOTHECA in a local grocery store and artisanal soap-making workshops to empower women and foster meaningful conversations.
Christ for the City International, founded in 1995, is a multinational organization dedicated to empowering local missionaries to spread the Gospel message in impoverished urban areas, uplifting the under-resourced communities of Tirrases and Los Guido with both material aid and the love of God. CPCI strives to break the cycle of poverty through holistic development initiatives that support employment, education, and the prevention of violence. The Costa Rican team serves through various transformation centers in the capital city of San José and its surrounding area with medical clinics, sports ministry, leading devotionals, teaching ESL classes to all ages, tutoring, women’s recovery centers, and youth programs. Students will serve alongside missionaries in a ministry center in local neighborhoods. Students should expect to pray for and learn from the residents there. A variety of skill sets can be utilized in this ministry, specifically relational ministry. Students will either live in the main administrative center of CPCI or in the home of the local missionary families.
The team of students working with Warm Heart Community in Mexico will be working in one of the largest metropolises in the world–Mexico City. There, the team will be a part of amazing opportunities to be involved in the historic and artistic hub that is the Coyoacan community. Warm Heart, which is a ministry within Milamex, describes themselves as a place where people can explore who they are and who they want to become. For students wanting to be a part of a creative environment catered towards exploring their interests, this is a wonderful place to be. At this guesthouse, guests can be in community with each other through learning languages, watching movies, playing board games, doing yoga, cooking delicious food, creating art, and getting to meet and spend time with both local Mexicans and people who come to volunteer from all around the world. The Warm Heart hosts love encouraging people to cultivate and use their abilities to serve others through putting on events that raise awareness about social issues and to help people explore ways they can walk in step with those in need. They are passionate about serving faith-based non-profits through designing websites, making videos, and using their imagination to think outside the box and support causes in innovative ways! Everyday life in this hostel will look like living in community with fellow travelers, facilitating spiritual reflection for backpackers, getting to help run the guesthouse’s cafe, checking in and giving tours to visitors, assisting in cleaning, and being a part of planning events that bring communities together.
Living and Learning International is a ministry and education organization with a location in Quito, Ecuador. Living and Learning International trains youth workers in the local church and runs internships for North American college students. Students will have the opportunity to support Living and Learning’s partners across the city. Quito has a long history as a pre-columbian and spanish city. Its population is more than 2.5 million people. Some students will work in a community health clinic, observing medical practice in an international setting to gain an understanding of international medicine and medical practices. Others will work in a micro-business entrepreneurial setting or as a teacher's aid in a small faith-based K-12 school which serves a specific under-resourced community within Quito. Students will engage with education or ministry programs alongside staff and community members and live with a host family, immersed in the rich culture of Ecuador’s mountainous capital.