This is a record year for mission teams, according to BMS World Mission, with numbers of both teams and participants in teams at their highest level ever.

By the end of 2007, BMS will have sent eight church teams, six summer teams including one summer justice team doing legal work, nine action teams, two medical teams and one extreme Latin America team to work with partners across the world.

An estimated 225 people will have been involved in the 26 teams, a significant increase on last year's teams, which totalled 160 people.

Of the eight church teams, five are BMS-facilitated teams that have made use of their own contacts with overseas churches but have relied on BMS for information, advice and training in best practice for team mission.

"I find the growth in teams this year exciting," said Tom Howell, BMS Mission Teams Co-ordinator, "because they involve such a broad spectrum of ages, skills and backgrounds.

"Like the mid and short-term volunteer programmes, which are also growing, BMS teams provide a great opportunity for people to really experience overseas service while still making it accessible to those who don't necessarily feel called to long-term service."

Applications are still open for this year's second medical team to Bangladesh, which will be going from 3 to 18 November 2007. Applications for 2008 teams will start opening from September this year.


Go to www.bmsworldmission.org/ for more information.




[Source: BMS World Mission]