Neighbors Project FAQs
Is the Neighbors Project right for me?
If you’re interested in the Neighbors Project, prayerfully consider these questions to help determine if it might be a good fit for your group:
- Are you a church group or part of another organized group that wants to make an ongoing commitment to missions?
- Are you interested in making a lasting difference in a community through holistic ministry?
- Are you willing to forego some of the “vacation” elements and creature comforts that mission trips sometimes include, instead investing your time in building cross-cultural relationships in sometime primitive conditions?
- Are you willing to humbly demonstrate the love of Christ through service-oriented ministry?
How much do Neighbors Project mission trips cost?
The cost for Neighbors Project-related mission trips are comparable or identical to other NWHCM mission trips.
What other costs are involved?
Each year, churches or groups will work to accomplish a different part of their Neighbor Plan. For example, they may begin fundraising one year to build a church, if none exists in their Neighbor community. Another year, they may partner to purchase donkeys to strengthen the community’s transportation and agriculture structure. Another year, they may invest time in preparing educational seminars to be used as outreach tools. Thus, the financial investments will vary year-by-year, church-by-church.
The opportunities to invest are endless. Churches are encouraged to invest financially at a pace and scale that are appropriate for their size and vision, and for the demonstrated needs in the community.
Many churches also include Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in their general mission budget, as the Lord provides. NWHCM provides the framework, services, and accountability for the church-community partnerships, and those services come at a cost to us. We rely on our Neighbor Churches to help us cover those costs by investing in our ministry, as they are led and able to give. General donations also help our ministry in communities that have no church partners, and helps fund our ministries that benefit the whole region.
How long is a Neighbors Project commitment?
There is no set timetable for Neighbor Relationships, other than a commitment to long-term relationship. Ideally, we encourage churches to plan for a minimum commitment of five years. We enter these adventures not knowing what the future holds and even expecting occasional bumps along the way. However, we believe we serve a redemptive God who helps us work through challenges. This is not a decision to be rushed but one to be thought and prayed over with individuals and the church as whole.
While there is no rigid rule for a time commitment, we do ask that you be respectful of the community and projects that have been started and not leave a community with unfinished projects.
How is our money used?
Mission trip money pays for travel, housing and food costs, and ministry costs. Individual projects (as a part of the Neighbor Plan) will have their own budgets to pay for materials and labor.
What will a short-term “Neighbors” mission trip look like?
Neighbor Teams will often spend four or five days living in their Neighbor Community. Conditions may be primitive. We will provide housing, food and clean water for your stay, as well as interpreters, transportation, and mission staff to facilitate your activities. In some cases it will be possible to stay in NWHCM facilities.
The initial trip will focus on a Community Needs Assessment (see question below for details).
Successive trips may include several or all of these elements:
- An outreach event done in partnership with the local church
- Planning/assessment meetings with community members and leaders
- Working on projects in your Neighbor Plan. Each year, you will work together to accomplish the goals set out in your Neighbor Plan. For example, these might include: building a school or composting toilets, providing business training and microloans, conducting ESL or sports camps, or initiating a clean water project. Since these projects will be diverse, your team will probably have some different members each year, as you draw from different types of interests, abilities, and experience.
Most of our teams will also spend a day or two on one of our campuses in Saint-Louis du Nord or Port-de-Paix. It is crucial for every group to understand the ministry of NWHCM as a whole, and visiting those campuses helps to create this broader understanding. Thus, groups are aware of the regional services available to members of their rural Neighbor community, such as medical care, special needs care, elderly housing and Bible training.
What do you mean by a Community Needs Assessment Trip?
We want to begin Neighbors Project relationships in humility and with the goal of mutual encouragement, so we first present ourselves to the community as their students. To accomplish this, you will be conducting a Community Needs Assessment. This means identifying community needs and characteristics in areas like water, sanitation, schooling, agriculture, business, transportation, health care, housing and spirituality.
Community Needs Assessments may include mapping, conducting a census, photography, interviewing community members, conducting “focus groups,” and meeting with church/community leaders. This assessment, as well as others like it, is the cornerstone from which all other projects and ideas will be built.
After your trip, you will be encouraged to report what you found to your church family in America.
Will NWHCM staff guide us in our Neighbors Project?
Yes! NWHCM staff will guide and direct Neighbors Project groups through every step along the way. Groups can expect to have interpreters, church leaders and other mission employees or interns accompanying them on their trips.
