Program FAQs

Before coming to WEC USA’s headquarters for orientation you will be given access to an online Pre-field Manual that walks you through the steps you need to take to get to your country of service. You will also be emailed a document specific to your individual program that will go over all of the details you will need to be aware of.

The Core & Trek programs require you to find a mentor who will walk with you through the process of preparing, pray for you while on the field and encourage you during the debriefing and follow-up program.

Topics covered in the Pre-Field Manual and your individual program document:

• Personal preparation
• Raising a support team
• Obtaining a passport, visa and immunizations
• The nuts and bolts of packing
• Country research
• Info on what your ministry and daily life may look like
• Budget
• Required reading list
• Forms to complete and return to us before you leave

Before you leave for your overseas assignment, WEC will provide an excellent and thorough orientation at WEC USA’s headquarters in Philadelphia, PA. The length of the orientation and topics covered depend on which program you are joining.

Generally, topics covered include:

• Audio-visual storytelling
• Biblical basis of missions
• Child Protection
• Church planting (introduction to)
• Cross-cultural communication & adaptation
• Culture shock
• Dependency issues
• Expectations
• Guarding your heart (for singles) / Guarding your marriage (for couples)
• Health
• Language learning
• Missions challenge
• Research on the country of ministry
• Safety
• Sharing your faith cross-culturally
• Spiritual warfare
• WEC overview
• Working on an international missionary team

Immediately after returning from your short-term trip, you’ll participate in a 4 day debriefing with us before you return home.
Debriefing provides an excellent environment to:

• Process your WEC short-term experience
• Write a debrief report
• Share about your trip
• Ask God how to use your short-term mission experience to make long-term changes in your life

Debriefing includes sessions on:

• Re-entry stress (reverse culture shock)
• Sharing your experience back home
• Serving as a “sender” or “goer.”

WEC’s one-year follow through program will help keep your short-term experience fresh and challenge you to continue your involvement in the Great Commission, whether here at home or in another culture. The mentor you chose at the beginning of your process will be a vital part of your follow through experience.

Generally our Orientations are held four times each year in:

• Early-mid January
• Late May (except WEC Core)
• Early June (except WEC Core)
• Late September

Orientations and debriefs for the Core, Trek and Discovery programs, are held at WEC USA’s branch, located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on a historical site called Camp Hill. In November 1777, General George Washington’s Continental Army encamped on this ridge before moving to Valley Forge for the winter. A century later, John R. Fell chose this spot to build a lavish country estate for himself and his bride, Sarah Drexel. Crowning the estate is a 43-room stone mansion we call “The Castle”—a pretty cool setting for short-term training! The Rainbows of Hope Internships have their own training in South Carolina.

WEC Short-Term Department processes applications year round. Processing your application and getting you ready to go overseas will take a minimum of four months before your orientation date. But the earlier you apply the more likely it’ll be that we’ll able to place you in your country of first-choice.