Policies

Team Member Behavioral Guidelines

 
No body piercings except for women’s earrings are permitted. Men will not be allowed to wear earrings. The use and/or purchase of all tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, and illegal drugs is prohibited. Foul language, vulgar slang, and off-colored jokes will not be permitted.

Dress is generally casual with modesty always being the guide. Teams may attend one or two worship services in a local church. For church services, slacks/long khakis and a shirt for men are appropriate while a modest dress, ankle-length skirt, or slacks and dress blouse for women are appropriate. While in the field, jeans or shorts are appropriate for men while ladies may wear capris, finger tip length shorts, or ankle-length skirts. No gym shorts or yoga pants. Jeans, t-shirts, scrubs for medical teams, and casual wear are all acceptable. However, t-shirts must not have inappropriate messages or logos.

You will be provided with three meals a day by Best Family Ministries. Meals will be prepared in a traveler-friendly way and will be foods you’re used to eating. It is important that each team member show respect to our cooks and food preparers.

All team members are required to be in their rooms at 10:00 each night. It is very important to respect the needs of each team member and getting proper rest is absolutely vital to having a beneficial week. Any exceptions must be cleared with the team leader.

All team members are subject to the decisions made by the team leader. Any changes to travel plans must be approved by the leadership of Best Family Ministries beforehand.

Anyone joining a mission team who has a felony conviction must share this with Best Family Ministries before or after completing the team application form. A decision will be made concerning the person’s eligibility. All team members are subject to background checks.

Initiating or becoming involved in inappropriate personal relationships with other team members, staff, translators or someone you meet, will not be allowed. This type of distraction can affect the whole team and can be used to thwart the purposes and blessings of God for the team.

Team members must refrain from showing inappropriate affection to the children in the ministry. Team members are also prohibited from being alone with any child in the ministry, even with a translator. All one on one conversations must take place in open areas within sight of other team members and Best Family staff. First violation of this guideline will result in a warning. A second violation will result in loss of the privilege of serving with a team.

Giving money directly to any child or caregiver in the ministry is strictly prohibited. Giving money directly to translators, staff members or any person to whom we minister is prohibited. This can create resentment and cause confusion. Opportunities to give will be made available but must be done through the direction of your team leader in the field. Also, bringing gifts from a sponsor or giving any material gifts directly to the children is not allowed without out prior permission from Best Family Ministries. Anyone, including sponsors, desiring to give anything directly to a child must have that cleared in advance.

As our older boys and girls enter high school, they have access to the internet and cell phones. Calling or receiving calls, emailing, or becoming friends with the children is prohibited. Letters may be sent through our website via the Write page. All letters and cards sent are screened and inappropriate letters will not be given to them. Violation of this guideline will result in the loss of the privilege of serving with a mission team.

These guidelines were approved by the Best Family Ministries Board of Directors and are to be understood as very serious with real consequences. The leadership of Best Family Ministries reserves the right to decline any application for team membership or deny any participation of a team member on the field for any reason, including, but not limited to, theological differences or personal behavior deemed incompatible with its ministry and/or testimony.

Team Member Regulations

 
Best Family Ministries’ mission is to make Jesus known to the orphaned and vulnerable children in Rwanda through wholistic development. We are an organization that focuses on family preservation by providing wholistic care to the children and families in our programs. Every child in BFR either lives with an immediate family member, extended family member, or with a member of the community that has lovingly taken a child into their home. We are a family-based care ministry because we believe God’s design for children is a family environment.

One of the most important aspects of team preparation is to realize that while we have our plans and our agendas, it is vital for each team and each team member to be flexible and willing to lay them down when God directs and leads in ways that are different from our plans. You must come with a surrendered servant heart in order to be effective on the mission field. Rwanda is different from the United States in many ways. The call to go on a short-term mission trip is a call to surrender and sacrifice. It is each team member’s responsibility to appreciate, accept and adapt to the Rwandan culture.

Each team will be responsible for booking and purchasing their airline tickets for their trip. The cost of the trip is on a trip-by-trip basis. A $250 non-refundable deposit is included in the total cost.

Each team member must complete the Application Form. Best Family Ministries must have all required paperwork and travel documents, along with the full amount of the trip in our office NO LATER THAN THIRTY DAYS before the team’s departure date.

There may be meals on the team’s travel days that are not covered by your trip cost. Each team member should be prepared to pay for these two meals.

All team members MUST have a passport to travel to Rwanda and the passport must have at least six months left before the expiration date. You will not be allowed to travel if there is less than six months before your passport expires.

All team members MUST have a visa to enter Rwanda. This will be purchased prior to the trip if possible, but may be purchased at the Kigali airport.

Best Family Ministries will provide each team member with a Best Family t-shirt. This is included in the cost of the trip. The appropriate size should be marked on the application.

Best Family Ministries teams will be required to have insurance for all team members. This can be purchased through Best Family Ministries. Coverage costs and details will be provided by the team leader.

Teams can be made up of people ranging from teenagers to senior adults. Parents can take their children with the understanding that they are responsible for their supervision. The minimum age for children with parents is 8 years of age. Children may come with a grandparent, but a notarized letter of permission is required by Best Family Ministries and it is the parents’ responsibility to complete all requirements of the government and the airlines. (You must be 18 years of age or older to be able to come alone on a Best Family Ministries trip.) Anyone under 18 must have a parent or legal guardian on the trip with them.

Teams will be provided with translators. Best Family Ministries determines which translators are used. Returning teams may request particular translators, but it is Best Family Ministries’s decision as to who we use.

Best Family Ministries desires that each team member have the freedom to hear from the Holy Spirit. Often team members are moved to give financially to our staff, translators, and others as the week progresses. It is very important that team members allow Best Family Ministries’ to guide and provide information as to how this should be done. Many team members experience deep emotions during their week in Rwanda and our desire is that decisions be made wisely and also in a way that doesn’t cause problems among our staff. One suggestion is that a team may give a love offering to our staff at the end of the week and it would be divided equally among all of them.

Release

 
I understand that I am applying to serve under the auspices of Best Family Ministries. I also understand that my purpose is to help fulfill the goals and ministry that God has given to Best Family Ministries. My role will be as a servant and I will submit to the authority of Best Family Ministries, my team leader, and the Rwandan leadership. I have read the regulations and guidelines and I accept them and agree to abide by them at any point I am under the care of Best Family Ministries. I understand that Best Family Ministries will make the final decision concerning my becoming a member of a short-term mission team.

I, the undersigned, wish to participate in a short-term mission project in Rwanda conducted under the policies of Best Family Ministries. By signing this form, I acknowledge (1) that travel to and in the country of Rwanda involves hazards not customarily encountered when traveling in the United States. (2) Medical facilities in Rwanda are substandard and that should a medical emergency develop during my trip, it is unlikely that I will receive medical care in Rwanda equivalent to that available in the United States. (3) Working conditions in Rwanda are often inferior to conditions in the United States. (4) Best Family Ministries does not carry insurance against any of the risk I may encounter in Rwanda.

Despite the foregoing, it is my desire to participate in the work in Rwanda and I knowingly assume the risks that are involved and release Best Family Ministries, its employees and agents, from any liability for injury, damage or harm, which may occur to my person or property while traveling in connection with Best Family Ministries or otherwise participating with Best Family Ministries now or at any point in the future.

I affirm that I am eighteen (18) years of age or older, or the parent/guardian of the participant if under eighteen years of age and that this agreement is binding on me and my executor, administrators and heirs. I give Best Family Ministries and its representative(s) with me on any such trip authority to request and authorize medical and/or hospital treatment for my benefit in the event of any injury or sickness sustained by me while on such ministry activity, including, without limitation, while traveling to and from any foreign country. I agree to pay for all such treatment and to reimburse Best Family Ministries for all costs and expenses incurred by Best Family Ministries with respect to such treatment.