Let's Go!

SLAM partners with local churches and schools to provide space for sleeping, showers, and team time with your group. A typical week includes sleeping in a classroom on the sleeping bags and padding that you bring and taking showers in private stalls. Your students will be under the supervision of your own adult chaperones but may share space with students and chaperones of other groups.

SLAM would suggest a 7:1 ratio of students to adults (21+). Mixed gender groups require both a male and female adult regardless of group size. Reach out if you have specific questions about your group dynamic.

Yes. SLAM staff have all undergone background checks.

SLAM is an interdenominational ministry with leaders and participants from a wide range of Christian backgrounds and ethnic origins. We focus on teaching the significance of serving like Jesus as modeling in his life and taught throughout the canon of Scripture. Our goal is to reinforce the expectation that followers of Jesus are engaged in serving practically as a part of bringing God’s kingdom to earth. It is not our intention to teach on topics that have been historically divisive but to pursue the unity that Jesus prayed for his disciples to experience as we work together as his body and share his mind. We have worked with groups including: Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Wesleyan, Christian, Non-Denominational, and more.

During a typical week, SLAM provides all meals Tuesday though Friday (12 total). Your group will be responsible for meals during travel (including dinner before check-in on Monday) as well as breakfast as you depart on Saturday morning. Customization can be made for unique travel schedules with advanced planning. Breakfasts are often a breakfast burrito or sandwich with fruit, sack lunches are packed for flexibility regardless of the type of work project, and most evening meals have an ethnic element as part of our value to create global awareness in the midst of a domestic experience.

Yes, we have worked with students with all of the major categories of food allergies. If you have students with highly sensitive and life-threatening reactions, please bring up those needs early in the registration process so we determine the best way forward to serve you well.

Yes, thanks for asking! SLAM is a program of Global Outreach Developments International (www.godintl.org) and largely facilitated by alumni and students of The Institute for GOD (www.instituteforgod.edu). Our heart is to educate people in God’s Word and equip and empower them with practical skills that will be used to bring the abundant life and hope that Jesus came to offer and called his disciples to work toward. Students Living a Mission is just one of dozens of our programs with this goal in mind. If you’d like to learn more about our other programs and efforts, we are always excited to share more.

SLAM is committed to meeting practical needs and fostering relationships with those who receive our service whenever possible. We are engaged in ministry with immigrant and refugee families, widows and the elderly, as well as children. SLAM also partners with local organizations who are meeting needs related to food-insecurity, homelessness, medical access, and more. Our pre-trip process is designed to understand the demographic and skill set of your team and match it with the needs that exist during your stay. Because of the fluid nature of this kind of grassroots work, you may only get details within a few weeks before arrival and they may change once you arrive. In everything, we encourage an attitude of flexibility because ministry should be responsive to the people we are here to serve rather than to fit our agenda for what we want to do.

Though we love when teams can have a shared experience on a single project, many projects can only actively engage 6-12 team members at a time. In cases where your team is larger than a project can accommodate, we will divide your students and chaperones up so that you will be more effective at meeting needs and giving your students practical ministry opportunities. Apart from rare project specific age-restrictions, we give you the flexibility to choose how to divide your team for optimal teamwork and supervision.

We love giving students the change to explore their passions and gifts in a variety of ministry contexts. Many groups rotate between a variety of projects during their SLAM week Groups who choose to facilitate a kids camp will do for the full week with some flexibility to rotate personnel if your team is large enough to have other projects assigned as well. These camps are highly relational and therefore most effective when your team commits to a consistent presence throughout your experience.

Though we can customize a trip for a specific team, most often we partner with several churches/groups who share the SLAM experience together. Your students will see a broader picture of the body of Christ as they worship, work, and laugh alongside others from other locations and backgrounds. Your team will stay together for service projects, meals, and lodging (only split based on capacity) and you will have time each afternoon to use as needed for your team dynamics.