It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we announce the closure of our Action Team and Insight Team programmes.

For nearly 30 years, BMS Action Teams and Insight Teams have inspired hundreds of Christians to deepen their participation in God’s mission through a first-hand cross-cultural experience. We know from speaking to so many of you just how precious those opportunities were, as you connected with your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world, prayed for their work, and nurtured a passion for world mission.

BMS World Mission has always worked carefully to ensure our Action Teams and Insight Teams were framed as primarily educational and discipleship experiences, with participants carefully briefed in issues of cultural sensitivity and awareness. However, short-term mission teams have often faced the criticism that sending volunteers with limited training, experience and language literacy to participate in partner projects can be both inefficient and disempowering.

We have always been attentive to such critiques and yet, the underlying questions about the impact of short-term teams on our long-term objectives have persisted. These issues have become all the more pertinent as BMS embarks on our new strategy with an emphasis on growing mission capacity in local contexts. Can we work in true intercultural partnership with the Church in the Global South whilst also asking her to be a passive recipient of mission teams from the UK? Can we continue to redress the imbalances of financial power, whilst sending affluent teams to work with partners on a short-term basis? How do we prioritise the development of emerging leaders from the Global South when our flagship missional discipleship programmes are inaccessible to those outside the UK?

Though we’re still wrestling with these questions, our inability to send teams during the Covid-19 pandemic did afford us an unexpected opportunity. It gave us the chance to work harder on what practical solutions to these questions would look like for BMS, and glimpse the benefits that come from BMS prioritising our commitment to work equally with the Global Church – most notably for those we serve. It’s with this in mind, and as we’ve listened to the perspectives of our partners, stakeholders, past programme participants and sending churches, that we’ve come to the challenging conclusion that the time has come to close our Action Team and Insight Team programmes.

We remain committed to creating avenues for Christians (and young Christians particularly) to find their role in God’s mission. As we seek God’s guidance, we trust that what will emerge is something that is more sustainable, more equitable, and more glorifying to God’s global Church.

Thank you for your patience with us as we explore this unknown future, and thank you for your support of the BMS teams programmes.

If you have any comments, questions or would like further information, please reach out to our Supporter team who would be happy to help. You can email supportercare@bmsworldmission.org