One dilemma of planning a mission trip, for us anyway, is the tension between starting to plan the trip prior to recruiting teammembers versus starting to recruit a team without having the trip details in place.
In general, it has worked best for us to have a small leadership team (eg. clergy and lay mission leader(s)) decide on a destination and dates up front. This has enabled us to have a target for advertising the trip.
Ideally, someone in the parish has had previous experience in a particular country. If not, however, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts has a great resource in the Rev. Ted Gaiser, Deacon of Global Partnerships. He can be contacted through the diocesan mission website at www.missiongoal.org. Rev. Gaiser can suggest destinations suitable for the group as well as provide contact information. Another option is to take advantage of an established program, particularly if this is the group's first mission trip. Good programs include El Hogar in Honduras, Cristosal in El Salvador, and Christ Church Needham's medical mission trips to Haiti.
It is also a good idea to just make an executive decision and fix the dates. If no one signs up for a particular date, then obviously it will need to be changed, but there shouldn't be ongoing negotiations with group members over the dates. This invariably ends in tears. Either they can go or they can't. This is also a good time to think about whether this is a youth, adult or combined youth/adult trip. Also, what are the age limits. (In our church, we require those under 16 to be accompanied by a parent. We would probably also discourage anyone from bringing a child younger than about 9.)
This leads to the next big hurdle, recruiting teammembers. If you're lucky, you have a large church with a good-sized pool of experienced mission participants. If your church is small or medium, like ours, and especially if this is the church's first mission experience, it is often easier to work with your deanery or at least one other church in the area.
In our experience, the trip needs to be really talked up, especially from the pulpit. Also advertise it in every way that you can. Put out posters, newsletter articles, a coffee hour recruiting table, have informational meetings, and show videos or powerpoints. Approach anyone who seems to have an interest. Once a mission program gets up and running, this part is easier, but on a first trip there is a great deal of inertia to overcome. Probably less than a third of the people who express interest will actually end up going on the trip. We have found that it takes about four months to recruit enough people for a trip. There should be a reasonable deadline set for signing up, about four months prior to the trip dates.
We see recruiting as something of a ministry in itself: we are helping our fellow parishioners discern a call to mission. Potential teammembers don't need to be particularly "screened", but try to encourage them to pray about their decision and to have a realistic rather than idealized view of the purpose of a mission trip. It is not a pilgrimage or tour, and it is usually not a way to "convert the heathen" (often we are the ones converted). Generally a mission trip is an opportunity to serve others in some small way and to learn from them a reality that greatly differs from our own.
Our church usually designs a "Registration Form" for our prospective teammembers. What this really accomplishes is to encourage a sense of commitment to the trip. We also require a $100 non-refundable deposit due by the deadline. This form acts to weed out those who (verbally) would "love to go", but who can't seem to commit. We also get contact information, a little bit of background (i.e. previous trip experience), and we even ask for a passport number and expiration date on this form, forcing the potential teammember to actually check it and forestall any last-minute passport nightmares.
During this period, the trip can be fleshed out a bit with the organization or diocese with whom you are working. There should be at least a general agenda showing what activities might happen on which days. Often the hosting organization can suggest an agenda based on the interests of the group. Be aware, however, that you may not be sure of exactly what the group will be doing until just prior to leaving.
