Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission (SOE)

About

The Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission (SOE) is a membership, accrediting, and resourcing body for churches, agencies and schools providing benefits and services to members and non-members. SOE desires to make mission trips better by helping mission sending and receiving entities apply The Seven Standards to their specific ministry context through coaching and consulting, on-site training and mobilization, and conferences and workshops.

Philosophy

Our philosophy is to encourage, enable and equip one another to be excellent by adopting The Seven Standards and to foster a network of like-minded organizations for this pursuit. Each year, thousands of volunteers are mobilized to many international and domestic locations where they participate in evangelism, discipleship, Bible training, racial reconciliation, providing health care, addressing cultural issues faced by youth and families and much more. When a member displays the SOE logo, signifying the adoption of The Seven Standards, it demonstrates that they strive for Christ-centered and effective missions strategies, partnerships and stewardship.

Accreditation is given to churches, agencies and organizations that meet or exceed the highest best practice standards established for short-term missions. Achieving this top-tier SOE seal is rigorous and advancement is not automatic.