Be Present: EM’s Mobile Phone Guidelines for Mission Trips

Our hope is that this trip becomes a time of renewal, connection, and service that stays with you long after you return home. Your full presence is the greatest gift you can offer to this experience.

Why It Matters

Your mission trip is a unique opportunity to step away from daily distractions and fully engage with one another and the community we're serving. We've found that participants who minimize phone use report deeper connections, more meaningful experiences, and a greater sense of purpose during their time on mission.

Our Recommendation

We encourage Team Members to consider leaving your phone at home. Many past participants have found this to be one of the most freeing and rewarding decisions they made for their trip.

Why Disconnect?

When we put our phones away, we create space to:

• Build deeper relationships with fellow team members through undistracted conversation
• Connect authentically with the people we're serving by giving them our full attention
• Notice more of what God is doing around us and within us
• Be fully present during work projects, meals, worship, and reflection times
• Break free from the constant pull of social media, news, and digital demands

If you do bring your phone*

We understand that some team members may need to bring their phones for emergency contact purposes or other important reasons. If you choose to bring your phone, we ask that you:

• Keep it tucked away during communal times (meals, meetings, work projects, group activities, and worship)
• Designate specific times for checking messages if needed
• Be mindful that photos and social media posts can sometimes shift our focus from serving to performing
• Respect others who are trying to disconnect by not encouraging phone use
• Be respectful of community members by always asking permission to take a picture
• Honor the community in what you share. When posting photos or stories, center the voices and dignity of the people you are serving. Consider whether your posts build genuine understanding or inadvertently create or perpetuate harmful stereotypes.

Emergency Communication

For those who need to be reachable for genuine emergencies, team leaders should bring their phones and have them available. Team members can share contact leader information with their family members before your team departs.

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*NOTE: We ask team leaders to monitor this among their teams. If any of these areas become problematic, EM field staff leading your trip will step in. However, we generally trust that each team leader will address issues within their teams.