About Servant Teams

Mandi Stonehouse spends time caring for babies orphaned in South Sudan

Lahash Servant Teams are designed to be a year of discipleship, cross-cultural service, and lasting impact.

  • Training in Portland – 2 months
  • Service in East Africa – 9 months
  • Debrief in Portland – 1 month
  • Applications for each year are due by March 1

Since its beginning, Lahash has valued the importance of presence, and over 100 short and long-term travelers have taken trips to spend time with our partners in east Africa.

In 2010, Leah Burkholder spent a year serving with Lahash partner in Tanzania, Grace & Healing Ministry of Dodoma. Every day, Leah kept a journal. “As I look through the first entries, it’s like reading a different person’s thoughts and feelings,” she recalls. “When I first came here, I was an observer. I wasn’t connected to the people, I didn’t really feel comfortable in the environment.”

As months went by, Leah found herself connecting more deeply with the sponsored kids – learning their names, and sharing their struggles. She worked with the local staff, visited kids’ homes, and was deeply involved in the community. “As my journal went on,” she says, “I was no longer just watching the story take place. And as I became part of the story, I was able to be changed.”

Leah Burkholder and Chitema. Leah spent a year serving our at our partnership in Tanzania.

As Lahash launches the new Servant Team program, our hope is that this experience will be deeply transformational, for both the travelers and the children they serve.

The program begins in September as participants spend two months in training at the Lahash office in Portland. That time is focused on cultural preparation, Bible study, basic Swahili, and connecting to the mission of Lahash and to God’s heart for the vulnerable.

The next nine months are spent embedded with a Lahash partnership in east Africa, as a tangible, present expression of Christ’s love. It is a time to serve with and learn from courageous African leaders, while sharing in the joys and struggles of the region’s most vulnerable children.

The final month is spent back in Portland, debriefing from the year and exploring what God has planned for you next.

If you or someone you know is interested in participating on a Servant Team, let us know! Start praying about and planning for the year ahead. Lahash is currently accepting applications for servant teams that will start in September of 2012.