Stride Pathway

Stride is designed for committed Christians who feel drawn to put their faith into practice in a Latin American culture. You’ll spend at 6-24 months working alongside a church or Christian-run project, responding to local needs and getting involved in the local community.

If you don’t yet speak Spanish or Portuguese, you’ll spend an additional few months doing language study at the start of your placement.

Stride is suitable for individuals, couples and families. And if you want to explore whether mission in Latin America longer-term is the right option for you, the Stride pathway can support you through that process.

During your Stride placement, you’ll work alongside Latin Link’s longer-term members, who set up and supervise your placement. We have Latin Link teams in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Peru. You will be matched to a country and type of work that suit your gifts, background and skills.

If you feel called to a particular country, we will explore that with you and prayerfully consider which opportunities are best for you. We do take your personal preference into consideration but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to place you in your preferred country.

Placements are bespoke, tailored to your gifts, skills and sense of God’s calling. So we’ll place you in a project or ministry where you can best serve. Latin Link members work in many different areas of ministry, so placements could involve any of the following areas:

• • Supporting local churches
  • Work with children and families
  • Prison work/working with ex-offenders
  • Drug and alcohol rehabilitation
  • Work with vulnerable women
  • University outreach
  • Evangelism and discipleship
  • Feeding programmes
  • Educational support
  • Art and craft
  • Work in shanty towns
  • Teaching (English, Theology)
  • Creation care
  • Community development (health, sanitation)
  • Working with people with disabilities
  • Publications

We don’t have specific application deadlines because we process Stride applications as we receive them. However, we strongly recommend that you apply five to six months before you hope to go on Stride. This gives you plenty of time to raise support for your Stride placement, to practise your Spanish/Portuguese, and gives us enough time to organise your placement.

The cost of your placement is not a fixed cost. and will depend on a number of factors such as length and location of service. Once you are accepted onto our programme and your project is decided upon, we will calculated a budget for your Stride placement. All places are self-funded, and we emphasize the importance of partnering with churches and supporters to raise your funds. Latin Link will advise and support you through the support-raising process – we’ll provide fundraising resources and tips to help you reach the total cost of your placement.

Latin Link provides extensive support before, during and after your Stride placement. It’s also really important that your church is fully involved in your application, and is available to offer prayer and pastoral support:

Latin Link Orientation

All Striders attend an Orientation weekend. This takes place at the end of June every year, and is held just outside Reading. It’s residential and the cost is included in your Launch Costs.

Missiological Training

Before you go, you’ll also attend the All Nations Express Course to give you further cross-cultural missions training. This course is a 5-day residential and is also included in your Launch Costs.

In-placement support

You’ll receive a local Orientation when you arrive to the country of your placement. You’ll be supervised by the Latin Link Short-Term Coordinator, who will set up and Risk Assess your placement, and you’ll be assigned a Mentor for the duration of your time in Latin America.

You will also have a review every 6 months, as part of the training and development process during your Stride placement. Your Short Term Coordinator, Mentor and Project Supervisor will work with you to review your progress and agree plans for the next phase of your placement.

Debrief

On return, you’ll be invited to have an individual debrief of your time on Stride. You’ll also be invited to our annual Debrief Conference. This is a residential weekend included in the price of your Launch Costs.