This page will be undergoing continual updates.
I will be attending ADVENT as a non-teaching adult (or young child) / or am currently residing in Taiwan. Will I still need to fill out a full application and pay the registration fee?
If you will be accompanying the team, then you will also need to fill out a full application, because an accurate roster will be necessary for the logistical committee in determining food, lodging, and transportation arrangements throughout the program. The registration fee covers the living expenses (food, lodging, transportation) for each team member, and those fees would apply in full to you as well. Unfortunately, we cannot offer a reduced fee at this time, because this is the bare minimum fee that covers each team member’s expenses. Please note that we will also accept the NTD equivalent of the applicable registration fee. If you have any concerns regarding the application process, please do not hesitate to contact us, and we will try our best to accommodate your needs.
I am not Chinese or Taiwanese, and/or I do not speak Mandarin. Is it still a good idea for me to join?
Though being able to speak both Mandarin Chinese and English well is an advantage in this program and could make bonding with the Taiwanese students a bit easier, it is not necessary that you be fluent in Mandarin. ADVENT does strive to provide the necessary amount of translators for the amount of volunteers in need of translation. In some cases, if not aided by a local translating volunteer, a team parent can also serve as a translator. Even so, many volunteers who were non-Mandarin speaking have enjoyed and grown from the ADVENT experience. Don’t let language hold you back from applying! Feel free to contact us personally if you fear that language will be a barrier for you, and we will do our best to provide a translator for you.
Aside from boot camp, is there any additional training provided?
The ADVENT program will provide an intensive training boot camp in Taiwan, which will cover all program-related material, from classroom teaching and rally leading to the sharing of your personal testimony and of the Gospel. Currently, the ADVENT program is unable to provide widespread training stateside, due to (1) limited resources and (2) wide distribution of ADVENT team members across several states and countries. However, in the months leading up to the program, we do encourage church groups to take the initiative to provide supplemental training for their own members. In the past, some church groups have focused their supplemental training on important spiritual topics, such as team unity and submission to authority; often times, this supplemental training, conducted by leaders who are more familiar with their members, proves to better prepare the individual spiritually and emotionally for the ADVENT program. Some recommended topics for supplemental training include:
- The heart of missions
- Personal spiritual preparedness for missions
- The attitude of the missionary
- The importance of team unity and what it looks like
- The critical component of prayer
- Building local prayer support prior to going
- Crash course for living in Taiwan
- Basic Chinese translation for sharing the Gospel
- Practicing sharing the Gospel
What is the typical age range of students that ADVENT teachers will be teaching?
Historically, we focused on high schools and middle schools, but nowadays, elementary schools are much more common (though there still are middle and high schools). Depending on the school, student ages may be as low as 6 for elementary schools to 17 for high schools. We try to send older volunteers to older students, but this is not always guaranteed.
What is the typical size of an ADVENT team?
Team sizes depend on the number of students the team will be teaching at each local school. Over the years, ADVENT has seen a trend towards small teams with fewer students per school. Typically, most local schools do not complete recruiting students until a few weeks before the program begins, so team sizes cannot be determined until the final few weeks. It is worth noting that in 2023, all teams had 4-6 people.
I am coming with a group of people from my church. Can we stay together?
We try to the best of our ability each year to keep people from the same group or church together within the same team. That being said, there may arise situations where we are unable to accommodate everybody’s desire to stay together. Every year, God brings just enough teachers to be able to teach all the students, and this is only possible because we are able to distribute teachers to where they are needed. With this in mind, we deeply appreciate your understanding of the possibility that members from your group may be distributed to other teams during the teaching program.
I am arriving 1-2 days before Boot Camp starts. Is there a place I can stay until then?
ADVENT provides housing for the night of Monday, July 1, 2024 (the day before bootcamp starts). However, if you will be arriving even earlier, you may need to find your own accommodations. Let us know, and we might be able to help you find a place to stay (no guarantees, though).
What is the dress code for ADVENT?
Please refer to the dress code section under Mission Rules.