What do volunteers do?

[Mission Activities]

The Good News Corps prides itself in providing its volunteers with a diverse multi-component program that trains the mind, body, and most importantly, spirit. Good News Corps programs allow volunteers to challenge their limitations and experience a world where God makes the impossible become possible. God gave man the gift to find true freedom inside his own heart. The goal of our mission activities is to heal broken hearts, place joy where there was misery, and to exchange despair for hope. Through activities like visitations and performances at hospitals, retirement homes, and residences, individual spiritual counseling, youth and community outreach programs, Sunday school teaching, and mission journeys to remote areas, volunteers touch the lives of the natives on a much deeper level.

[Environmental Preservation]

This is our world, whether we live in China or South Africa. Good News Corps sees the importance of maintaining a healthy environment for ourselves and the generation to come. That’s why volunteers help in promoting the virtues of energy conservation, waste management, environmentally sound land use, and even tree planting. These activities foster responsible attitudes towards making the world a healthy place to live in. Through the examples and standards set by the volunteers, we hope to instill the same values in the public at large, thus changing the world on an ever-increasing level.

[Language Studies]

Language is a tool for the heart to communicate. The power to transfer a person’s mind and heart is wielded through language. Good News Corps volunteers are placed in the best possible situation to learn languages. In the host country where every native becomes a "tutor," volunteers gain language skills money can’t buy. Volunteers master the language as they interact heart to heart and shoulder to shoulder with the natives.

[Translation and Interpretation]

Good News Corps alumni have served in world renowned events as translators and interpreters. They successfully served in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea & Japan by providing translation and interpretation for multiple languages. They were also selected to serve at the APEC Summit 2005 (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) to provide services for world leaders. The training acquired through the Good News Corps program allows our translators to become true ambassadors, bridging the gap between not only languages but between hearts.

[Continuing Education Instruction]

Good News Corps volunteers also enrich their host countries by instructing their citizens in a number of different courses such as computer literacy, language studies, and music performance. Through instructing, students achieve self-improvement as volunteers discover hidden skills. Volunteers can also put their personal expertise and training to use by teaching their skills to the local population. Your language abilities, special skills, work training, talents, and your heart are waiting to be received. There is always something a volunteer can share with those willing to learn.

[Youth Outreach]

Another essential aspect of the Good News Corps program is addressing the dilemma of youth delinquency. Volunteers are placed as positive role models who can change the mindsets of young people at risk of problematic futures. Through IYF English Camp, as well as various youth and student camps, volunteers act as group counselors and program managers. As volunteers become involved with the problems and issues of the youth, they also have time for self-reflection. Through this, Good News Corps volunteers gain the heart necessary for shaping the future; a future that’s well cared for.

[Cultural Exchange]

Although the Good News Corps is the best way to experience another country’s culture, it is also the best way to present your own culture as well. Volunteers immediately immerse themselves in their host country’s culture and values, but at the same time act as representatives of their own culture as well. Volunteers are also educated about the cultures of the world and display them through cultural exhibitions. With dances, songs, and "real stories" (shortened play performances about a volunteer’s experiences while living in their host countries) the cultures and values that have been absorbed in the Good News Corps are displayed. This is just one more way Good News Corps is uniting and bringing cultures closer together.