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SOWER Ministry

Join a SOWER project crew

Retired and semi-retired couples with RVs park for three-week projects at Christian camps, schools, children's homes, and mission offices, doing carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting, and grounds work. Around 170 ministries in the US and Canada host crews.

VerifiedLocal church needsInterdenominational
Visit organizationsowerministry.org ↗

Why this is listed

This is where a lifetime of trade skill goes after retirement, and the ministries receiving it are exactly the small ones that could never hire a contractor. Couples only, travelling at their own expense — read the requirements before you plan a year around it.

How to start

  1. Open sowerministry.org (opens an external site) and read what SOWER Ministry says about itself before you read anything else.
  2. Check the time it asks for: weeks.
  3. Look at the filings below, then decide. Numbers are context, not a verdict.
  4. Tell your church. Going out is rarely meant to be done alone.

Close to this

  • Local church needsProvisional

    Keep a rural church's pulpit filled

    Village Missions

    Village Missions places missionary pastors in small rural congregations across the US and Canada that could not otherwise keep a full-time minister. Churches apply for a pastor, and couples apply to serve as missionary pastors for the long term.

    Time
    Years
    Where
    United States
    Area
    Local church needs

    Last verified September 8, 2026

  • Medical & public healthProvisional

    Crew a hospital ship

    Mercy Ships

    Hospital ships dock in West and Central African ports for months at a time providing free surgery — cleft lip, cataract, tumour, obstetric fistula, orthopaedic — and training local surgeons and anaesthetists while alongside. Crew includes cooks, deckhands, teachers, and engineers, not only clinicians.

    Time
    Months
    Where
    Global
    Area
    Medical & public health

    Last verified September 8, 2026

  • Skilled serviceVerified

    Design a hospital you will never run

    Engineering Ministries International

    Architects, engineers, and surveyors join a one- to two-week trip to survey a site and produce a real construction design package for a hospital, school, or water system, then finish the drawings at home. Salaried eMi project managers carry the work between volunteer trips so nothing stalls.

    Time
    Weeks
    Where
    Global
    Area
    Skilled service

    Last verified September 8, 2026