Our Mission

Finish the Work honors God by completing unfinished construction projects, serving communities in need, and giving individuals the opportunity to participate in this important work.

BEFOREAFTER

We’re on a mission to finish what was started.

Founder Joel Davis went on a construction mission trip in 2004. He and a small group of skilled men from his local church spent a week in Barbados doing construction work; but, it wasn’t new construction. Rather, it was work on a building that had already been under construction for over 12 years. What had started more than a decade before as a well-intentioned project for the community in Barbados had become an unending journey of stops and starts. Volunteers came and went, funds ebbed and flowed, and the local community was left with a partially constructed building they had no way to finish on their own.
Young Children
Builders Building a Building
Workers

The 2004 trip proved life-changing for Joel – and many others – as he felt God’s call to start a ministry to meet an often-overlooked need.

Joel recognized that the world didn’t really need another organization to start new construction projects. What the world needed was a group of likeminded people committed to finishing what had already been started. Finish the Work was born, and the group returned to Barbados with 39 people from 9 churches to finish the 2004 project. Since that time, Finish the Work has completed many more projects, finishing an average of one per year.

We specifically take on projects that are already in some phase of construction, and we intentionally specify those that are within a scope we can complete within a reasonable time. Our efforts remain focused in Central and South America and the Caribbean so that we can maximize the use of local materials and construction practices. We have finished construction projects in countries including Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Barbados.

Cutting Material

Empower local communities

An essential part of our mission is to empower the local community; that is why we source materials in-country & hire local laborers to work alongside our volunteers. We think ahead about how the local church and community will fare after we leave. (For example, if we bring in foreign and unfamiliar materials for use on a project, how will the church handle future repairs? Using local materials saves the community a lot of trouble down the road.) Finish the Work always provides a project coordinator who works closely with the local partnering organization, educating the pastor or community leader with relevant construction and maintenance information so they are equipped to maintain the building long after we’re gone.

Additionally, our projects are not branded as Finish the Work buildings. These buildings belong to the local church and community. We work hard to preserve and honor their ownership throughout the process. We have even seen a community take ownership of the mission itself. A church in Costa Rica now sends its own group to help finish construction in other locations. New hope is born when we finish the work that was started.

Toolbelt

Gather and equip teams

For each project, we send separate teams of volunteers to serve one week each. The weeks are scheduled back-to-back, and each team picks up right where the prior week’s team left off until the project is completed. The Finish the Work project coordinator remains consistent through the duration of the project.

Anyone can take part in finishing the work! We use volunteers of all skill levels and can confidently turn anyone into a construction helper for a week. Whether it’s connecting with the local community or performing certifiably skilled labor, if you can hold a broom or a paint brush, we have a job for you.

We are always in need of additional volunteers as well as corporate partners and private donors who believe in our mission and are willing to:
• GO
• Pray
• Donate