Applying and requesting an invitation
Attendance at a Homeward gathering starts with a form, not a ticket. You submit a Request for Invitation (for Missions Week) or an application (for Youth Camp), the Guest Relations team reviews it over a few weeks, and a decision comes back to you. This page explains what happens at each step and what an acceptance actually means.
The Request for Invitation
Section titled “The Request for Invitation”Both Missions Week and Youth Camp currently use the same application form, which opens in a new tab from the gathering’s own page. Fill it in for the gathering you want and Guest Relations will route it correctly — the two programs are run by the same team, so you do not need to pick a separate form.
On a published event page, an Apply now button appears in the closing band while applications are open. It appears only while the deadline has not passed, so if you cannot see it, applications for that event have closed or are not being handled through the site.
Guest Relations reviews every submission. Processing takes a few weeks, so apply early rather than close to the deadline.
Acceptance is not registration
Section titled “Acceptance is not registration”This is the part that surprises people. An accepted application is a review decision — it says that Guest Relations has approved you to attend. It does not by itself put you on the event’s attendance list or open your private guide.
Homeward keeps applications and attendance as two separate records. Your attendance on an event has its own lifecycle:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Invited | You have been offered a place. Nothing further has been confirmed. |
| Registered | Your place is confirmed and you are on the attendance list. |
| Cancelled | Your attendance was withdrawn. |
| Attended | You were registered and you were there. |
| No-show | You were registered but did not arrive. |
Only registered or attended opens your private attendee guide. If you have been accepted or invited but not yet registered, the guide will tell you the profile is not registered for the event — that is expected, and it resolves once your registration is completed.
Asking a question
Section titled “Asking a question”Every gathering page has an Ask Guest Relations button. It opens a contact form with the subject already set — “Question about Homeward Missions Week” or “Question about Homeward Youth Camp” — so your message reaches the right team without you having to choose a department.
Use it for anything the public page does not answer: whether your family is included in an invitation, what Homeward covers, travel to the port, or the progress of an application you have already submitted.