The Shiell family's ministry exchange with a clergy family from Larvik, Norway during 1988-1989 inspired the founding of St. Hans. In 1992, Diane and Dell wrote a book, Fair Exchange: A Ministry Exchange Between the U.S. and Norway, in which they share their reflections on their family's exchange.

In 1992, the Internet was still in its infancy, so Diane and Dell used more conventional ways of trying to help others catch the vision of Christian home and ministry exchanges--regular mail, articles in newspaper and church newsletters, numerous radio interviews, etc. A few exchanges resulted from those efforts, but it was difficult to reach many people on a limited budget.

In 1995, the World Wide Web began to be widely used and we recognized it was the perfect vehicle for promoting home exchanges. Dell spent the month of June, 1995 learning how to create a website and St. Hans launched the very first Christian Home Exchange website in July, 1995.

During the next couple of years, Christians from around the world contacted us; it was an exciting time. However, technology changed faster than we had time or resources to keep up. Eventually, we suspended our online directory and we began referring others to our friends in England (CHEF-Christian Home Exchange Fellowship).

In fall of 2009. we re-launched our online Christian Home Exchange directory.