| Challenge Kenya |
January 2005 indexThis year saw the beginning of what promises to be a very exciting programme for Crosslinks in Ireland – the Challenge Programme – as a group of 13 young people from across the island gathered at Belfast City Airport, ready to set out for Nairobi, Kenya, on a short-term mission experience. One of the team, Matthew Acheson tells us how they got on . . . . .
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“We
received a very warm welcome from our hosts at Church Army Africa,
and quickly came to think of them as part of our group, enjoying
getting to know them and sharing fellowship together. After settling
in, one of the first items on our programme was a “Kid’s Club”
for children from the local school. This lasted three days, during
which we put on a morning programme for the children, including a
talk from the Bible, songs, various games and work in small groups.
It was reassuring to hear from the school’s teacher that what we
were doing was quite different from what the children were used to
in terms of Bible teaching, and we hope and pray that God used us to
spur these youngsters on in the faith. The next week ran a similar
programme for the combined youth groups of two churches in the
suburbs of Nairobi – St Mary’s and St Joseph’s, putting on
several seminars focusing on various issues and biblical themes,
giving talks, and holding small group discussions, as well as
spending more informal time together.
As well as these opportunities to engage directly in Word ministry, we had many opportunities to see how God is working in Kenya.We spent a morning at a church in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, and also visited the Beacon of Hope centre, which works with those affected by the AIDS virus, and also the Kibera Card Project, run by Crosslinks mission partner Rachel Williams.
Over the first few days of our trip many of us suffered from a certain “what am I doing here?” syndrome. However, by the time we arrived back in Heathrow Airport on the 3rd September we were all acutely aware of how God had used us in his service, and of how he had used the experience to challenge and change us. We all came home with a much bigger view of God, of his Church, and of how he might use us in the future. |
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