Friday, September 10, 2010
I think we can all agree, that the youth are the future of our church. If we do not properly raise the children, in a strong foundation in the church, then in 10 or 20 years, we have lost the foundation of our church, and eventually the church will lose sight and will no longer exist for the purposes of winning souls for Christ’s kingdom. We in the French Equatorial Field, agree in this exact same thinking, and I am excited to be a part of some of the incredible things happening within our Field. At the end of July, I had the awesome privilege of being invited to speak at the annual Nazarene youth camp. The camp was hosted by the Southwest District in Rwanda (Butare), and we had nearly 200 participants. The theme of the camp was “Help me to walk as Jesus” with the key Bible passage being 1 Peter 4:1-8. We had representatives come from throughout Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. It is fascinating to note that the camp was being translated into 4 languages, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda and (for my sake) English. While I haven’t been here to work with the youth long enough to know their walk with Christ, we had many good conversations and many of the youth have a very deep and strong relationship with Christ. It was a true blessing to see this relationship grow throughout the week. We had teachers speak on Leadership, Youth and marriage (which if you know anything about the culture here, this topic is off limits, generally, but this was the topic the youth were most concerned with, and it ended up being 6 hours as we had to come back to the topic 3 different times to finish the discussion), youth and aids, how to develop your ministries without outside help (using the resources you already have available), and I had the opportunity to speak on youth and holiness and the lifestyle of youth. For each session, the youth were very responsive, and interacted with the teacher, and with each other. In addition to the teaching times, we used the Evangecube, the GOL soccer balls and had multiple skits performed. We had opportunities to worship together, and each choir that was represented led at different times. I think the part that was most fulfilling for even me was the conversations that I had with the girls, while the boys played in their soccer tournament. I think our goal of the camp was fulfilled, as each of the youth had left refreshed and learned more deeply how to walk as Jesus walks. For me, I learned this even deeper, from the family that hosted me to stay with them for the week. I stayed with a girl and her 3 brothers, while they have very little to offer as an African family, I was very well feed, I was very comfortable, and I was looked after, as this was my first time traveling in Rwanda without Blake. For someone to make the sacrifice of their dinner, or their bed, that shows a deep relationship with Christ. This family truly walks as Jesus walks. As you pray for our ministry in Africa, please pray specifically for the youth and the future of the Church.